Practice Structures

I created this set of four set notation puzzles to give my Algebra 2 students practice with set notation. I sadly didn’t end up getting to use them this year due to COVID restrictions. Each of the sets puzzles features a half-sheet of paper with four sets (A, B, C, and D). There are 15 …

I created this order of operations question stack activity to give my Algebra 1 students extra practice applying the order of operations to some rather involved expressions. These order of operations questions are specially designed to expose students to various grouping symbols including parentheses, brackets, absolute value bars, radicals, and fraction bars. I created a …

I created this dry erase template for my Algebra 2 students to use while learning to solve equations graphically using our graphing calculators. The idea is that students will write the equation at the top of the page. Then, they will put each side of the equation into their graphing calculator. I provided students with …

This radian arts and crafts activity is designed to help students conceptually understand what a radian is. As a bonus, it creates a beautiful, mathematical art display for your classroom. This is one of my most popular tweets of all time. People come to my blog searching for it frequently, but until today it has …

I created this set of 20 domain and range challenges for my Algebra 1 students to work though as a review for our quiz over domain and range. This post is yet another of my catch-up posts. I have been going through my old twitter posts to make sure that everything that I have tweeted …

I created this hole punch activity to give my Algebra 1 students practice finding rate of change from a graph. When I teach Algebra 1, I intentionally avoid using the word “slope” for as long as possible. I printed off a bunch of practice questions for students to complete inside our dry erase pockets. If …

I created these leveled practice cards for solving absolute value equations when I taught Algebra 1. There are three levels of problems so that students can start with problems of an appropriate difficulty level. Level 1 Questions – Absolute value bars are already isolated. Level 2 Questions – Students have one step to do in …

I created this exponent rules review game in February of 2020. It exposes students to actual ACT questions from past released exams, and it gives students a chance to play the role of exam writer by crafting tricky distractors for each question. I originally crafted this review game for my Pre-Calculus students. I wanted to …

I created this Sketch a Graph Activity to give my Algebra 2 students much-needed practice with the vocabulary we use to describe the key features of functions. This activity was based off of a problem in Pearson’s (now Savvas) Algebra 2 textbook. Even though the alignment of the textbook to the Oklahoma standards has left …

What happens when you combine tic tac toe with a dice game? I was excited to discover this Tic Tac Toe Dice game in the book Dice Games by John Belton and Joella Crambit (1976). I was so excited about it that I typed up a PDF version to use with my students before I …

I created this divisibility rules dice game several years ago to give students practice with using divisibility rules. To play the game, students need to be able to determine if numbers are divisible by 2, 3, 5, 9, or 10. I used this game with 9th graders enrolled in “Math Concepts,” a course designed for …

I created this graphing inequalities work mat when I taught Algebra 1 to help my students conceptualize what it actually meant to graph an inequality. So often, I have a tendency to just give my students a set of steps to follow without making sure they understand why we are following those steps. Why are …

I created this Key Features of Functions Work Mat to use with my Algebra 2 students during our introductory functions unit. We used it to practice concepts including domain, range, increasing and decreasing intervals, positive and negative intervals, and x- and y-intercepts. I printed the Key Features of Functions Work Mats on 11 x 17 …

I was super excited to discover a mathematical variation of tic-tac-toe. Instead of playing with Xs and Os, Numerical Tic Tac Toe is a game of evens vs odds. I printed the even and odd numbers on different colors of paper to make it super clear which numbers belong to each person. You might have …

The last year I taught Algebra 1, I put a humongous emphasis on translating between words and algebraic symbols. I created this Translating Algebra Around the Room Activity to give my students extra practice translating expressions, equations, and inequalities. This activity is structured in such a way to emphasize that there is not one correct …

Here’s a third hidden equation puzzle from Erich Friedman. Circle one symbol in each column so that a true equation results reading from left to right. I love to use these hidden equation puzzles with dry erase pockets in my classroom. If you don’t have a classroom set of dry erase pockets, you could also …

I’m super excited about using this ink stain matching activity as a first day of school activity for next year. It’s a great conversation starter, and I can see it being used in many different types of classrooms and subjects as a beginning of year team-building activity. If you are still in school and looking …

I’m really excited about this Pentasquares puzzle from Serhiy Grabarchuk. Pentasquares are five square shapes which fit inside a 3 x 3 dimension. The goal of this puzzle is to put all six pentasquares inside a 6 x 6 square. You can rotate the pentasquares, but you may not overlap them or flip them over. …

When I taught Algebra 1, I ran across a fun slope treasure hunt activity for practicing the concept of slope (or gradient, for my international readers). My Algebra 1 students really enjoyed this slope treasure hunt. The activity is appropriate for middle school math as well. I originally came across this Slope Treasure Hunt (also …

I ran across this X Marks the Spot Puzzle several years ago. The goal of the puzzle is to place Xs in the drawing so that a certain set of requirements is met. After typing up this puzzle with several other brainteasers, I promptly misplaced the computer file before ever using any of the puzzles …

Back in February, I learned how to use paper folding to create an ellipse. Since then, I’ve wanted to try my hand at paper folding a hyperbola as well. It’s taken a few months, but I finally did it! Previously, I have bogged about paper folding both parabolas and ellipses. I learned about folding a …

I ran across this Pyramid Solitaire Puzzle in The Diagram Group’s Little Giant Encyclopedia of Puzzles. The goal is to pace the 16 markers in a pyramid pattern. Then, jump the markers horizontally and vertically so that a single marker remains in the center of the board. Each jump moves a marker over any adjacent …

I love using X Puzzles to introduce factoring quadratics. These puzzles are also known as sum and product puzzles since the goal of the puzzle is to find the two numbers that have a given sum and product. Years ago, I found a set of 5 pages of X Puzzles. I can no longer find …

This Pi Day Dice Challenge was inspired by a twitter post from Texas Math Teacher. I created a free downloadable template that can be used to host a Pi Day Dice Challenge Tournament in your own classroom. Just add dice! I decided to take the idea and run with it. I created a template to …

I created this set of real number system cards several years ago to give my Pre-Calculus students much-needed practice determining which subsets of the real number system a number belongs to. This was one of our first lessons of the year, and it was a great exercise in understanding definitions, practicing mathematical precision, and using …