Year of the Metal Rat
Lunar New Year begins on Saturday, January 25th. This will be the year of the Metal Rat. The year name is a combination of 10 Heavenly Stems and 12 Earthly Branches creating a sequence of year names that eventually repeat.
Students explore the least common multiple of two cycles without ever hearing the term LCM. They explore some of Chinese culture and understand major significance of this annual event, while they “do the math”.
Photo from the Onion, America's Finest New Source. Women on Gym Treadmill Cranks Incline up to 90 Degrees
This is a very short activity designed to give students a more visual understanding of horizontal and vertical slope measurements.
Data on the National Mall sites - Two data analysis activities about the National Mall.
Who do we honor? - What people or events are included in the National Mall monuments? Students use fractions or percents to decide what they can notice about those we honor. 3.NF.1, 6.RP.3
Monuments most visited - Students analize the visitor statistics of the National Mall and make observations. 6.RP.3, 7.NS.3
Timelines for the life and work of Martin Luther King Jr.
- Students create one of two timelines about Martin Luther King Jr's life or the efforts in America to create a racial balance in the U.S. 3.MD, 4.MD, 5.MD, 6.RP, 6.G, 7.RP, 7.G
Totally new activity!
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Let your students talk about their favorite Girl Scout cookies as they figure out what the local GS chapter really earns from these sales. Use this old graphic (where a box only costs $4.00) to figure out what part of the proceeds goes to the troop. What is presently paid to the bakeries? Is there more to selling cookies than just earning dough?
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I received two ads for working for Uber. What do you notice and wonder? Why are the ads different? Is it the same rate? If not which is the best deal? Why? Will I get rich in my free time? In this math activity, kids pretend that they are going to drive for Uber and they use ratio and rate reasoning to determine which deal is better. Then they make up their own ads for rates of pay that are the same, better and worse. Enjoy!
Clicking on this image will take you to the actual daylight simulator in a new window.
What's your guess? How fast are the number of daylight hours changing each day? Will the changes be dramatic or subtle?
Students make guesses; compute how long, on average, the change in daylight hours should be; play with a cool piece of comparison technology; and finally understand the variability in our year of daylight hours.
