Skip to Content

Monday Must Reads: Volume 25

Happy Monday! For me, this marks the first full week back of the semester, and I am excited! We only had one day last week, and I have to admit that I was dreading going back. Once kids got in my room and we started the 2018 Challenge, I was reminded just how much I LOVE this job.

Here are what I have deemed as this week’s must reads. I hope you enjoy reading through these ideas. There are actually two weeks worth of ideas here since I skipped a week of Monday Must Reads due to New Years.

Multiplication Chart Decor

For years, I’ve had thoughts of somehow putting up a giant multiplication chart as part of my classroom decor. I’ve never been able to figure out how to pull it off, though. So, I was super excited when I ran across this awesome picture shared by Tom Loud.

Image Source: https://twitter.com/loudlearning/status/948756238652858368

Illustrating Systems of Equations with Linking Cubes

Kat Hendry shares a brilliant idea for using linking cubes that I’ve never seen before. Use them to illustrate systems of equations!

Image Source: https://twitter.com/GoslinK123/status/949482561746632705

Real Life System of Equations

Here’s another intriguing idea for teaching systems of equations from Mrs. Akgul. I like the idea of posing questions based on real life data. The article is here.

Image Source: https://twitter.com/MrsAkgul/status/943593126744248320

Lake Erie Ice Data

I am looking forward to using this data provided by Math In The News when we get to scatterplots and regression.

Image Source: https://twitter.com/MathInTheNews/status/949265058982318080

Mathematician Labels

Pam Wilson inspires with her mathematician table labels. I tried taping the labels to the tables this year, and it has been an utter failure. I’ll definitely be hanging table labels from the ceiling next year. I love the idea of exposing students to famous mathematical thinkers on a daily basis. Learn more about this idea on Pam’s blog!

Image Source: https://twitter.com/pamjwilson/status/949326109920854016

Handshake Problem Variation

Have you seen the adorable, viral video of the quadruplets taking turns hugging one another? Joe Karlovsky offers up an idea to turn this into a math problem.

Image Source: https://twitter.com/MrKarlovsky/status/949390120280576000

Elf Puzzle

I know Christmas is in the past, but I ran across some more Christmas themed puzzles on twitter, and I can’t not share them. Otherwise, how will I find them again for next Christmas. This Elf puzzle from Maths@ KPS looks fun!

Image Source: https://twitter.com/kpsmaths/status/671674015166169088

Candy Cane Puzzle

Here are some others from KPS Maths that also caught my eye.

Image Source: https://twitter.com/kpsmaths/status/672364202221268996

Christmas Chocolate Challenge

Image Source: https://twitter.com/kpsmaths/status/677523665676869632

Prime on a Lime Challenge

Here’s another idea from KPS Maths that can be used year round. I can see students really getting into this “Prime on a Lime” challenge. I would love to see what students came up with on their own!

Image Source: https://twitter.com/kpsmaths/status/941038365805350913

Pentomino Vector Puzzles

Teaching translations? You MUST check out this pentomino puzzle from Access Maths. You can download the puzzle here.

Image Source: https://twitter.com/AccessMaths/status/825685415575293952

Staff Shout-Outs

Liz Mastalio shares a shout-out she received from a coworker. I wish my school did things like this!

Image Source: https://twitter.com/MissMastalio/status/949365869251088385

Sequences Venn Diagram Task

OCR Maths shares an intriguing task that combines sequences and Venn Diagrams.

Image Source: https://twitter.com/OCR_Maths/status/916252970987278337

Mathematician Bulletin Board

The SJB Numeracy Department shares a photo of a “Mathematician of the Term” on a bulletin board. LOVE it!

Image Source: https://twitter.com/SJBNumeracy/status/917276213743407104

Mathematicians of the Past Bulletin Board

Miss Hughes shares another inspiring bulletin board that features famous mathematicians.

Image Source: https://twitter.com/MathsatStNics/status/827090150333235200

Snowman Puzzle

Another goodie from Miss Hughes – a fun problem involving the snowman language.

