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Yes, it’s Tuesday. Yes, I am posting my weekly Monday Must Reads post a day late. Yesterday was Christmas, so it’s totally okay. I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas time with their family. My husband and I enjoyed spending the day with my parents and sister. Our day was full of yummy food, catching up, and playing some of our new board games we received as gifts. I’m especially proud of myself for still making time to exercise after we got home. I got an exercise bike for Christmas LAST YEAR, and I still haven’t made a habit of using it regularly. I’ve been taking advantage of having a pretty lax schedule while on break to try and create an exercise habit.
Okay, enough about me. Let’s get on to this week’s “Must Reads!” This week is very Christmas-focused. I’m sure everything will start to return to normal next week.
Statistically Generated Snowflakes
We recently had our first snow of the year, and as always, my Australian husband couldn’t quit looking out the window at the powdery white stuff falling from the sky. Want to join the magic of snowflakes and math (specifically statistics)? Check out this awesomeness from Anna Fergusson. Each snowflake is created from one of the letters in “happy holidays.” Anna even crated a free web app that we can all use to make our own secret statistical snowflakes from a word or phrase of our own choosing! It’s too late for this year to make much use of the gift tags, but it’s never too early to start thinking about next year. 🙂
Mystery Christmas Dot Plot
Want more statistical awesomeness from Anna Fergusson? Check out her Teaching Statistics is Awesome blog! I especially like this task from Anna’s twitter account. What story would your students come up with? Check out one person’s Christmas-y story for this graph.
Bar Graph Question
Charice Nusse offers another statistical question to pose to your students. I imagine this would be a great conversation starter!
System of Equations with Greek Alphabet
Vanessa Medina shares a fun system to solve. I love that this uses greek letters as variables. I think we need to expose students to greek letters sooner in math than we currently do.
Buddy the Elf Slope and Pythagorean Theorem Activities
If you are not following Jae Ess on Twitter, you need to fix that NOW. You are missing awesome ideas and activities like this Buddy the Elf project that can be used for practicing either slope or the pythagorean theorem. This is teacher creativity at its best. Be sure to check out Jae’s blog.
Laminated Straight Edges
Here’s another great idea from Jae that shows her innovative spirit.
Removing Labels from Graphs to Spark Conversations
Bobson Wong shares some great graphs and suggests a very creative way to use them in your classroom.
Paper and Scissor Activities for Math Club
Looking on hands-on math-y goodness? Becky Warren has compiled an awesome list of ideas that only require paper and scissors. Check out Becky’s beautiful blog here.
Printables for Math Club
If the above awesomeness wasn’t enough, Becky has also compiled a list of math-y printables for you to use with your students! They can also be found on her blog!
Christmas Tree 1-9 Puzzle
dailySTEM shares a fun Christmas puzzler to tuck away for use next year!
Daily Christmas Puzzles
Emma Bell has created a bunch of image based Christmas challenges for you to use
with your students next year. Check them all out here on her blog.
Fractal Tree Display
Tina Palmer‘s students created a beautiful fractal tree while working on similar figures. How inspiring!
Good Egg Activity
Looking ahead to Easter, here’s an interesting task from Debbie Barker. Mathematically, what makes for a good egg?
Perpendicular Bisector Bulletin Board
MathsWhizzKid shares a great first blog post about creating a stimulating learning environment. I especially love this perpendicular bisector bulletin board!
Formula Cards
JustMaths shares the intriguing idea of posting commonly used formulas on the backs of chairs in your classroom in a recent blog post. Check out the post to find free downloadable formulas to help you do the same!
Christmas Fermi Estimation Problem
Sue de Pomerai offers up an interesting Fermi estimation problem with a Christmas twist.
Inertia Exploration Activity
Tina McNally makes me wish I was still teaching physical science with this fun inertia exploration activity.
Winter Geometric Puzzle
Ed Southall shares a winter themed geometric puzzle. This one isn’t too Christmas-y, so you can still use it after you get back from Christmas break!
Christmas Cross Number Puzzle
Need something to keep your brain sharp over Christmas Break? Check out this lovely crossnumber puzzle from the UK Mathematics Trust.
Tesselating Christmas Trees
Regolo Bizzi shares a gorgeous Christmas tree tesselation. A great Christmas challenge for next year would be to have your students create their own holiday-themed tesselations!
10% Models
Check out the 10% body models that Colleen‘s students created as a math/art project.
Likelihood Line
I also am inspired by this likelihood line that Colleen‘s students created. Each student wrote a scenario on a post-it note. The rest of the class had to decide where to place the statement on the
likelihood line.
Cookie Recipe Smudged Math
Lam Nguyen shares several interesting Smudged Math activities. First up: Cookie Recipes!
Long Division vs Synthetic Division Smudged Math
Also, polynomial long division vs. synthetic division:
Box Method Smudged Math
And, my favorite, the box method:
Log Laws Smudged Math
How about some log laws?
Area vs Circumference Task
I am also really taken by this area vs. circumference task from Lam Nguyen.
What is your Mathematician Name?
David Coffey shares a message ALL math students need to hear.
Christmas Tree with Triangle Centroids
Christine Redemske combines centroids for balancing triangles with the Christmas season to produce some beautiful results.
Plotting Square Roots on a Number Line
Natalia Serwylo demonstrates how to combine a number line with the pythagorean theorem
to help students visualize plotting square roots on a number line.
Vocabulary with Snowflakes
Tina Cardone shares an idea for combining vocabulary practice with snowflakes for some festive fun in math class.
Christmas Slime Project
Looking for a science-y way to celebrate the Christmas season? Shelby Roth uses Christmas slime to teach about conservation of mass.
Syllable and Letter Puzzle
Maths Ed shares a fun puzzler involving syllables and letters.
Correlation and Causation Christmas Example
Also from Maths Ed: a brilliant description of why correlation does not necessarily mean causation.
Father Christmas Puzzle
Simon Quinn offers up yet another Christmas puzzler. Can you figure out how many presents Father Christmas has in his bag?
3D Printing Project with Pop Cans
Ashley Tewes shares a fun and engaging project involving 3D Printing.
Guess My Number Game
Seta Moore-Bridge shares a fun guess my number game that would be great for using those
odd few minutes that are occasionally left at the end of class.
Intuition Poster
I love this poster shared by Randy L Revels, Jr.
Science Themed Christmas Ornaments
Ms Tang inspires with her science-themed Christmas tree. I MUST put up a tree in my classroom next year.
Heliocentric Theory Courtroom Activity
Cynthia Platou shares an engaging idea that could be adapted for any subject: turn your classroom into a court of law!
Printing Mathematical Images
Kim Spek combines the art of printing with the art of mathematics to produce something beautiful!
Chemistry Christmas Door Decorating Contest
If I was the judge, Allison Kipping‘s door would definitely win the door decorating contest!
Snowman WODB
Luke Walsh recognizes that a holiday gift bag is actually a brilliant Which One Doesn’t Belong (WODB) problem.
Origami Santa Star
Iva Sallay shares instructions for making adorable origami Santa stars on her blog.
Encouraging Christmas Lights
Amanda Atkinson shares a photo of a thoughtful gift she received. I want to have my
students make these next year for all of the teachers in the building.
Compass Ornament Projects
Elyssa Stoddard‘s students produced some beautiful projects using their compasses!
Pi Day Shirt and Pi Symbol Display
It’s never too early to start planning for Pi Day. Wendy Sargent shares some ideas for celebrating.
Until next week, keep up the awesome sharing of ideas!
