Flag of the United States from 1777 to 1795. In honor of Independence Day we thought it would be fun to look at one story about the first American Flag. The rough design of the flag was drawn by a…
Betsy Ross’s Star
Category: Holidays and Annual Events
Investigations that relate to regular annual events.
The longest day
On Friday, June 21st, at 11:54 am EDT, the Earth’s North Pole will be tilted as far towards the Sun as it will ever be in the year. This marks the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere and…
Get ready for Father’s Day
Spiraling squares – compass and straight edge
Can you see the many spirals in this design? Students calculate the size of each increasing round of squares and consider what sort of spirals these must be. The activity: SpiralingSquares.pdf Working with a little mathematical art is a great…
Bring Mothers’ Day math to your class!
Mother’s Day by the numbers – 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…
Does a player’s draft order (NFL) mean a lot for the player?
Every spring, roughly 250 college football players are drafted by NFL teams through the NFL draft. Team rosters, careers, and multi-million dollar contracts are on the line … This is one of the biggest days of a football players life.…
Earth Day – 12 possible activities
Monday, April 22nd is Earth Day – There is so much to bring to your classroom to support recycling, conserving resources, studying climate change and protecting our planet. Have you seen more Monarch butterflies lately? – Students read charts, do a little research, and make observations…
Patriots Day, Tax Day, and the Boston Marathon
So much is happening on April 15th this year! As families and the news talk about filing taxes on time, it might be an excellent time to deal with where that tax money goes. Debt and Deficit give meaning to what tax…
Mess with ’em on April Fools Day
This day is known for pranks and puzzles. Try one of these on April Fools Day. Ask students to analyze where I made my mistake. PerplexingProblem.pdf For members we have solutions. PerplexingProblem-solution.pdf CCSS: MP.1,…
Get ready for Pi Day!
8 possible activities! Celebrate π in your school and in your math class with activities that demonstrate how π was derived; visually show why π makes sense; show a surprising place where π is used; increase students ability to measure and long divide; applauds…
Mardi Gras – Fat Tuesday
Tuesday, March 5, 2019, will be the day before Ash Wednesday and the start of the season of Lent. Mardi Gras is a last hoorah and is celebrated throughout the world with feasting, partying, and general indulgence. In New Orleans…
Movies and the upcoming Oscars
Eleven activities! Do the the movies that are nominated for the Best Picture at the Academy Award make the most money?
Valentine’s Day (11 possibilities)
Parametric graphing, heart area, chocolate volume, making a heart-shaped cake, pie charts of holiday candy sales, how many cans in a can heart canstruction, where do all of those flowers come from, best deal on bagged candies, making a cardioid … Valentine everything!
Lunar New Year 2019 – Year of the Pig
Year of the Earth pig Lunar New Year begins on Tuesday, February 5th. This will be the year of the Earth Pig. The year name is a combination of 10 Heavenly Stems and 12 Earthly Branches creating a sequence of…
Super Bowl, Groundhog Day, and even more football posts (19 activities)
Super Bowl Cheesy pretzel poppers – Students follow a recipe that involves cutting a block of cheese, figuring how many servings, estimating how many times they need to multiply the recipe by to make enough pretzel bites, and multiplying and reducing…