Rachel

9 Easy Activities to Celebrate Pi Day

Last Modified: February 12, 2025 by Rachel

It’s pretty awesome that there’s a day to celebrate math. Even better- it has a link to a tasty pastry like pie. Also, it’s pretty amazing that I teach 7th and 8th grade math and both grade levels work with pi. Pi Day happens to always fall during spring break for us, but that doesn’t mean we can’t celebrate the day or week before spring break.

At this point in the year each day we naturally review things from earlier in the year, so I take this Pi Day celebration as a way to review irrational numbers, volume of cylinders, cones, and spheres, and area and circumference of a circle. Of course, we also eat pie.

How to Teach Simple Probability through Discovery

Last Modified: June 15, 2019 by Rachel

As teachers we want our students to discover things, but we also like to be in control. Sometimes we feel like we don’t have enough time to let students discover. We just want to jump in and give them a list of steps. I believe there’s certainly a place for teaching the list of steps, but I’ve also seen the power of discovery and I can’t go back to the days before I used it. Now, I start every unit with a discovery lesson. Some topics call for more involved discovery activities, like volume of cylinders, cones, and spheres. Other topics are less complex like simple probability. In this post I’m going to share the discovery activity I used with my students for simple probability.

12 Engaging Ways to Practice Volume of Cylinders, Cones, and Spheres

Last Modified: June 8, 2019 by Rachel

Teaching the volume of cylinders, cones, and spheres is all about the formulas. In the good old days the students didn’t have to memorize the formulas, but those days are gone.

Now, when my students practice using the formulas for volume of cylinders, cones, and spheres, we do a lot of practice focused on understanding the formulas. By the end of the two weeks, 98% of my students have memorized the formulas through a graphic organizer. Getting there, though, takes a lot of practice. And it helps if students practice in a variety of ways so there’s some novelty. So, I’m excited to share with you 11 12 ideas and resources to help your students practice with volume and absolutely own those formulas!

9 Activities for Simple Probability You Will Love

Last Modified: March 11, 2021 by Rachel

When you teach simple probability, it seems like you have to strike a balance between showing students how probability works and getting them to understand the math behind it. This topic lends itself to a lot of hands-on demonstrations and activities, which can be really fun. When I look for activities I know that I need hooks, practice activities and extensions. If you are looking for more about how I break down teaching and modeling simple probability, check out this post. Let’s dive into some fun and easy ways to get students thinking about simple probability.

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How to Make Teaching Simple Probability Easy

Last Modified: June 6, 2019 by Rachel

I love probability. I can’t really explain why, but I find it so easy to understand and applicable to real life. My students, on the other hand, don’t seem to really know much about it. When we start our probability unit, it becomes clear that some students have never even heard of it. I used to get so surprised when kids didn’t know anything about a topic. Now, I just realize that there’s simply a lot to learn about in the world, and I love the chance to be the one to share something for the first time with them. The probability unit is not only fun, it also uses some concepts that we have focused on this year like proportions and rates.