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Wow! It’s been a long time since I last sat down in April to put together a Monday Must Reads post. I usually take a break from these posts during the summer, but the craziness of this pandemic meant an extra long break this time. Anyway…I’m excited to be sharing with you today some of the awesomeness of other teachers on twitter that has been sitting in my Twitter likes for the last five months. I hope you find some inspiring ideas to use in your own classroom. There are a ton more digital ideas than normal in this Monday’s round-up, but I guess that’s to be expected.
Multiplying Binomials Open Middle Puzzle
Check out this open middle math problem from Stephanie Minor. I LOVE seeing how teachers are incorporating critical thinking tasks in their virtual classrooms. I have so much to learn about being an excellent digital teacher,
Cool Symbol
Need to type a weird symbol into your Desmos activity? Druin recommends coolsymbol.com. I am definitely going to need this site this year. I couldn’t figure out how to get the degree symbol the other day, so I just ended up writing out the word degrees.
Desmos Attendance Hack
Druin also shares a great teacher hack for taking attendance through a Desmos activity.
Tell Me About a Mistake…
Looking for a prompt to help you get to know your students better? Check out this one from Todd Feitelson. That student response is priceless.
Natural Logarithm Trivia
Benjamin Dickman shares a fun bit of trivia that I’m going to save for when we get to logarithms this year in Algebra 2.
Playing the Train Game Virtually
Lisa Navarro Garcia proves that teaching virtually doesn’t mean that you have to give up the train game.
Math Emojis
Mary Williams shares some great slides from a Desmos activity with credit to Luke Walsh and Carole Pryor. I LOVE the emoji slide.
Virtual Learning Conversation Starters
Lisa Biber shares an excellent idea for getting students to engage more in google meets.
Zoom Game
I really like this idea for a Zoom game from David Butler.
Numbers Game
David Butler continues to inspire with a new take on the numbers game he created seven years ago. I think this would make a great game to play collaboratively with students during distance learning. Even though I’ve never met David in person, he inspires me to be a better teacher with each idea that he shares on twitter. I admire how he always shares the process he goes through to solve a math(s) problem or create a puzzle. Too often, we just share our shiny finished products and not the beautifully messy path that got us there.
Multi-Step Equations with Desmos
Mark Kaercher shares an idea for using the Desmos graphing calculator to teach students to solve multi-step equations. As long as the graph doesn’t change, they have done a valid operation to both sides of the equation. Brilliant!
Breakout Rooms
Alyson Eaglen highlights an excellent breakout room structure from Miranda Lambourne that incorporates some math history into the classroom in a fun way.
SET Desmos Activity
Want to teach your students to play SET? You MUST check out this Desmos activity from Greta Bergman. It is AMAZING.
Prime Number Article
Mr. Q shares a great math find in a newspaper article from 1978. Can your students spot what is wrong with this alleged prime?
Google Classroom Template Classroom
Anna Vance shares some brilliant Google Classroom ideas in this thread. I am definitely stealing her idea of having a “Template” classroom. Be sure to check out the entire thread for even more awesomeness and examples.
WODB with Virtual Post-It Notes
Allyson Klovekorn demonstrates how to use Jamboard to allow students to participate in a Which One Doesn’t Blog (WODB) activity. The virtual sticky notes are an idea worth stealing/borrowing!
Number Scavenger Hunt
Looking to get your kids interacting on Zoom/Google Meet more? Check out this number scavenger hunt idea shared by Casey. She claims she got the idea from someone else, but we’re going to give her the credit for sharing it with all of us!
Grocery Receipt Data Collection
Looking for some interesting data to analyze? Check out Erick Lee‘s latest data collection project involving grocery store receipts.
Mathematical Fonts
Love fun fonts? Love math? Check out this find shared by algoritmic.
Count to 10 Game via Videoconferencing
Liz Coleman shares that the cooperative counting to 10 game works well via video-conferencing as well. Good to know!
Base 10 Manipulatives
Needing to rethink manipulatives this year? Check out this idea from Lauren Bohm.
Bad Graph
Need an example of a bad graph? Check this one out – especially the edit from Miss Neutrino!
Brackets as Bundles
I’m glad that Jo Morgan shared this old textbook find since I missed it the first time around.
Area and Perimeter Warm-Up Question
I love this warm-up question from John Rowe.
Staying Organized During Distance Learning
Madeline Gorley shares a great idea for helping students stay organized during this strange time of distance learning.
Calculus WODB
Teaching calculus? Check out this Which One Doesn’t Belong activity from Howie Hua.
Fraction Inequality Task
Don’t teach calculus? That’s okay. Howie also shares a great fraction task that might interest you.
Hundreds Table
How cool is this hundreds table from Emma Bothma?!?
Columbus Cube Tower
This columbus cube tower shared by Amy Castle looks like a fun origami project. I’m adding this to my list to make someday.
Balloons in Chemistry
Keith Anliker shares an idea for using balloons in chemistry class.
Scientific Notation Task
Jshm shares a lovely scientific notation task.
Statistics Valentine Poem
Amy Hogan shares a statistical valentine.
Valentine’s Day Area of Irregular Objects Task
Can you tell how long it’s been since I’ve done a Monday Must Reads post. Here’s another Valentine’s activity from Nancy Fitzpatrick. This one involves area of irregular objects.
Favorite Activity of the Week
I like this idea from Tracey Nesrallah to survey students weekly about their favorite activity.
Exponential and Logarithmic Function Task
Matt Enlow shares an interesting function task.
Self-Portrait Matching
Cathy Yenca shares a great idea for reusing a getting to know you activity at the end of the school year as well.
Logarithm Fill in the Blank Task
I’m really liking this logarithm task from Amy McNabb.
Until next time, keep sharing your awesome ideas! Want even more ideas? I suggest checking out previous volumes of Monday Must Reads!
