Monday Must Reads: Volume 56
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Yes, I know that yesterday was Monday. But, I’m reaching that point in the semester where I am in deep need of motivation and inspiration. So, I figured I should compile a new volume of Monday Must Reads – a weekly-ish round-up of Twitter awesomeness to get my brain running with new ideas. And, we’ll just pretend that it’s Monday, okay?
Without further ado, let’s look at the awesomeness you guys have been sharing!
Mom’s Fridge Rubric
Gnlybe shares an awesome rubric based on Mom’s fridge. LOVE this!
Surface Area with Cereal Boxes
Katie Reneau deconstructs a Cheerios box to illustrate surface area. Brilliant!
Human Parabolas Activity
Steven Korney shares an awesome photo from Steve Szabo‘s classroom of students creating human parabolas.
Pi Day Passport
Megan Geltner inspires with a Pi Passport idea. Perfect if you’re already thinking about how to celebrate Pi Day 2020!
Combining Whiteboards with Desmos
Robin Kubasiak shares a great idea for combining low-tech whiteboards with high-tech Desmos.
Create Your Own Arithmetic Sequence Puzzles
Tori Cox had her students create their own geometric sequence puzzles in the style of Naoki Inaba. Check out his arithmetic sequence puzzles here.
Faculty Art Submission with Desmos
Ella Hereth inspires with her faculty art submission.
Cartoon for Memorizing Quadratic Formula
Artistic skill obviously runs in the family. Check out this comic that Ella had her father draw for helping students remember the quadratic formula.
Self-Paced Elementary Math Program
Jennifer Abel shares an intriguing peek into a self-paced fourth grade math program. Very interesting!
Create Your Own WODB Puzzles for Polynomials
I love these Which One Doesn’t Belong? Polynomial Puzzles created by the students of Megan Moss!
Inspiring Physics Word Wall
There’s just something about this word wall from Tiffany Taylor‘s physics classroom that really speaks to me.
Blood Drip Trig Waves
Want to get students engaged in trig graphing? Angela Novack gets students’ attention with blood drip trig waves!
Pinch Cards for Formative Assessment
Amy Parlette shares a great way to use “Pinch Cards” in the classroom as formative assessment.
Piecewise Function Christmas Trees
Katie Syvrud gives students some extra practice with graphing piecewise functions. It’s never too early to start thinking about lesson plans for next December, right?
Desmos Radicals Potluck Activity
Teaching how to graph radicals? Check out this Desmos Radical Potluck task from Paul Jorgens!
Desmos Parabola Potluck Activity
Check out this Parabola Potluck, too!
Equivalent Radicals Sorting Activity
Paul also shares a great human sorting activity involving equivalent radicals.
Function Family Posters
I love how Amy Bowden hangs more than just one example of each function family on the wall for students to reference.
Classifying Polynomials Sticky Wall Activity
Also from Amy Bowden, check out this cool “Sticky Wall” for classifying polynomials. This could be used for so many different topics!
Constant of Integration Reminder for Students
Do you teach calculus? Are you tired of students leaving off the plus c from their answers?
Christmas-Themed Parabola Graph Matching Activity
This Christmas-themed parabola activity from Math with P. Nik is too good to not share. I’m afraid if I wait until closer to Christmas that I will forget about it!
Elastic Band Puzzles
If you’re too impatient to wait for Christmas, check out these elastic band puzzles.
Ellipse and Parabola Art Project
Check out this application of ellipses and parabolas in redesigning the FIFA World Cup from St Macartans Tech Dep.
Quadratic Graphing Competition
Speaking of parabolas, check out this parabola themed contest from John Eagen.
Life Sized Mancala Game
Claire Verti shares the idea of playing a life-sized game of mancala. How fun!
Rational Exponent Rotating Paper Activity
Jason Kissel shares a rotating practice structure for practicing with rational exponents.
End of Year Engaging Test Review
Ms Aguilar shares a strategy for keeping students engaged during end of year testing and review.
Compound Interest Car Buying Activity
Ben Kase transforms his classroom into a car dealership/bank/credit union to make math come alive.
