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.
Lots of Cranberries
Tag: 8.G
Betsy Ross’s 5-pointed star + 4th of July activities
3 activities for the Fourth of July: (1) Folding analysis to make a 5-pointed star; (2) Parabola manipulation to create a fireworks image on your calculator; and (3) Ratios, creativity, and art in creating new flag patterns.
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…
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?
Macy’s has some new balloons
These giant beauties can be measured in handler height, taxi cab widths, stories tall, and bicycle lengths. What does that all mean? How big are these balloons. The activity: Macy’sNewBalloons.pdf
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…
Betsy Ross’s Star
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…
How long would it take to build this underground house and pool?
The building of this underground house and pool was presented by Cayote Person and his partner, Mark Lavins, on their youtube channel, “Brave Wilderness.” At BraveWilderness.com the business partners post animal and adventure films to promote education and conservation. Here…
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…
For Three!
The NBA court has a 3-point line that separates how many points a player will earn for his team by making a basket from outside of that line. Here’s a simplistic picture of 1/2 of an NBA full court. Teams…
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…
Crop circles
In the travel section of our newspaper this week, Wiltshire, England was a recommended destination to see Stonehendge and crop circles ……….. crop circles? Many of the crop circles in England appear mysteriously overnight. They are often huge but appear…
Ladder figuring
Brian can’t even go to his town’s spring festival without seeing math. Let your class approximate the height or length of this ladder by using the relative size of the cars or the people to approximate the ladder’s length.
What time is it in Cambodia?
I need help! My daughter is traveling in Cambodia and we are supposed to Skype just before her dinner time in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. What time is that here in Boston?