Math Pennants are a fun way to show off student work

When my students feel good about themselves, they try harder. And when they try harder, they do even better. I really believe that math is all about confidence. Sure there is skill involved, but above all else kids do better when they believe that they can and will do well.

Displaying student work is one way I have been able to increase student confidence. Even my seniors get excited about hanging their work on our "Fridge" (a green bulletin board with "The Fridge" at the top). It always surprises me that they'd rather hang their papers in our classroom than bring them home! 

The best part of hanging student work is what it does on bad days. On days my students don't feel like working hard or feel they can't do the work, I can point to their hard work as a reminder. We all need that reminder now and again.

This is why I feel so strongly about math pennants. When students see their work hanging in their classroom, something special happens. Math pennants also bring art into math, softening the math a little and making it more accessible for more students. In this post I want to show just some of the many, many math pennants I have made over the years. 

If you are looking for a specific topic, these are my math pennant bundles. Each pennant is individually linked for download. And here are some of the math pennants I've made...

Building this confidence starts from Day 1 of each school year. Once my students feel confident, they start taking more risks and real learning starts. Here is a Golden Spiral Back to School pennant to get kids excited for a year of math. 

And an editable Math Boss pennant that gives students confidence looking forward to the year. Teachers have also told me that they helped gain student confidence on the days leading up to end of course and state exams. 

You can give math pennants a try by subscribing to my blog. You'll get this 2-step equations pennant for free.

I've made so math pennants, many from teacher requests.

Fractions! I have had a lot of requests for fractions pennants.

This fractions pennant bundle has pennants for the operations and for the holidays.

This ordering Real numbers pennant came from a teacher request. 

Above is another free pennant for order of operations.

This conversions pennant came from another teacher request. Students convert both metric and customary measurements. 

And this ratios and proportions pennant also came from a teacher request. 

Here is a set of place value pennants.

And a set for geometric transformations.

A teacher asked me to make her a pennant covering GCF and LCM. I hadn't remembered how tricky finding LCM was! This one was fun to make. It's one of the pennants included in my Middle School Math Pennants bundle.

Displaying student work becomes even more important in my classes because math disabilities can sometimes make these good grades very hard-earned. My favorite is when a student immediately gets up to hang a good grade without me asking. This is what it's all about.

Here is a Pythagorean Theorem pennant.

This regular polygons pennant came from a teacher request:

Students solve with elimination and substitution in this solving systems of equations pennant activity. The elimination questions require one, both or neither of the equations to be multiplied.

Pennants are a great way to celebrate holidays while not losing a day of Math. Some are specific to holidays.

Here is a graphing linear equations ornament pennant to decorate for the holidays. Kids can also add optional bows and holly.

And here is a Christmas fractions pennant where students convert between improper fractions and mixed numbers and color to show the amount. 

And of course every math teacher's favorite holiday-- Pi Day! 

I used a super cool set of flower clipart for this exponents pennant. 

Teaching financial literacy is super important to me so I added in some credit card default and student loan defer questions to this set of compound interest pennants.

Integers are so tricky, even for older students! There are 3 problems on each integers pennant so that students can practice seeing the relationship between positive and negative numbers.

My friend Mandy from The Math Dyal sent over this great photo. A student of hers who hardly does work created this systems of equations masterpiece. It made me so incredibly happy to hear the story behind it because reaching the most disengaged students is my goal with every activity.

My students worked really hard during our domain and range unit this year. What better way to show off their hard work that with some fun Algebraic classroom decor? 

And what 6th grader wouldn't LOVE a chance to color? In this pennant, students practice finding volumes and surface areas, as well as areas of irregular shapes (gardens and apartments).

This pennant came from a teacher request for one to help her students convert scientific notation. I also made more sets for adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing in scientific notation.

And this "My Advice to Next Year's Students" pennant gives your current students the opportunity to give advice to next year's students. What have they learned over the year that would be helpful for next years kiddos as they first walk into your room?

All of my math pennants can be purchased individually and at a discount in these math pennant bundles for elementary math, middle school math, Algebra, Geometry. There are also smaller content-specific bundles through that link.