Pi Day T-Shirt Idea
Becca Phillips shares an awesome pi day t-shirt idea from her daughter. Sadly, 2020 doesn’t appear until 7000 digits into pi…
Triangle Mosaic Math Art Project
Samantha Cruz shares some beautiful triangle mosaics!
Learn to Use a Compass Mini Project
Megan Sheffield‘s students impress with their projects that resulted from learning to use a compass.
Desmos Test Mode Explanation
Marty Cardenas shares a great graphic for explaining Desmos Test Mode to students.
Triangle Inequalities Exploration Activity
Casey McTeach shares a great visual manipulative for investigating triangle inequalities.
Linear Relationships War Activity
Amie Albrecht shares an awesome linear relationship war activity.
Magnetic Plicker Storage
This magnetic plicker storage idea from Victoria Saldiveri is beautiful.
Explicit vs Implicit Formulas WODB Activity
My students really struggled with explicit vs. recursive formulas this year, so I’m looking forward to trying these ideas from Jessica Strom next year.
Helpful Anchor Chart Example
MrKitMath shares a photo of an anchor chart which his students found to be very useful.
Origami with Trig Functions
Paula Beardell Krieg shares some origami that produces beautiful patterns with trig functions. So inspiring!
Pi Symbol Decoration from Pi Day Coloring Sheets
Yet another pi day idea from PGCPS Secondary Math to file away for next year! Great idea for decorating with some pi day coloring sheets.
Hula Hoop Venn Diagrams for Prisms vs Pyramids
Diane Viola shares an example of building venn diagrams with hula hoops.
Using Manipulatives to Model Linear and Non-Linear Functions
L Zora demonstrates how to use manipulatives to model linear and non-linear functions.
Desmos Logo Design Graphing Contest
This Desmos-based logo contest from Lukas Hopper looks fun!
Price is Right Contest for Area Approximations
Chris Ozarka shares a great idea of combining The Price is Right with calculus!
Equivalent Fractions with Chocolate Bars
Meredith Hornsby explores equivalent fractions with different sized chocolate bars. Yummy!
Logarithms April Fool’s Day Lesson
Teaching logs soon? Check out this approach from Ross Andress. How would your students respond? What a memorable April Fool’s Day Lesson!
Functions on the Floor Curve Sketching Activity
Erick Lee shares an awesome functions on the floor activity. I definitely want to make some versions of this for Algebra 2 and Pre-Calc!
Tick Boxes for What if…? Questions
Dr Kristy Turner shares an idea of using tick boxes for “What if…?” questions that could be easily applied to the math classroom as well.
Rational Function Graphing Challenges
Dawn shares some rational graphing challenges. I love the idea of giving students different pieces of information for different challenges.
Angle Art Project
Janelle Praill shares some beautiful student artwork based on angles.
Tessellation Mural
Stephanie once again shares a beautiful math-based art project to blow us all away.
Pi Day Character Contest
Cheryl Tavernelli shares a winning entry in a Pi Day Character Contest. What would your students come up with?
Pizza Price Comparison Lesson
I love the props for this pizza based lesson from Sarah Lombardo!
Systems of Equations Clothespin Review Activity
Madi Roberts shares a creative review activity for systems of equations.
Simon Says with Function Types
Lauri Springer combines Simon Says with function types to get students up and moving in algebra class.
Geometry Kite Project
Ms Skudder shares some fun looking geometry projects.
Geometry Mini Golf Project
3D Printed Compasses for Dry Erase Boards
Tim Wilhelm shares the brilliant idea of 3D printing compasses for dry erase boards.
Dry Erase Clipboards
Another great idea from Tim is dry erase clipboards!
Digits of Pi Photograph
And, check out this awesome photo day opportunity for Pi Day!
Quadratics Lesson Starter: Will it Hit the Hoop?
Solenne Abaziou shares a great image found in the wild for discussing trajectory models.
Balancing Triangles on Centroid Activity
Cindy Worthington shares a great hands-on application activity for centroids of triangles. It’s magic. No, it’s math!
Formative Assessment with Sticky Notes
Pam Wilson always inspires with her commitment to formative assessment in the math classroom.
DIY Fraction Ruler
Geoff Wake shares some instructions for creating a fraction ruler from a Japanese textbook. My mind is officially blown.
Animal Size Graphic to Spark Mathematical Conversation
Toby Russo shares a great image from National Geographic for sparking mathematical conversation.
