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…
Tag: 6th
How steep is this treadmill?
In this very short activity, students get a memorable way to visualize a zero slope and an undefined slope.
Martin Luther King, Jr. (5 activities)
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…
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…
Wanna work for Uber?
Students examine the ads and decide what is and isn’t said. Do the ads give enough information to make a decision? Which is the better deal? How do you know?
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.
The Times Square ball
On New Year’s Eve, the iconic Times Square ball will descend to mark the start of year 2020. The ball isn’t really a ball. It is a geodesic icosahedron. What does that mean and how do you transform an icosahedron into this ball?
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
Hanukkah dates keep changing!
3 Hanukkah activities; the amazing Hebrew calendar, soda menorah, and potato latkes. In the calendar activity, students look at the Hebrew calendar and appreciate the incredible mathematics involved in creating a calendar that aligns both the moon’s revolution about the Earth and the Earth’s revolution about the Sun.
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.
Star Wars … the story continues
The Rise of Skywalker will open on December 20, 2019. How much did it cost to make? How much will it gross? Is the Star Wars phenomena a guarantee for success? How would you compare these movies? We’ve been gathering data…
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…
It is getting dark way too early now
Students appreciate how their latitude effects the darkness of their late afternoon location as they study the earth’s tilt and the logic of daylight hours. Is latitude the central angle of the Earth? The activity: winter-solstice2019.pdf