Idea Galaxy

Adventures in Junior High and Mathematics

Rachel

Using I Can Statements in a Math Interactive Notebook

by

When Common Core became the standards a few years ago I was also introduced to I Can statements. I was taking some graduate classes at that time for instructional design and we were learning about lesson objectives. The common wisdom is that lesson objectives should have what students would be able to do at the end of the lesson and be measurable. Then, I heard about I Can statements. What struck me as important was how they were written from the point of view of the student. This was very intriguing to me, but I didn’t know what to do with it.

[Read more…] about Using I Can Statements in a Math Interactive Notebook

Christmas Trivia Game for the Secondary Classroom

by

One of my favorite school memories came from a high school chemistry teacher right before Christmas. Every year, he hosted a science themed Christmas trivia game. And it was a big deal. Classes competed against each other. Everyone looked forward to it. He really made it a special event. The questions were challenging and yet somehow (loosely) related to the science we were studying.

With my own classroom, I wanted to create a similar experience. A few years back I found the addictive trivia game Wits and Wagers. It was so much fun to play with family and friends, and I realized that it would make a great holiday game in my classroom. [Read more…] about Christmas Trivia Game for the Secondary Classroom

Christmas Math Activities: 5 Ideas for the Week Before Winter Break

by

We all know that the week before winter break can be hectic! It’s so tempting to pop in a movie and call the last day or two a movie day. But in the middle school students often have 6+ classes and watching movies all day can create their own set of problems. Students get silly. Parents get annoyed that all their kids did was watch a whole bunch of random holiday movies. And we’re giving away a chunk of our limited instructional time. So, if you’re looking for an alternative to the Christmas movie, we put together this video to share 5 Christmas activity ideas to consider: [Read more…] about Christmas Math Activities: 5 Ideas for the Week Before Winter Break

Teaching Area and Circumference of Circles through Discovery

by

A highlight in my math class during this past month was teaching area and circumference of a circle. I’m excited to share with you a twist on the traditional teaching of this topic that made a huge difference for my students. One thing that has thrown my students for a loop in previous years was getting the area and circumference of a circle mixed up. Over the unit I often heard this chorus of questions: What was that formula again? 2 pi r squared? Which one is this again- circumference or area? When do I have to square the unit? 

So, this year I wanted to start off by preemptively addressing those common misconceptions. How did I do that? By building students’ conceptual knowledge before we ever talked about formulas and calculations. I started with a discovery lab approach to get them to explore circles. (I’ve talked about the discovery lab approach before here). They would draw conclusions and build their understanding before using any formulas to solve problems. And as we near the end of the unit, I haven’t heard the same questions that were so common last year. Hooray! [Read more…] about Teaching Area and Circumference of Circles through Discovery