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…
Category: Algebra
These posts help students see patterns and relationships.
How steep is this treadmill?
In this very short activity, students get a memorable way to visualize a zero slope and an undefined slope.
It’s Girl Scout cookie time again!
Totally new activity! 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…
At last, the days are getting longer
As we’ve passed the darkest day, how will daylight hours change … gradually, linearly, suddenly? Time differences, patterns, play with cool online simulator.
Family fun math activities
Point of view – With any set of cubes, enjoy building this creation using our two view-point pictures. How many blocks are in my stack? What is the least number of blocks that I used? The most number of blocks that I used?…
Winter holidays – 17 activities
Three wrapping presents activities
3 activities about wrapping presents: On the diagonal, 3-act by estimation with iPhone, and judging sizes and needs by estimation with man and shopping basket.
Shipping crunch
Do huge numbers of packages shipped and huge numbers of packages delivered late mean that these two companies aren’t doing a good job? Talk numbers.
How many feet of lights should I buy for my tree?
Check out our Christmas Tree. We need to buy lights for the tree. Without calculating, guess how many feet of lights you will need. What information do you need to better estimate the number of feet of lights that you…
How much snow is that?
Start out this activity with: What do you notice? What do you wonder? 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? Students try to approximate…
The Forever Roll
Why would anyone need such a big roll of toilet paper? How does it compare to Charmin’s other toilet paper products? If this roll lasts for one month, how big a roll would I need to be able to last for one year?
Thanksgiving, football, Black Friday, and giving (11 activities)
11 math activities to use before the Thanksgiving break. Football, Turkey baking, Consumer spending, Macy’s Parade, mashed potato recipe doubling, and more …
Black Friday deals
When shopping next Friday, students will be able to add some understanding and analysis to the trip after calculating savings in dollars and percents with this timely investigation.
How should I cook my turkey?
Bake it, deep fry it or barbecue it? When do I have to wake up to begin preparations? How long will the cooking take? How much will it cost? How many can I feed?
Not enough mashed potatoes
Using his famous mashed potato recipe, Brian has asked students to change decimals to fractions, to calculate ingredient measures for various-sized Thanksgiving gatherings, to explain their thinking in calculating these figures and to judge how many servings could be created…