8th grade math

End of the year activities in the math classroom

Last Modified: April 18, 2021 by Rachel

The school year is winding down for me, and for my students it marks the end of their junior high experience. I have a hard time with the end of the year. I get sad knowing that it’s the end of my time with these students. I’ve enjoyed getting to know them and seeing them grow over the year. I’ve loved our inside jokes and the silly idiosyncrasies that every class tends to have. I wish we had more time together- there’s always more I would have liked to have done. And yet, they’ve worked so hard this year and I know they’re ready for the next chapter in their schooling. And I’m ready for a break to recharge my batteries.

So if the school year is going to end, how can I make sure we go out in style? How can we close out the year in a way that honors the students’ learning time, celebrates our time together, and helps us all keep our sanity? For the end of this school year, I want to share my four main goals with you, some fun end of the year activities, and show you what the last few weeks looked like in my classroom.

Teaching Effects of Transformations through Matching

Last Modified: May 9, 2019 by Rachel

The past two weeks have been dedicated to the study of the effects of transformations: translations, rotations, dilations and reflections of geometric figures on a coordinate plane. With this unit, I wanted to make sure students got lots of chances to talk about what’s happening in mathematical terms. One of my favorite things we did in teaching transformations was to use match and paste activities. We actually used them TWICE in this unit. I can’t wait to show you just what we did and how it helped my students OWN transformations. [Read more…] about Teaching Effects of Transformations through Matching

Exploring the Volume of Cylinders, Cones & Spheres

Last Modified: May 9, 2019 by Rachel

All last week we had Pi on the brain as we learned the formula for calculating the volume of 3D shapes with circles. We got to see Pi in action! In preparing for the week, I really thought about how to help students 1) understand the relationship between the formulas for cones, spheres, and cylinders 2) get really clear on the vocabulary and individual components of the three formulas. Today I want to share with you how I introduced my students to finding the volume of cylinders, cones and spheres. [Read more…] about Exploring the Volume of Cylinders, Cones & Spheres

Using Maze Games in the Middle School Math Classroom

Last Modified: May 9, 2019 by Rachel

It’s funny how the very same students whose eyes glaze over when you put a worksheet in front of them, perk up when you present the same kind of work in a novel way. Take math maze games as an example. These mazes require that students solve a certain number of problems, but because they’re also trying to get to the finish line at the same time, students are so much more engaged when practicing. Today I’m sharing 8 ways to use mazes in your math classroom.

One of the most rewarding things about sharing resources on Teachers Pay Teachers is that through feedback, you can actually hear how real life teachers use these downloads in their classroom. It’s amazing to hear about their experiences using games, puzzles, and activities that I’ve used with my own students. So, when thinking about all the different ways to use math maze games in the classroom, I turned to the comments from other teachers and their great ideas and insights on using mazes with students.

Helping Students Discover More Math with Discovery Labs

Last Modified: May 9, 2019 by Rachel

Have you ever been frustrated that your students just don’t seem to remember what you taught them? I think all educators have run into this challenge- you’ve taught it, students have practiced it, heck, they even did pretty well on the test you gave at the end of the unit. And then… BOOM! Their scores tank on the semester final/district benchmark/state end of the year test. And you are looking incredulously at the answers they got wrong wondering why they don’t know now what they seemed to know before. Anyone else been there?

After having this experience more than once, I spent some time reflecting and trying to figure out a different approach. One that would get the students doing more of the mathematical thinking. One that would cement conceptual understanding into students’ brains in a more permanent way. What I found was a discovery math approach that got me fired up about the learning going on in my math classroom. Here I’ll share with you the story of the very first discovery lab I used with students, why they work, and how to implement discovery labs in your own classroom.