Image Source: https://twitter.com/MathsatStNics/status/937935699969536001

Angle of Elevation Shadow Task

Nicole Miranda engages her students with a fun, hands-on angle of elevation task.

Image Source: https://twitter.com/MirandaMath0509/status/837032909680873477

5 Steps to Zero

Jerrold Wiebe poses an interesting task involving the numbers between 1 and 9. I can see this task leading to a lot of great math talk!

Image Source: https://twitter.com/Jerroldwiebe/status/852002616842256384

Visualizing Transformations on a Learning Carpet

I’m also jealous of this learning carpet!

Image Source: https://twitter.com/Jerroldwiebe/status/943655160542138368

Point of Confusion Post-It Notes

I LOVE this idea shared by Miss Davis where students have to self-identify their point of confusion.

Image Source: https://twitter.com/MissDavisSCSD/status/941849532538740736

Dorm Room Design Coordinate Plane Challenge

Gina Bostwick gets her students thinking about college early with this dorm room design challenge.

Image Source: https://twitter.com/gbostwick626/status/942971391791558656

Representing Equations

Kent Haines posed a question on twitter that really caught my attention. How would you represent 2x + 3 = 17?

Image Source: https://twitter.com/KentHaines/status/948602599665733637

Statistical Questions Card Sort

Teaching about statistical questions? Check out this awesome notebook page from Cheryl Leung!

Image Source: https://twitter.com/MathEasyAsPi/status/948961176485994496

Linear Graphing with Smarties

Want to make your graphing lesson more hands-on? Karyn Jackson says just add smarties!

Image Source: https://twitter.com/afrkl4u/status/837292195237478401

Pin the Tail on the Number Line

I also look forward to trying Karyn‘s idea of Pin the Tail on the Number Line in the future.

Image Source: https://twitter.com/afrkl4u/status/908787860698013697

Box and Whisker Plots on Lockers

Miss Gray brilliantly has her students use lockers to make box and whisker plots.

Image Source: https://twitter.com/MissGray908/status/867753083144744962

Multiple Ways to Rationalize the Denominator

Benjamin Dickman recently blew my mind. How come nobody every told me that there were multiple ways to rationalize the denominator?!?

Image Source: https://twitter.com/benjamindickman/status/945792987036049409

Equations vs Inequalities

I’m super impressed with this thinking map created by Chris Depew‘s students to compare and contrast equations and inequalities.

Image Source: https://twitter.com/CDepewMath/status/804818345056870400

Box and Whisker Plot Weather Project

Check out this awesome data analysis task that is also from Chris Depew.

Image Source: https://twitter.com/CDepewMath/status/869637936886595584

Archaic Math Terms

Jo Morgan has written a very interesting blog post about words we no longer use in mathematics. I highly suggest reading it! I’ve flipped through some old math textbooks on my own recently, and I was blown away some of the vocabulary myself.

Chicken Wings Task

Joel Bezaire kicks off the new year with a fun task. I’m curious how my students would approach this.

Image Source: https://twitter.com/joelbezaire/status/948614040888078336

Factoring Matching Task

Susan Russo shares an interesting find in an old textbook. How would today’s students perform on this task?

Image Source: https://twitter.com/Dsrussosusan/status/947536002398253056

My Favorite Lesson

I love the “My Favorite…” blog structure that @druinok recently used to sum up her week. One of my goals for this new year is to be more intentional with how I use my time both in the classroom and at home. I would love to set goals and follow up on them each week/month/etc in this style. Check out the rest of the post here.

Image Source: https://mathequalslove.net/2018/01/myfavfriday-first-week-back.html

Until next week, keep up the awesome idea sharing!

Latest Monday Must Reads Posts

Anonymous

Tuesday 9th of January 2018

Lots of good ideas but I can't keep track of them all. Any chance you could limit Mondays to 10? Or 8? Or... Sorry. I'm just overwhelmed.

Comments are closed.