Monday Must Reads: Volume 24

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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. 🙂

Image Source: http://teaching.statistics-is-awesome.org/secret-statistical-snowflakes/

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.

Image Source: https://twitter.com/annafergussonnz/status/941037784948662272

Bar Graph Question

Charice Nusse offers another statistical question to pose to your students. I imagine this would be a great conversation starter!

Image Source: https://twitter.com/charicey34/status/837761807959769088

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.

Image Source: https://twitter.com/vmedinaMATH/status/882652072344027136

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.

Image Source: https://twitter.com/jaegetsreal/status/944950352352247808

Laminated Straight Edges

Here’s another great idea from Jae that shows her innovative spirit.

Image Source: https://twitter.com/jaegetsreal/status/943240890084151296

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.

Image Source: https://twitter.com/bobsonwong/status/944942477760483328

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.

Image Source: https://twitter.com/Kaye_RW/status/942387658940133377

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!

Image Source: https://twitter.com/Kaye_RW/status/943067673231011840

Christmas Tree 1-9 Puzzle

dailySTEM shares a fun Christmas puzzler to tuck away for use next year!

Image Source: https://twitter.com/dailystem/status/943553241438216195

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.

Image Source: https://twitter.com/El_Timbre/status/942746706252369925

Fractal Tree Display

Tina Palmer‘s students created a beautiful fractal tree while working on similar figures. How inspiring!

Image Source: https://twitter.com/TPalmer207/status/944555544823697408

Good Egg Activity

Looking ahead to Easter, here’s an interesting task from Debbie Barker. Mathematically, what makes for a good egg?

Image Source: https://twitter.com/DebbieBarkerMEI/status/578117494142963712

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!

Image Source: https://twitter.com/mathswhizzkid/status/943554161865576448

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!

Image Source: https://justmaths.co.uk/2017/12/17/golden-nuggets/

Christmas Fermi Estimation Problem

Sue de Pomerai offers up an interesting Fermi estimation problem with a Christmas twist.

Image Source: https://twitter.com/suedepom/status/944354870064238592

Inertia Exploration Activity

Tina McNally makes me wish I was still teaching physical science with this fun inertia exploration activity.

Image Source: https://twitter.com/TinaMcNally5/status/918943087656923136

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!

Image Source: https://twitter.com/solvemymaths/status/944474678848032769

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.

Image Source: https://twitter.com/UKMathsTrust/status/944560724784791552

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!

Image Source: https://twitter.com/Regolo54/status/944135647039836160

10% Models

Check out the 10% body models that Colleen‘s students created as a math/art project.

Image Source: https://twitter.com/ColleenHsquared/status/731984923427409921

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.

Image Source: https://twitter.com/ColleenHsquared/status/733462685560406018

Cookie Recipe Smudged Math

Lam Nguyen shares several interesting Smudged Math activities. First up: Cookie Recipes!

Image Source: https://twitter.com/NguyenMath/status/888402269649154049

Long Division vs Synthetic Division Smudged Math

Also, polynomial long division vs. synthetic division:

Image Source: https://twitter.com/NguyenMath/status/907272059121631233

Box Method Smudged Math

And, my favorite, the box method:

Image Source: https://twitter.com/NguyenMath/status/931395764961599488

Log Laws Smudged Math

How about some log laws?

Image Source: https://twitter.com/NguyenMath/status/936676299443023872

Area vs Circumference Task

I am also really taken by this area vs. circumference task from Lam Nguyen.

Image Source: https://twitter.com/NguyenMath/status/926524233307398144

What is your Mathematician Name?

David Coffey shares a message ALL math students need to hear.

Image Source: https://twitter.com/delta_dc/status/944199190070079491

Christmas Tree with Triangle Centroids

Christine Redemske combines centroids for balancing triangles with the Christmas season to produce some beautiful results.

Image Source: https://twitter.com/redemske_rms/status/944064050530570240

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.

Image Source: https://twitter.com/nnserwylo/status/711217796944764929

Vocabulary with Snowflakes

Tina Cardone shares an idea for combining vocabulary practice with snowflakes for some festive fun in math class.

Image Source: https://twitter.com/crstn85/status/943948466161627136

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.

Image Source: https://twitter.com/sh_roth/status/943937711223619585

Syllable and Letter Puzzle

Maths Ed shares a fun puzzler involving syllables and letters.

Image Source: https://twitter.com/MathsEdIdeas/status/943802008347267077

Correlation and Causation Christmas Example

Also from Maths Ed: a brilliant description of why correlation does not necessarily mean causation.

Image Source: https://twitter.com/MathsEdIdeas/status/943508328935837696

Father Christmas Puzzle

Simon Quinn offers up yet another Christmas puzzler. Can you figure out how many presents Father Christmas has in his bag?

Image Source: https://twitter.com/MathematicQuinn/status/936929000785670144

3D Printing Project with Pop Cans

Ashley Tewes shares a fun and engaging project involving 3D Printing.

Image Source: https://twitter.com/ATewes3/status/943450508198428674

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.

Image Source: https://twitter.com/setamb/status/943635316795215874

Intuition Poster

I love this poster shared by Randy L Revels, Jr.

Image Source: https://twitter.com/revs_87/status/943523138213695493

Science Themed Christmas Ornaments

Ms Tang inspires with her science-themed Christmas tree. I MUST put up a tree in my classroom next year.

Image Source: https://twitter.com/ctangscience/status/943490656810491905

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!

Image Source: https://twitter.com/PlatouWorld/status/943246647307354113

Printing Mathematical Images

Kim Spek combines the art of printing with the art of mathematics to produce something beautiful!

Image Source: https://twitter.com/kvdspek/status/943172645285236737

Chemistry Christmas Door Decorating Contest

If I was the judge, Allison Kipping‘s door would definitely win the door decorating contest!

Image Source: https://twitter.com/KippingChemEd/status/943176894916235264

Snowman WODB

Luke Walsh recognizes that a holiday gift bag is actually a brilliant Which One Doesn’t Belong (WODB) problem.

Image Source: https://twitter.com/LukeSelfwalker/status/943142111607705601

Origami Santa Star

Iva Sallay shares instructions for making adorable origami Santa stars on her blog.

Image Source: https://twitter.com/findthefactors/status/939791559645630464

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.

Image Source: https://twitter.com/alstechs/status/942973640550776832

Compass Ornament Projects

Elyssa Stoddard‘s students produced some beautiful projects using their compasses!

Image Source: https://twitter.com/math_stodd/status/942853864214188033

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.

Image Source: https://twitter.com/sargent_wendy/status/709348781108629504

Until next week, keep up the awesome sharing of ideas!

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