Monday, August 25, 2014

Day #1 and We Did Math!

Day #1 is in the books!  I can honestly say it was a whirlwind of a day, but a great one nonetheless.  I have so much to do and decided to avoid it for a little while by writing a quick post about the day (so that I don't forget about it later!).

The greatest part of today was that I got to do some fun math with a couple of my classes that we had some extra time in.  The math came in the form of a puzzle I got from #CAMT14.  The last session that I attended at #CAMT14 was one on population education.  There is so much math and so many lessons that are available through Population Education.


The puzzle was about receiving an inheritance and goes as follows:  Your rich uncle has just died and left you a billion dollars:  with a catch.  You must count the money for 8 hours a day at a rate of $1 per second.  Do you accept your uncle's offer?  Why or why not?  (credit www.populationeducation.org)

I let the students work in groups on this.  While they worked, I observed:  how they interacted with one another, the questions they asked each other, the things they seemed to struggle with (they were both GT classes so I was somewhat surprised about some of the struggles), and the ways in which they persevered.  At the end of the class period I chose not to give any more information and didn't give them an answer.  They hated it!  Such typical math students!

Can't wait for tomorrow!

Sunday, August 3, 2014

Newest Product and THE BIG SALE!



Are you ready for the big sale?  Tomorrow kicks off the Teachers Pay Teachers back to school sale and I'm so excited.  My store is ready ~ 20% off tomorrow through Wednesday.  Monday and Tuesday you can save an extra 10% by entering the promo code BTS14 at checkout.  Oh, and it gets better!  If you have left all of your feedback on previous purchases, you can use your TPT credits toward your purchases.  How sweet is that?!  I love saving money!


   

If you teach 6th grade math or if you need 5th grade math enrichment or 7th grade math remediation, take a look at my Coordinate Plane Graphing Puzzles.  

These puzzles are designed to allow students to practice graphing ordered pairs on the coordinate plane in all four quadrants. In addition, students will be reviewing area concepts by calculating the area of the figure created when the points are connected.

There are 8 puzzles where the students plot the points and find the area. There are a variety of shapes from triangles to trapezoids.

There are 4 puzzles that involve composite shapes which will require students to either add two areas together or subtract one area from another.

There are 6 puzzles in which one of the points is missing and students have to determine which point (or points in some cases) will finish the figure. 

Coordinate grids are provided with each puzzle which make these ideal homework, classwork (you could print one set and put them in page protectors or communicators and use with dry erase markers), small group instruction, etc. 

Where applicable, answers have been provided (in some cases there are multiple solutions).

I'm super pumped about the thinking that my students will need to do!

This has been way too long.  Go, right now, and make sure your wish list is ready.  And then get some rest....tomorrow's a big day!