Updated! What is this holiday about? Are we celebrating the start of school? New cars? The end of summer? In this short activity, students learn about the intended meaning of Labor Day as they read about its origin. For the…
Labor Day 2019
Tag: 5.OA
What’s the answer?
Math doesn’t usually create a buzz on Twitter. This past week this post did just that. People argued online about whether the answer was 16 or 1 and proceeded to insult each other’s intelligence in doing so. Use our write-up…
Memorial Day, 2019
This Monday Americans will celebrate Memorial Day. Who are we honoring? How did the holiday come about? Isn’t Memorial Day usually on May 30th? Students learn a little about the history of the holiday, analyze the possibilities and patterns for when…
Egad! It’s already time for Hanukkah
Sunday evening, December 2nd, is the first night of Hanukkah this year. I think it was much later in December last year. Why isn’t it always on the same date? Students look at the Hebrew calendar and appreciate the incredible…
World Cup rankings
In December soccer teams with the strongest world rankings were chosen to play in the once-every-4-years World Cup. The World Cup competition has just begun and will continue through July 15th. The team rankings are calculated in a pretty complex…
Want to earn $150,000? – Mersenne prime search
What’s a Mersenne prime? How hard could it be to find the next one? Why are there only 50 known Mersenne primes? What’s with $150,000? The activity: NewMersennePrime.pdf
Winter Olympics, PyeongChang: February 9 – 25
Scoring Ski jumping – The scoring rubric for each of the Olympic events is intended to eliminate the possibility of scoring bias from the judges. Let your students learn more about the scoring of one event and decide whether it seems fair…
Pascal coloring and modular math
This is the third and final activity in the Pascal’s Triangle series. In this activity students again have the opportunity to color as they investigate Pascal’s triangle and the patterns that it shows. The activity might be used first in…
Where do those convention delegate numbers come from?
We hear nightly about who won delegates in state elections. But different states have different numbers of delegates. How is that figured out? Is it fair? The activity: Delegates.pdf Here’s a calendar of the nomination process: ElectionCalendar.pdf
Saffron and paella
In order to cook Paella (a delicious Spanish rice dish) I needed to buy Saffron spice. It was hugely expensive. So, I’ve decided to start a business of growing saffron and becoming immensely wealthy.
Three great World Cup activities
World Cup ranking – Students explore the ranking formulated from each team’s previous 4 years of play in their geographical divisions. The formula is complex and weighted. Is it fair? 5.OA, 5.NBT, 5.NF.B, 6.NS.B, 6.EE, 6.SP, 7.EE, 8.F, 8.SP, HSA World…
Scoring Olympic ski jumping
Updated for 2018!The scoring rubric for each of the Olympic events is intended to eliminate the possibility of scoring bias from the judges. Let your students learn more about the scoring of one event and decide whether it seems fair…