Middle School Math Man is Moving!
Exciting news, everybody! My site has moved and is new and improved! Click the link below for all of the same great ideas for middle school math, with a better look. Have a great day!
Math is Everywhere Tile Project: Displaying it Digitally
One of my favorite teaching projects for middle school math is the Math is Everywhere Tile Project that I use at the beginning of each year. The project gets students to see where they see math in the real world by relating to their own interests. I recently discovered another excellent way of displaying the tiles, other than the traditional bulletin board that is pictured below!
First though, what is the project? The idea is really very simple. Each student receives a blank white tile. Using their tile, they must show a place they see math in the real world. Once completed, it makes an excellent bulletin board display! For more information about the project, you can check out the following original post!
Recently, I wanted to explore a way to showcase my student's tiles digitally. I came across a site that works perfect for a project such as this... Padlet! As a teacher, you can create a new padlet, which is essentially a digital bulletin board where students can upload their work. As I am teaching in an online setting this year, I am having my students upload a picture of their tile to the padlet that I created!
3 Things to Do Before Leaving the Classroom for the Summer
As students gear up for summer and the school year winds down, it can be tough to stay productive during prep time. However, here are 3 things that you can do, before you pack your bags for the summer, that you will thank yourself for later!
1. Organize the Clutter
This might be the hardest one to get motivated to do this time of year, but organizing any loose game cards, task cards, math manipulatives, and any other odds and ends is worth the extra time during those last few weeks. Remember, your students are sometimes your best helpers when it comes to classroom organization! Coming back to a classroom that is organized and ready to go is a huge plus in August. If you are feeling extra motivated, try to have this organized before the final bell rings, so that you can get started with your break right away!
2. Get a Few Things Prepped for the Start of Next Year
The back to school rush can be crazy in the fall. Having materials printed, cut, and prepped for the first week or two can be a huge benefit at the start of next school year. Middle school students can be awesome helpers when it comes to cutting, folding, and prepping activities. If you already have textbooks collected those last few days or have students who finish work early, having them help with this work can be a perfect activity for them!
Looking for ideas for the start of next year? This free Math is Everywhere Tile Project has always been a student favorite!
3. Write Down a Few Things You Want to Change or Explore for Next Year
While your brain is still in all out school mode, jot down a few things that you want to try out or look into for next year. This could be something as small as sliding furniture around or as something as big as restructuring your daily routines in class. As the summer progresses, it can be tough to remember all those things you thought of during the school year! Write them down now, so you don't forget and can start thinking about them!
Feeling really motivated? Start cutting and prepping materials for the following year. I personally have found that is is much better to do this at a leisurely pace during the summer than trying to cram it in the night before teaching an activity. Some of my math center activities and task cards are the types of activities that I always find are nice to have prepped ahead of time.
As many of you know, I am a big proponent of using math workshop in the middle school math classroom. If you are considering a switch or interested in more information, you can check out my book, Making Math Workshop Work, which is available as an eBook or as a hard copy on Amazon. The beginning of summer is the perfect time to begin researching a chance such as this, so that you can be ready to start fresh at the beginning of the school year.
Voyage to the Treasure! A New Series of Math Games
I am beyond excited to be starting a new series of math games with Shana, from Scaffolded Math and Science! The games are call Voyage to the Treasure! What makes these games unique, is that they are collaborative math games. This means that instead of competing against each other, students are working together to try to beat the Math Monster to the treasure!
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| Pictured: Voyage to the Treasure! Mean, Median, Mode, and Range |
We already have a bunch of games created, all focusing on different concepts. To see the full list you can CLICK HERE! As we create more games, they will be added to this page!
Setup:
This is an easy game to prep, making it perfect for the classroom!
- Place 3 Voyager ships and the Math Monster on their starting spots.
- Place the MAP on its spot.
- Cut out two answer banks to use during the game.
- Use a paper clip and pencil as the spinner.
How To Play:
- Spin the spinner, move that many spaces. Land on the Math Monster? He moves 2 spaces!
- Take a card and solve the problem.
- Check the answer in the answer bank.
- Check the KEY for the symbol you landed on and move again! Only move if you solve the problem correctly.
- Take turns spinning and moving all voyagers.
- Be sure to pick up the MAP by landing on it and correctly solving a problem.
- Try to get all of the Voyagers to the treasure before the Math Monster gets there!
Hope your students enjoy!
7th Grade Math Task Cards Bundle
After spending the last several years focusing on creating 6th and 8th grade materials, I have decided to start filling in the gap of 7th grade! To start, I was able to put together this full year bundle of 7th grade math task cards.
Similar to my 6th Grade Math and 8th Grade Math task card bundles, each of the 88 task cards includes a different concept with 1-4 questions. When it comes to the level of difficulty, this set includes "regular" problems for each of the 7th grade math concepts. In total, the bundle includes close to 300 total problems!
To try out a free sample of the task cards, you can download this Angles and Transformation Unit to see if they would be a good fit for your classroom!
I have found task cards to have a ton of great uses in the classroom. For more information about how you could use these problems in your classroom, be sure to check out my post "4 Ways to Use Task Cards in the Middle School Math Classroom." I hope you can find a good use for these with your students!
Making Math Workshop Work: A Book to Get Math Stations Started in Your Classroom
Have you thought about implementing math workshop in your classroom? Are you interested in finding a way to reach each of your students daily through math stations? My new book, Making Math Workshop Work, includes everything you need to know to get started! It has been quite the process getting it ready. I'll be honest, writing and editing the book was actually the easy part. I didn't realize how much goes into the formatting and logistics of making sure the final product was ready! Making Math Workshop Work includes everything from making workshop work in your setting to behavior management ideas to make stations run smoothly!
Math workshop provides an opportunity to meet with every student in a small group each day. This, more than anything else, can help to give you a chance to make a difference in the lives and learning of your students. In the book, I cover several topics and ideas for getting math stations started in your classroom, organized into the following chapters.
Introduction
1 The Math Workshop Structure
2 Making Math Workshop Work
3 Pros and Cons of Math Workshop
4 Behavior Management
5 Getting Math Workshop Started
6 Keeping Your Materials Organized
7 White Board Table
8 Resources Index
Depending on your preference, you can find Making Math Workshop Work as an eBook in the Kindle Store or you can order a hard copy from Amazon! Hope you enjoy and as always, let me know if you have any questions!