Tenzi is one of my favorite games to use in the math classroom for data collection activities. I love Tenzi because the rules are super easy and fast to explain to students, and the sheer variety of ways to play keeps students (and me as the teacher) from getting bored! A few years ago when …
Practice Structures
Do your students struggle finding common denominators when adding and subtracting rational expressions? I created this finding common denominators activity a few years ago when I was teaching Algebra 2. I found that my students needed plenty of practice identifying what the least common denominator should be before we ever spent time practicing how to …
This parent graphs of trig functions clothespin matching activity has been in the making for multiple years. Several years ago, I discovered a Parent Graphs of Trig Functions Worksheet from Robyn Wolfe of Carlisle Schools. Overview of Activity I used the worksheet with great success in my pre-calculus class, and I remember writing a note …
Enhance fraction skills with an engaging fraction war card game! This game will give your students plenty of practice comparing fractions by finding common denominators.
I decided to create a Unit Circle Bingo Game to give my Pre-Calculus students some much-needed practice with evaluating trig functions using the unit circle. Technically, this is more of a game of connect 4 than bingo, but bingo just sounds more fun. So, Unit Circle Bingo it is! Bingo is one of my go-to …
I created this mean, median, mode, and range challenge activity back when I was teaching Algebra 1. The activity is an adaptation of a set of questions created by the late Don Steward. Students are placed in small groups which must work through as many of the different challenges as possible. Each time a group …
I decided to create a special place on my blog to share my make your own question stack template. Previously, I have shared this template inside certain question stack posts, but it has never been particularly easy to find. Question Stacks are one of my favorite practice structures to use with students because they can …
After creating our own individual magnets, my statistics class used them to complete this dot plot of the day activity. For an entire week, we created a dot plot at the beginning of each class period. Then students practiced writing a short paragraph to describe the data’s distribution. I only see my students four days …
I created this fun quadrants unlocked activity to give my pre-calculus students some much needed practice determining the signs of trig functions in various quadrants. In my many years of teaching trigonometry and pre-calculus, one of the topics that my students have struggled the most with is using facts about one trig function to determine …
Looking for a fun way to assess student understanding on categorical and quantitative variables? Check out this card sort activity I created for my statistics classes involving data that could be collected in an emergency room. I was very intrigued when I ran across a categorical vs quantitative variables problem set in Rossman and Chance’s …
I created these categorical vs quantitative variables hold-up cards to help me understand how well my statistics students were grasping the concepts of categorical and quantitative variables. I based a lot of our lesson off of one of my favorite statistics books: Workshop Statistics: Discovery with Data by Allan J. Rossman and Beth L. Chance. …
We are currently learning to create and describe dot plots in my statistics classes. To help increase student buy-in, I decided to have my students design their own “dot” for our dot plots. I’m calling these “design your own dot plot magnets.” I created a simple template with circles for students to create their own …
How many states have you visited? We’re getting into one my favorite part of teaching statistics – data collection! I created this free printable to help my statistics students figure out how many states they have visited since students don’t typically know that fact off the top of their heads. I know that I can’t …
Just a quick blog post today to share a set and interval notation dry erase template I ran across recently while organizing my Algebra 2 files. I didn’t actually end up using this dry erase template because the other activities I had planned ended up taking a lot longer than usual. My plan, though, was …
I created The Great Quadrant Guessing Game several years ago to give my Pre-Calculus students some extra practice determining which quadrant of the coordinate plane was represented by two trigonometric facts. The Great Quadrant Guessing Game For example, in which quadrant is the sine of an angle positive while the cosine of the same angle …
This Candy Grab Lab is one of my favorite ways to introduce students to the process of linear regression. In this activity, students determine if there is a mathematical relationship between a person’s handspan and the amount of candy they can grab at one time. The first page of the Candy Grab Lab introduces students …
One of the yearly activities I look forward to at my school is our annual Pinwheels for Peace celebration. Pinwheels for Peace is a school-wide, cross-curricular project that occurs every September. At my school, the project is headed up by by my super-talented, award-winning art teacher neighbor, Shelley Self. September 21st is International Day of …
I created this odd one out activity to give my pre-calculus students extra practice identifying coterminal angles. In this activity, students were placed in groups of 4. Each group was given a set of four angle cards. Three of the angles are coterminal angles (meaning they share the same terminal side when sketched in standard …
I created this short and sweet build a function activity to give my Algebra 2 students extra practice using some of our new vocabulary: domain, codomain, and range. This activity was designed to accompany Section 1.2 (Introduction to Functions) of Shaun Carter’s Full Year of Algebra 2 Notes. I will be honest. Even though I …
Last year, I created a guess the correlation coefficient blooket game for my statistics students to play. If you’re not familiar with Blooket, it is very similar to Kahoot or Quizizz. It’s main attraction is the ability to choose different game methods for students to play. My students really enjoy playing Gold Quest, Cafe, and …
I ran across this exponent rules match-up activity in the Algebra Activities Instructor’s Resource Binder from Maria Andersen. It was published by Cengage in 2011. I thought it would make the perfect review activity for exponent rules for my Algebra 2 students. I did find a copy of the activity uploaded online (page 7 of …
I created this tongue twister linear regression activity for my Algebra 2 students to use while collecting tongue twister data in their small groups. Students work in groups to collect data regarding the amount of time it takes various numbers of people to recite a tongue twister. Groups time how long one person, two people, …
I was so excited to discover this Speedy Squares Activity for practicing quadratic regression several years ago. I have used it successfully with my Algebra 2 classes in the past. Sadly, regression is one of the topics we did not get to fully explore in Algebra 2 this past year due to losing so much …
One of the end-of-year activities I did with my statistics students was to explore the four color theorem. One of my students had been begging for weeks for me to let them color. I don’t think this was what she had in mind… Of course, I didn’t tell them the name of the theorem. I …
When I was prepping to teach chemistry a few years ago, I ran across this Spot the Safety Hazards Picture. I thought it would make the perfect addition to my beginning of year lab safety review. I took the image and prepared a file to print the picture on 11 x 17 cardstock to use …