Category: 3-act tasks

8 cold and snowy activities

How much snow is that? – How many inches of snow produced that pile?  How much snow in volume is on top of the car?  How much could that snow weigh? Approximation, snow/water equivalent rates (SWE) 5.MD.C, 6.RP.A, 7.RP.A, 7.EE.B, 7.G, 7.EE.A Snowy…

Canstruction

Just before Thanksgiving there are competitions all over the world to celebrate cool design, tricky engineering, and to donate a whole lot of food. How many cans does it take to build this structure?  What information do you need to determine this?  How did you determine your solution? What else did you notice that is mathematical?

Candy deals

We found big mixed bags of candy at really good prices … we think. Students are asked to decide which would be the best deal and the worst deal on candy.  They can also create their own mixed bags.  This activity…

National Donut Day

Two activities to help celebrate National Donut Day
How many donuts is that = huge box of donuts to approximate.
How have donuts changed = torus volume measurements, formula intuition, and algebraic transformation of one formula into a second formula.

Fish tale, go figure!

I have two fish in my aquarium.  Betty is my white goldfish. She often stays really close to the front wall as she swims towards her food. Stripe, my clownfish, usually swims diagonally across the tank to the back top…

Drill bit fractions

Act One:  Drill bits are measured by the diameter of the bit in inches. The drill bits below are ordered left to right in increasing size. The numerators in the fractions have been blacked out.  What could the numerators be?  Explain your…

Stacking Jack

Act One: Check out the video slide show.  What questions do you have? The Activity: Stacking Jack Suggested Question: How many different ways can I stack Jack?  That is, how many different color arrangements are there? If I wanted to take…

Chocolate everything – Yum!

Just before Mother’s Day we thought a lot of chocolate play might be timely. Big Snickers bar – 3-act task; How much bigger than a regular Snickers bar is that? CCSS: 4.MD.A, 5.MD.C, 6.G.A, 6.RP.A, 7.G.1, 7.G.6, 7.RP.A

Weird wing prices

Clicking on this image will show it larger in a new window. Danny’s Wok in Philadelphia has a huge price list for ordering their famous chicken wings. Why did they write the prices this way? Do you see a pattern?…