Tag Archives for estimation
True cost of lights bulbs
Last year the House of Representatives voted to withhold funding to enforce a law that was passed in 2007 and increases efficiency standards for light bulbs. There’s a lot of misinformation out there about the cost to consumers of CFL … Continue reading
Opening weekend
Hunger Games and the Avengers are recent popular movies that have made a ton of money during their opening weekend at the box office . Can you tell from its opening weekend how the movie will do in the long … Continue reading
Foil Prank
Robert Kaplinsky kindly contributed this post. We think it would make a great April Fools day activity. Check out his site for more great lesson ideas. Watch this movie with your class: foil_prank The Challenge(s) How much does it cost to … Continue reading
Green, green river
During the St. Patrick’s Day parade in Chicago, the local plumbers union dyes the Chicago River emerald green. Students learn what PPM (parts per million) means and attempt to figure out how much dye is used to sufficiently color the … Continue reading
Pi day and more pi activities
Thursday is pi day (3.14) and we have tons of math activities and tasks to engage your students. Check out our pi day post which includes several pi explorations. You might also consider some of these timeless yummymath tasks that let students … Continue reading
Shamrock Shake
For Saint Patrick’s Day add a little nutrition math to your celebration. In this post we look at calories, carbohydrates, sugars, fats, and proteins to decide what would be left for our day’s meal allotment after we had lunch and … Continue reading
Iditarod race
On Sunday, March 3rd, the incredible endurance Iditarod race began officially in Anchorage and then restarted in Willow, Alaska. There is so much mathematics in this race that our activity feels totally insufficient. But, perhaps the activity will raise interest … Continue reading
Is this a leap year?
Will we have a 29th of February this year? How can you tell? Students work with a flow chart to deduce what years are going to be leap years. They learn about the exact measurement of a solar year and … Continue reading
Chocolates
Valentine’s Day is here again and that means candies and chocolate. In this activity students approximate the volume (through finding surface area) of three different pieces of chocolate. The chocolates are shaped like a heart, a bat (for Halloween) and … Continue reading
Cost of Super Bowl ads 2013
Let your students practice using scientific notation as they calculate the incredible cost of Super Bowl commercials. After working with these costs, students share their memories of the ads, express their opinions about them and decide who the marketing was … Continue reading
Soda Santa
Happy Holidays! This Soda Santa is made up entirely of 12-pack cans of Coca-Cola products. What questions do you have? The activity: Soda_Santa.pdf For members we have an editable Word doc and solutions. Soda_Santa.doc Soda_Santa_solution.pdf CCSS: 4.NBT.5 , 5.NBT.5 , 7.SP.5 , 7.SP.7a As … Continue reading
How many feet of lights do I need?
Watch the video of my Xmas tree with your math class. We didn’t get enough lights for the tree. How many feet of lights do you think we need in total so that the tree is properly decorated? How do … Continue reading
Is this possible?
Brian Shoemaker, a Newton, MA mathematics teacher, saw this Dunkin Donuts Mazda traveling down the road. He wondered if that size coffee cup could really have coffee in it. Wouldn’t the car rock back on its rear bumper? How much … Continue reading
Veterans Day 2012
As Veterans Day approaches, let your students learn about and appreciate the meaning of the day by analyzing the powerful data that we’ve supplied. Students can use our numbers to create questions for their classmates … questions that are intended … Continue reading
