Tag: 8.G

Lots of Cranberries

In this timely activity, students learn about how cranberries are grown and harvested; estimate their size and quantities; and see what they can deduce from published statistics.

2 Hiking Activities

Appalachian Trail Needs – Calculating the needs and rates involved in enduring this 2,168 mile trek.
Steepness and Fall Hiking – Use a little mathematics about percent grade change in hiking.

Can you show that the Pythagorean Theorem works?

Use this activity to help your students work through the meaning of the Pythagorean theorem. Pythagorean theorem experiences are often skill and drill work with contrived right triangle problems. In this activity students work with a visual representation of the…

A socially-distanced party

I risked infecting my friends or becoming infected myself by throwing a very small socially-distanced party.  I served baked appetizers, disinfectant wipes, and latex gloves.  I cooked while wearing clean latex gloves and served the appetizers with a spatula.  The…

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…

How long will it take you to trick-or-treat?

It’s Halloween and this is your neighborhood. How long will it take you to trick or treat at every house in your neighborhood? Possible conversation with students: How long will it take you to get from house to house? You…

Largest coffee, new world record

The world record for the largest cup of coffee was recently set (see picture above).  In this activity students explore scale, similar figures, volume and measurement as they estimate the amount of coffee that this record-sized mug holds.  Students also…

Point of view

If you have a set of cubes for your classroom, this would make a great group hands-on project. Its an old puzzle but the activity deserves a revisit. Below are two straight-on images of my stack of blocks. Can you…

How many baseballs are in this truck?

To see this poster larger in a new window, click on the image. In 2017, Old Dominion Freight Line offered 2 free tickets to the next 3 World Series to the person who guesses closest to “How many baseballs are…

Huge Key Lime pie

More for π Day!  On a cold and snowy day in Boston, two chefs created a huge Key Lime pie to remind the frozen people of the Northeast how tasty and warm the Keys of Florida are. After you…

Wheel of Theodorus

Bring a little art into your math class as you begin to use the Pythagorean theorem and your students first meet irrational numbers.

What me? Irrational?

We’ve found that some students believe that the approximation that their calculators show for irrational numbers is exact.  Here’s an activity that you can advertise as long multiplication review. After they study our calculations have a discussion just to clarify…

Greasing light poles

The Philadelphia police were being proactive about keeping their enthusiastic Eagles fans from being reckless as they celebrated their 2018 Super Bowl win.  So, the police departments frosted the city light poles with Crisco shortening to help discourage fans from…