Displaying Desmos Artwork
Heather Kohn shares a strategy for displaying student Desmos artwork in the classroom.
Dice Activity for Visualizing Exponential Decay
Ralph Pantozzi shares an activity for helping students visualize exponential decay.
Mathematician Dress Up Contest for Pi Day
Sorry for all the Pi Day ideas. This is what happens when the last Monday Must Reads was published at the beginning of March and it’s now the end of April. But, I must share this mathematician dress-up contest idea from Renita Bushell. Can you guess the mathematicians?
Crowd-Sourced Answer Key
I love this idea of having your students crowdsource an answer key. Check out this google doc from Jorge Jacquez.
Unit Circle Walk Activity
This Unit Circle Walk from Anna Vance looks like a lot of fun! I’m already thinking of ways to turn this into an activity when I teach trig next year. Maybe have rounds where students win a piece of candy if they land on a radian measure that has a sine of 0 when the music stops?
Inequalities Stained Glass Window Poster Project
I’ve seen stained glass inequalities activities before but never with such a large scale. Check out this project from Rhanna Math. This would make some beautiful room decor!
Panda Squares Torus Puzzle
David Butler steps up Panda Squares another notch by asking students to explore torus solutions.
Polynomials WODB
Dana Harrington shares a WODB for polynomials.
Volume of Cylinders Exploration Activity
I love how Rockstar Math Teacher decorated her cylinders for this hands-on exploration of volume of cylinders. The bright, happy colors make my teacher heart happy.
“Find Your Match” Trig Identity Activity
I like this introduction to proving trig identities activity from Meghan Arnold. So stealing this for next year!
Larry Bird Birthday Celebration
Jamil Siddiqui inspires with an annual celebration of Larry Bird’s Birthday in AP Calculus.
Compound Inequalities Old Maid Game
Jenna Morrison‘s idea to play Old Maid using inequalities is brilliant.
Secret Memory Potion Statistics Lesson
A secret memory potion? Check out this stats lesson from the MVHS Math Department.
World Math Day Celebration
Zenned Math shares a way to celebrate World Math Day. Did you even know that was a holiday?
Sierpinski Triangles Exponential Growth and Decay Art Project
Dorothy Nelson shares a crafty way of looking at exponentials. These would make beautiful classroom decorations!
Go and Find Polynomials (Factoring/Solving) Activity
I love how Alexia DeLuca modified the Go and Find activity featured in a previous Monday Must Reads to practice factoring/solving polynomials!
Apples to Apples Game with Graphs and Variables
Katherine Muelling combines the fun of apples to apples with graphs and variables.
Math Flips String for Converting Radians and Degrees
Stacy Winters offers up a great idea for getting students thinking and talking about radians.
Giant Triangle Trig Task
Cindy Klages put trig to the test with a giant triangle for students to solve.
Impossible Triangle Task
Shelby Cameron offers up an impossible challenge to give your students. Just don’t tell them it’s impossible! 😉
Teaching Angle Relationships with Cats Cradle
FrostMath54 shows how to use the classic cats cradle game to teach angle relationships.
Trig Murder Investigation Activity
Tricia Leong‘s students set out to figure out who killed Bugs Bunny using trig. How fun!
Sticker Polls
Marx Advincula shares the idea of using sticker polls on the first day of school. This could be useful throughout the school year as well.
Conic Section Playground Design Project
Catrine‘s students not only designed playgrounds based on conic sections, they presented their creations to a 3rd grade class for feedback.
Graphs of Trig Functions Two Truths and a Lie Activity
I really like how Catrine provided students with trig graphs inside sheet protectors for this two truths and a lie activity.
Polar Graphing Art Project Wall of Fame
Check out Mr. Rich Fochtman‘s Polar Graphing Wall of Fame.
Inverse Trig Functions Error Analysis Activity
Rachael Gorsuch reminds us of the power of giving students both right and wrong answers to analyze.
Zombie Tag for Modeling Exponential Growth
Ethan Weker recommends Zombie Tag for investigating exponential growth.
Until next time, keep sharing your awesome ideas!
My 6th graders are working hard on the 2019 Challenge…..is it possible to find expressions for all of the numbers?
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