Scaffolded Math's Favorite Things

Thanks for stopping by! Through my work at TpT I have met some really great math educators who I am happy to now call friends. We got together this holiday season to bring you a blog hop and giveaway of our favorite math things (kind of like Oprah, only more mathy). 

This giveaway is for a $25 TpT gift card and a copy of the amazing book Mathematical Mindsets. Giveaway details below:)


Giveaway closed! Winner notified in comments and via email!

Thank you to all who entered. I hope you have your most restful winter break yet! :)

1: My favorite holiday activity
I love making salt dough ornaments. Squishing the dough is so relaxing - even better than play dough - and the dried ornaments last forever.

Here is a salt dough dog my mom made when I was a little girl. Now it hangs on our Christmas tree. 

And here is a salt dough ornament of our daughter's footprint. The recipe for the dough is simple:

What you need:
2 cups salt (I use sea salt without iodine, but I'm not sure it matters)
4 cups flour
1.5 cups of warm water
water based paint
ribbon

What you do:
Mix together to combine. When the shapes are dry, you can paint them however you'd like. My daughter and I use her washable poster paints.

2: My favorite math activity

This project was one of my favorite projects to do when I taught Algebra because it incorporates so many skills. The project can also easily be adapted to much younger kids.

What you need:

Paper cups (1 per student or small group)

a thumbtack (to pop drainage holes in cup)

A tray to hold the cups

Potting soil

Grass seeds

Graph paper

Rulers

What you do:

Plot the growth of grass seeds over the course of a month. Use the scatter plot to learn about data collection, interpolation, extrapolation, slope, writing linear equations and even piecewise functions. Younger students can focus on the data collection and what it takes to keep a plant alive (older students benefit from this too). You can read more about this project in this post. 

3: My favorite teacher tool

I am thankful my "Dude, you're an adult and a professional, it's time to start reading again," self talk kept the densely heavy book in my hand and not quickly shoved back into the bookshelf. 

To say this book changed me is an understatement. I hung on every word. It's the best kind of dense. And I want to share it with you.

To enter my giveaway:
For a chance to win a $25 TpT gift card and a copy of the amazing book Mathematical Mindsets:

1) Comment on this post with the title of your favorite book. 

2) Subscribe* to my blog.

*if you are already subscribed, your comment on this post is your entry:)

Subscribe to enter giveaway

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Email Address *

First Name

I teach:

• high school
• middle school
• elementary school
• other

(and don't forget to comment on this post:)

I wish you the very happiest of holidays. You are doing an amazing job, especially in our current teaching climate. You are changing kids' lives. This is painfully exhausting (and more rewarding than any other job). You deserve all the rest you get this vacation!

Now it's time to hop over to Math Dyal's blog to enter another giveaway!

Giveaway ends Monday December 18 at 8PM EST when one winner will be chosen randomly!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS to you and your loved ones!