"You're right! They're numberless word problems!"
Hands-on geometric transformations in the coordinate plane
In this post I share an easy, hands-on method for demonstrating reflections and rotations of geometric shapes and their coordinates in the coordinate plane. The video included in the post covers reflecting over the x-axis, over the y-axis and over the line y = x. This same method will work for reflecting over any line of symmetry in the coordinate plane, even linear equations. I then share an idea for showing geometric rotations with a hole punch.
How to find inverse functions with a hole punch
What the heck are fraction exponents?
Exponents using Visual Models (video)
Why is a number raised to the zero power equal to 1? And why do terms with negative exponents become fractions? Are we able to see this through visual models?
Yes!
In this short video, you'll see how exponents take on a pattern and can be modeled concretely with cut paper. We'll start with 3 raised to the 2nd power and work our way to 3 to the -2.
Print and Digital Math Puzzles
My daughter and I recently worked on a 550-piece puzzle, which took us just under a week to complete. We worked on it on the floor a bit each day after school, hiding it from the cats each night. It had been over 20 years since I had worked on a puzzle that was more than 30 pieces (kid puzzles), so it surprised me how much we both enjoyed it. Figuring out where the pieces went was relaxing and enjoyable, and I could feel it exercising my brain in ways that it doesn't usually exercise.
Working on that puzzle with my daughter got me thinking about making puzzles, so this past week I started making some math puzzle sets that cover various curriculum topics. Students can work on these math puzzles as classwork, in centers, with a partner or as a review activity. In this post, I want to show you a few of these new math puzzles.
Practice Makes Better poster
Perfect is so overrated. Practicing to get better is a much more attainable goal and so much less intimidating. I made this Practice Makes Better poster to help students remember that working hard and getting better is more important than being perfect.