I’ll Have Another

May 19^th will be the running of the Preakness thoroughbred horse race. The Preakness is the second race of the Triple Crown. Hopefully we’ll see the horse, I’ll Have Another, win the Preakness and get a chance to run for the Triple Crown. No horse has won the Triple Crown since 1975. It’s been a long time.

Involve your students in this soon-to-be event while reviewing fractions, calculating miles per hour and miles per minute of horse racing, and learning about the measures of “hands” and “furlongs”.

triple-crown.pdf

For members we have an editable Word doc and solutions.

triple-crown.doc          triple-crown-solutions.pdf

CCSS: 5.NF, 6.RP, 6.EE, 7.RP, 7.EE

Whoa!  I have two fish in my aquarium.  My goldfish always stays really close to the front wall as he swims towards his food.  However, my clown fish swims diagonally across the tank to the back top right to retrieve his sprinkle of food.

I wonder which fish swims a greater distance? How much longer a trip does my clown fish take?  What information do you need to find out?

Extension: Once you figure out which fish swims a greater distance think about how much faster that fish has to swim compared to the other fish in order to get to the food at the same time?

fish-tale.pdf

For members we have editable Word docs and solutions.

fish-tale.doc             fish-tale-solution.pdf

CCSS: 7.G, 8.G, 8.NS, G-SRT

Did you know that Stanley Cup Playoff matches can last a really long time? There are not a lot of goals scored in a hockey match and a playoff game can not be finished as a tie. This has resulted in some very long playoff and Stanley Cup matches.

Spoil your students with some authentic learning as they explore real NHL game data and use proportional reasoning.  Students learn about the length of the longest hockey matches in history and then try to determine how long it would have taken to watch them (TV time vs. game time).  Knowing that a regulation 60 minute NHL match takes around 2.5 hours to play, can students figure out how long it took to play out the longest games in NHL (or any of the major sports for that matter) history?

Students will work with proportional reasoning along with some time conversions in this activity. As demonstrated in our solutions we encourage the use of ratio tables in this activity, which can be an intuitive way for students to solve ratio and proportion problems.  This activity is perfect for the during the NHL season or during the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

ten-longest-overtime-games.pdf

For members we have an editable Word doc and solutions.

ten-longest-overtime-games.doc        ten-longest-overtime-games-solutions.pdf

CCSS: 3.MD.1, 4.MD.2, 5.MD.1, 6.RP.1, 6.RP.3, 6.EE.6, 6.EE.7, 6.SP.3, 7.RP.2, 7.RP.3

Time to celebrate Mother’s Day?  Father’s Day?  Time to help students realize all that mom and dad went through in buying and changing diapers.  Students will compare the cost of buying disposable versus cloth diapers. They estimate how much they cost their parents in diapers and consider how much they will spend on diapers when they have a baby. This is a great math activity for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day or during the study of linear equations and introduction to systems of equations.

The original activity was written by and shared with us by Andy Fehlner, 8th grade algebra teacher in Newton, MA. Thanks for sharing this timely activity with us, Mr. Fehlner!

Want to see student work?  The Blog: “Teaching Math Rocks” changed the title of the activity for High School students and they have provided student work samples.

diapers2012.pdf

For members we have an editable Word doc, an Excel sheet and graph, and solutions.

diapers2012.doc        diapers.xlsx        diapers-solutions.pdf

CCSS: 6.EE.9, 7.EE.4, 8.F.2, 8.F.4, 8.EE.8, HS.F-IF.8.B, HS.F-LE.2, HS.F-LE.5

Mother’s Day is right around the corner and this means big business for the greeting card and floral industries. Let your students practice averages, percents, and large numbers while they analyze the statistics on Mother’s Day spending.  You could even ask students to do their calculations in scientific notation to add an extra dimension to this activity. Enjoy.

mothers-day-numbers.pdf

For members we have an editable Word doc and solutions.

mothers-day-numbers.doc        mothers-day-solutions.pdf

CCSS: 6.RP, 6.SP, 7.RP, 7.SP

1. The Illustrative Mathematics Project provides guidance to states, assessment consortia, testing companies, and curriculum developers by illustrating the range and types of mathematical work that students experience in a faithful implementation of the Common Core State Standards, and by publishing other tools that support implementation of the standards.

There are example problems for many of the standards for K-12.  One of our favorite problems is the “Security Camera” problem under 6.RP.

2. Tools for the Common Core Standards is a blog associated with the Illustrative Math Project.  On this blog you can learn about the task writing contests for the Illustrative math project.  Each month the site asks math educators to submit example problems (illustrations) for particular standards.  If your example problem is selected then not only does your problem become published on the Illustrative Math Project site, but you receive $200.  You will also find information on the progression of various domains.  For example, there is detailed information on how the data and probability standards progress through middle and high school.  This is very useful as it gives a big picture of the big ideas in a domain and how these ideas build from one grade to the next.

3. The Arizona Department of Education page for K-12 Academic Standards has detailed documents fon the CCSS for each grade level.   In these documents (also in PDF form) you will find discussion on the critical areas for each level, plus example problems for each standard.  There are example problems for nearly every standard, but they are often not as rich as the problems found on the Illustrative Math Project.

4. Achieve the Core has an interesting document which provides information on the CCSS.  The document provides content emphasis by cluster for each grade level.  For each grade level clusters are broken down by major clusters, supporting clusters and additional clusters.  This can help teachers consider which standards should be the focus of their grade level curriculum.

5. Inside Mathematics is one of the few sites that we have found that gives examples of the standards of practice in action.  The site gives example activities, classroom videos and lesson handouts of activities that engage students in the standards of practice.

6. The Kansas Association of Teachers of Mathematics has a nice website with useful CCSS resources.   We like the flipbooks for grades K-8 which unpack each of the standards with discussion and examples for each standard.

