Triangles

This is Day 1 of how I will be teaching Triangles this week.

With the new Texas standards this year, my 6th graders are supposed to already know the types of triangles, but they do not. So I really cannot spend any days on teaching classification of triangles, but I will.

Inquiry Question: How can triangles be classified or grouped?

Engage: Ask students where they have seen triangles or how could they be useful.

Explore: In groups: Cut out a sheet of triangles of all types and find 3 ways to group the triangles.
Allow students to share how they classified the triangles. (I expect that some students will already know the types of triangles, so this will be a way for me to assess who knows and who doesn't.)

After listening to student ideas, have them try again and find 3 other ways to group the triangles.

Explain: Glue notes into ISN giving definitions of triangles and watch this video.

Elaborate: Using the app Geoboard, students will make and explain all the types of triangles.

Evaluate: Write triangle riddles: I have 3 60 degree angle, I have 3 equal sides. What am I?
 and a quick 4 question exit ticket.


This is the plan. I'll report back after execution.

A Giant Hand: A Proportional Reasoning Review Activity

One of my classes was catching onto proportions fairly quickly and I wanted to give them an activity where they could apply those skills. 

Giant Hand: A Proportional Reasoning Activity

How to review proportional reasoning with middle school math students?

I found this link to a lesson called Hands on the Giant. I projected a giant hand onto paper and traced one for each group. Their instructions were to find the height of the giant just knowing how big its hand was. I gave them no hints and let them work. 

Immediately some groups were measuring themselves and their hands and then setting up an equivalent proportion. It was great to see them pull from the math they knew to solve this problem. 

The only prep was tracing the giant hands. I made about 6 per class. This could take awhile or you could get some student helpers to trace the hands for you. All the work students did was right on the butcher paper. 

Math Shorts

I have been using these short videos in my classroom this year to jump off into a topic or to refresh student's memories.

Math Short has about 20 videos on various math topics that are colorful and to the point. And  no log in is required. 

Videos can be great additions to math class and can break up a lesson into manageable pieces. 

Anyone have any website with videos that they frequently use?

2014 Books Read

I am a reader. I have been since as long as I can remember. My siblings always made fun of me because I would have my nose in a book instead of being outside playing. I begged my parents to take me to libraries and still visit a library at least once a week. I love taking my daughter there. Even though she is only 1, I want her to love libraries as much as I do.

So, here are the books I read in 2014. I had a goal to read 25 and I read 26.

The Cuckoo's Calling, Robert Galbraith (really J.K. Rowling)

The Song of Quarkbeast, Jasper Fforde

The Abundance of Katherines, John Green

Death of a Maid, M.C. Beaton

A Hat Full of Sky, Terry Pratchett

I Shall Wear Midnight,  Terry Pratchett

The One, Kiera Cass

Wedding Night, Sophie Kinsella

Wintersmith, Terry Pratchett

The Bride Wore Size 12, Meg Cabot

Nation, Terry Pratchett

The Thousand Dollar Tan Line, Rob Thomas 

The Elite, Kiera Cass

The Woodcutter, Kate Danley

The Selection, Kiera Cass

Under the Dome, Stephen King

Reached, Ally Condie

Promised, Caragh M. O'Brien

The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Neil Gaiman

The Rosie Project, Graeme Simsion

Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn

The Saber-Tooth Curriculum, J Abner Peddiwell

The Book Thief, Markus Zusak

Cultural Politics and Education, Michael W Apple

As Texas Goes, Gail Collins

The Fault in Our Stars, John Green

The books in blue are the ones I would recommend reading. Looking at my list though, I finished all of these books so...they weren't all bad. Some years I have books on my list that I read because its there and I am holding out hope that it will be good. Not this year. If it didn't grab my attention in the first 5 pages, I didn't read it. Not something I would tell anyone to always do. But all of these books grabbed my attention really quickly.

What books should I add to my to-read list of 2015? I love finding obscure books that few people have heard of. 

Would you Rather? Math Edition

Math. Love it and hate it.

It can be fun. But I find I love math when there are interesting problems to solve and not boring worksheets. I know my students feel the same way. 

I found this blog last week called Would You Rather?

John Stevens posts would you rather situations that require mathematical thinking to solve. 

Today I turned this one into a station. 

I changed it up a little so the students had to do more math with it. They had to answer the following question:

Would you rather...

Have a stack of quarters from the floor to the top of your head? OR

Have a nickel for every day you've been alive?

Students had to measure themselves, convert years to days, multiply decimals, divide, use fractions...etc. They had to take things they had learned and apply it to this problem in unique ways. 

The students didn't leave the classroom proclaiming it was the best day ever! (yet) But their attitudes were better, they didn't complain, students who grudgingly do math were excited to multiply decimals to find out how much money they would have. When it was time to go, they wouldn't stop. It was fun for me to talk to them about the work they were doing and they had fun explaining their choices. 

Look at all that math going on! I am excited for more students to tackle this problem tomorrow. 

Every Kid Needs A Champion

My principal showed this video at our PLC meeting this week. It will be added to the list of videos I watch on the day before school starts. It is a reminder of why I teach. I want students to realize that no matter their circumstances, they can be somebody. It's why I love working in Title One schools.

Rules, Post-its and First Week of School

The first week of school is one of my favorites. It goes by fast, everyone is hopeful and there is so much excitement. It is a perfect time to talk to students about what they expect for the year and what they need. 

You've probably seen this activity on Pinterest. It isn't new and I've been doing it for at least three school years. I love getting the students opinions on how the year should go.

The students answer questions on post-it notes and then place their answer on the butcher paper I've put up. 

Here are some of the questions I have asked:

What kind of teacher do you need?

What do you need from your classmates this year?

What do you need to be successful in math this year?

Our classroom should be _____________ every day. 

The after is the interesting part. I take their answers and make a world cloud out of them and then present it to the class on other day. We can make classroom rules from the patterns we see. It is also something I get out after long holidays and as needed to remind ourselves what we expect from each other throughout the year. 

What do you need from your classmates this year?

Our classroom should be _________ everyday. 

What do you need to do to succeed this year?

To make the clouds, I have used Wordle and Tagxedo. These were made with Tagxedo.