I created this like radicals card sort activity a few years ago when I was still teaching Algebra 1. Students are given 25 cards featuring radicals that range from square roots to fourth roots. Some of the radicals are simplified. Others need to be simplified. Students must group the cards into piles of “like radicals.” …
Practice Structures
In this Make Six Puzzle, you are given eight equations. You must insert mathematical symbols (no digits) to make each equation equal six. If you are wondering what mathematical symbols you are allowed to use, that is up to you!
I really like this order of operations activity that I am naming “Missing Parentheses.” I found it in the textbook Intermediate Algebra for College Students by Karl J. Smith and Patrick J. Boyle (free to borrow from the Internet Archive’s Online Lending Library). Yesterday, I shared a lovely set of 10 order of operations practice …
I am really liking these quadratic area puzzles from Chritsopher (Bow Tie Teacher on twitter) that are posted for free on TES. They are inspired by Naoki Inaba‘s Area Maze puzzles with a quadratic spin on things. For next year, I think I would like to do some sort of activity at the beginning of …
It’s been almost two years since I last shared a hidden equation puzzle with you. These hidden equation puzzles are the product of Erich Friedman, a math professor and prolific puzzle creator. You can read more about Hidden Equation Puzzle 1 here. I was introduced to these hidden equation puzzles through Puzzle Box, Volume 2. …
I am really excited about this shape grid puzzle from Erich Friedman. The goal of the puzzle is to divide the grid into geometric shapes. Any lines you draw must follow either the grid lines or the diagonals of the grid squares. Each shape that you draw must contain exactly one shape icon inside. This …
Last month, I tried out a Valentine’s Jamboard Activity with all of my classes to help show appreciation to the various teachers/school employees in our building. We did this on a Friday after a week of being digital due to the ice/snowpocalypse. I thought it would be a nice change of pace from our daily …
I’ve been a fan of this factoring puzzle for factoring quadratic trinomials since I worked through it at a Common Core workshop I attended (OGAP) in the summer of 2013. Over the last couple of days, I have been going back through these resources that I originally blogged about and giving each resource its own …
Today I’m sharing the Sum to Twenty-One Puzzle with you. Previously, I have shared similar puzzles called Sum to Twenty and Sum to Thirty. These puzzles are the creation of Marcy Cook. They were shared in THINK ABOUT IT! Mathematics Problems of the Day which was published by Creative Publications in 1982. The book is …
The 9-10-11-12 Challenge is actually four puzzles in one. Can you arrange the numbers 1 through 6 in the spaces of the triangular shape below so that each side sums to 9? Repeat the challenge for sums of 10, 11, and 12. I learned of this challenge from a collection of brainteasers that is no …
Everyone knows how to play tic-tac-toe. But can you solve the tic tac toe challenge puzzle? This fun brain teaser is simple to explain, but it can be hard to solve!
Hidato Puzzles have been one of my go-to puzzles in my file cabinet of puzzles for several years now. I have had great success with getting students interested in these puzzles who haven’t been interested in other logic puzzles like Sudoku or KenKen. Somehow, these puzzles have never made an appearance on my blog. Today, …
Can you solve the 145 Doors Puzzle to help a prisoner break out of a medieval dungeon with 145 doors? The 145 Doors Puzzle is one of my favorite puzzles from The Moscow Puzzles: 359 Mathematical Recreations by Boris A. Kordemsky. You can also find the 145 doors puzzle online at NCTM Illuminations. Here’s the text …
Several years ago, I created a double angle identities joke worksheet as a promposal when one of my trig students wanted to ask another student in the class to prom. I shared the file, but it was really only useful if you had a student named Sam who wanted to ask another student to prom. …
I created this odd one out chemistry activity to give my students practice determining how the placement of an element on the periodic table tells us about how an element will likely behave. For this activity, students were given three elements to locate on the periodic table. Based on these locations, they had to determine …
I created this extensive vs intensive properties color coding activity for my chemistry students to complete and glue in our interactive notebooks. Free Download of Extensive vs Intensive Properties Color Coding Activity Other Chemistry Activities and Resources
I created this homogeneous vs heterogeneous color coding activity for my chemistry students to glue in their interactive notebooks. As we talked through the activity as a class, we decided that some of the mixtures could be classified either way based on our assumptions. It was a good discussion! Free Download of Homogeneous vs Heterogeneous …
I created this factors race activity to give my math concepts students practice listing all of the factors of a number. I shared it on twitter in January 2018, and it’s only now making it to my blog in January 2020. Better late than never, right?!? To prep for the activity, I printed 4 sheets …
I’m back today with a fun, new puzzle called The Splice is Right Puzzle. This puzzle is from the book Test Your Math IQ by Steve Ryan. I was able to borrow the book for free from the Internet Archive’s online lending library. I highly recommend this site for checking out various books before you …
I’m super excited today to share a dotplot matching activity I recently created for my statistics class. This summer when I realized I was actually going to get to teach statistics again after a multi-year hiatus, I got super excited and started doing lots of research. One of the books that came across my path …
I’m back today with a new puzzle, Tic Tac Total. This puzzle, unlike the Pair Ups Puzzle I shared recently, can easily be applied to the distance learning classroom. It’s from the same excellent book Test Your Math IQ by Steve Ryan. I was able to borrow the book for free from the Internet Archive’s …
Today I’m sharing a new puzzle with you called the 8 sticks puzzle. Yesterday, I bemoaned the loss of my classroom puzzle corner. I’ve been trying to come up with some ways to keep incorporating puzzles in my classroom in a pandemic-friendly manner. My favorite puzzles are the ones with pieces that students can manipulate. …
I want to share a factoring quadratics practice activity I created for my Algebra 2 students. In the Oklahoma math standards, students are first exposed to factoring quadratics in Algebra 1. However, they are only exposed to factoring quadratics where the leading coefficient is 1. These are called monic quadratics. Thus, my Algebra 2 students …
Yesterday, I got the urge to create something. Creation is one of my favorite parts of my job. I love to put in some time and effort to create an activity for my students to use. I find not only the process of creation to be re-energizing but also the act of seeing students all …
Today I want to share a connect the dots puzzle with you courtesy of Erich Friedman in Puzzle Box, Volume 2. If you love puzzles like this, you should definitely check out Erich’s Puzzle Palace which is chock-full of amazing puzzles. All three of the books in this series have been a lovely addition to my …