7. PARCC Model Content Frameworks offers resources to support the implementation of the CCSS.  Overviews and specific explanations of the CCSS are included in the resources. You will also find more on content specific areas for in-depth focus at each grade level.

Do you have a recommendation for another CCSS resource?  If so let us know in the comments section.

Let your student study American Idol viewing figures over the last ten seasons. Students compare historical season premier and season finale audience size in several different ways to determine which event has had higher viewership. They consider outliers and judge the reliability of the mean and median. Finally, students plot data in order to predict future viewership and make season eleven predictions.

Season eleven premiered on January 18^th and the finale will be on May 23rd.  This activity will be timely for a while. Enjoy!

This activity should be accessible to students as young as 4th grade.  Extend this activity by having students create box plots (box and whisker plots) to analyze the premiere and finale data.  Kids can make their own box plots or you can use technology.  Kids can easily make their own box plots at Interactivate’s Free Box Plot Application.

season-eleven-american-idol.pdf

For members we have an editable Word doc, an Excel data and graph file, and solutions.

season-eleven-american-idol.doc        idol.xlsx          american-idol-solutions.pdf

CCSS: 6.SP.2, 6.SP.3, 6.SP.4, 6.SP.5, 8.SP.1

Jodie Berman, a future math teacher, loves mathematics and loves to cook.  We’ve created an activity based on her Monster Cake from her blog Binomial Baker.   Students find the surface area covered by M&Ms to approximate how many M&Ms she needs to finish her cake.

When Brian tries to make the cake, he mistakenly adds too much peanut butter.  Now all the ingredients will have to be increased by what percent?  Do the math.

monster-cake.pdf

For members we have an editable Word doc and solutions.

monster-cake.doc       monster-cake-solutions.pdf

CCSS: 5.NF, 6.G.4, 6.RP, 7.RP, 7.G.6

We can’t get enough NFL.  With 2012 NFL schedule just announced and the NFL draft taking place, we think it is a great time to do some NFL math.  Check out the video above that revisits a truly great NFL playoff play. In the 2005 AFC divisional championship game between the New England Patriots and the Denver Broncos, Benjamin Watson stopped a touchdown in the last instant.

Watch the video with your class and use our activity to motivate students to figure out who ran a greater distance by using the Pythagorean Theorem.  In the video Teddy Bruschi says that Watson must have ran about 120 yards, maybe even more.  Use the video and/or our activity to see if Teddy’s estimate is about right.

What other questions might your student wonder after watching the activity?  How fast was each player running?  How much faster does Champ need to run to have made it to the end zone?

watson-saves.pdf

For members we have an editable Word doc and solutions.

watson-saves.doc            watson-saves-solution.pdf

CCSS: 8.G.7 (could also use to address G-SRT.8)

Special thanks to Lenny Monson, Math Teacher in Newton MA for the original idea for this activity!

really-big.pdf

For members we have an editable Word doc and solutions.

really-big.doc         really-big-solution.pdf

CCSS: 7.RP, 8-RP, G-SRT, G-MG,

I decided to download a couple demo video games from the Wii online store.  Both of the games are free demo versions that I download directly to my Wii console.  Watch the video in order to answer the questions below.

ACT TWO: How long will it take me to download this game?  Be sure to explain how you came to your solution or estimate.  How do you define when downloading begins and ends?  How might this factor into the problem and any possible solutions?

Based on the video, about how long should it take me to download a game with this number of blocks (pictured below)?

What other questions come to mind?

ACT THREE: The solution

Watch the video below to find out how long it took to me to actually download this game:

FOLLOW UP QUESTIONS:

How close to the actual download time did you get?

Did all groups define the start and end of downloading time in the same way?

How long should it take to download a game that is:

10 blocks?         500 blocks?

Any number of blocks?

How do you know?

video-game-download.pdf                  video-game-download.pdf

video-game-download-solutions.pdf

CCSS: 5.NF, 6.RP, 7.RP, 7.EE, 8.EE.5, S-IC

Note: Three Act Task model from Dan Meyer.  For more check out his blog: http://blog.mrmeyer.com/

April 19th is the anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord that began the Revolutionary War 237 years ago in 1775. Both Paul Revere and the British regulars started moving towards Concord between 10pm and 11pm on the 18th.

In this investigation, students calculate the rates of; the British crossing from Boston to Cambridge by boat, Paul Revere’s ride from Boston to Lexington, and the British march throughout the night of April 18th.

Students will appreciate what a difficult night and morning all of the soldiers experienced as they analyze how long, at what rates, and when soldiers were traveling.

By clicking on this map, you can get a larger map to show your class.

April19th.pdf

For members we have an editable Word doc and solutions.

April19th.doc         April19th-solutions.pdf

CCSS: 6.RP, 7.RP

Albert Pujols, an eleven year veteran ball player with the St. Louis Cardinals, just signed a ten-year, $240 million dollar contract with the Los Angeles Angles.  Albert has been one of  the best offensive players in baseball during his career.

If he can maintain his pace, will he beat Pete Rose’s hitting record?  Hank Aaron’s RBI record? Barry Bonds homerun record?

Students discuss and analyze Pujols possibilities if he can continue playing as he has in Brian’s latest activity.

 On_Pace.pdf

For members we have an editable word doc and teacher hints with the solutions.

On_Pace.doc      On_Pace_Solutions.pdf

Serve a sweet in your classroom as you ask students to ponder the amounts of money Americans spend on candy.

CCSS: 6.RP.3 , 7.RP.3  7.EE.3

        holiday-candy-sales.pdf

For members we have an editable Word doc and solutions.

  holiday-candy-sales.doc                holiday-candy-sales-solutions.pdf