Triangles Introduction

I love triangles. Isosceles triangles are my favorite in case you are wondering…I introduced triangles to my 6th graders last week. I broke out the geoboards and rubber bands (after a LONG conversation about not shooting rubber bands around the room) and gave the students this worksheet with different types of triangles to make.

The students LOVED having the freedom to work through the different activities on their own. I copied dot paper of the back so they could draw their triangles. I am so thankful that the PTO bought me a class set of geoboards this year and no one had to share!

Click on the picture below to download the PDF.

Enjoy your long weekend!!

Set Notation Activity

It has been so long. I feel like I have so many blog related things to catch up on! I know a lot of people are wrapping up the year, but we still have a little less than a month left. I CANNOT believe it! There is still so much to teach!!

This week one of our teachers was super sick and I combined my Math 8 and Algebra classes to help with coverage. Our copier wasn’t working and most of the computers weren’t either. I decided to teach both classes different types of set notation (roster, set-builder and interval). After the typical “when are we ever going to use this in real life” questions (answer: when you’re working at an awesome job that people who suck at math aren’t qualified for…) I told my students that I often write this sentence:

HAHA. No seriously (ok I get it- Doritos Locos should be capitalized). The students thought it was hilarious and I decided to have the students write their own sentences and write the inequality in each of the three notations. They students KILLED it. Here are some of my favorites:

 

 

I made a worksheet to use next time I do this activity (and you better believe that I will!) Click on the PDF to download.

Hello?

I swear I’m alive. There has been so much going on (all fabulous) these past two weeks. Lots of updates soon!! I promise!!

3D Mobiles

This week and next week have been crazy at school. EVERYONE is sick. Also, most of our students in grades 6-8 are in our drama production this coming weekend and at any given time I have like 10 kids out practicing.

As an assessment for 3D solid figures, students created 3D mobiles! I used the free 3D nets from TpT and reduced the size to print 2 per page. Students had to color, cut out, and put together 8 different shapes. They then filled out information cards with the shape name, base, number of vertices, edges and faces.

Students then taped each shape and card to pieces of yarn and hung them off a hanger. I am grading these as their assessment for the chapter.

Click on the picture below to download the information cards.

P.S. Look what I just found for FREE on TPT! Awesome!!

Thermal Energy Launch Lab

In New York, we go to school until June 20th. It’s not so bad (minus the fact that the classrooms are SO HOT and everyone is SO SWEATY) because we don’t start until after Labor Day. As soon as it hits May 1st though, it’s like the kids think we have 2 days left, not 2 months. Plus with state testing done and big field trips and end of the year events coming up, I feel like I have 3 teaching days left.

Okay, I have no idea where I was going with this.

Whatever.

With my 6th graders, we are starting a thermal energy/temperature/behavior of matter unit. To get started, we did this pretty cool launch lab based on a lab from our text. Students got 3 pans of water– one was ice cold, the other lukewarm, and the other hot/warm. Students placed their hands in the cold and then in the lukewarm and recorded how it felt. Students then placed their hand in the hot/warm and then in the lukewarm and again recorded results. They then drew conclusions about when sense of touch is a good indicator of temperature and when it isn’t and filled in a T-chart. This activity was great for activating background knowledge! Click on the image below to download the PDF of the lab and chart!

Density, Volume and Mass Lab Practical

Ahhh it’s good to be back in New York. And by good, I mean the opposite of that. I rushed right from the airport this morning to school– and made it there before 3rd period I have state exam grading tomorrow so I will be out of the classroom again! Ughhh I just want to be in class and keep my kids in line and on the right track.

Anyway, last week I did a lab practical exam with my 6th graders and they LOVED it. It was great to actually be able to assess if students actually understood how to use lab tools and they worked really hard on it. I set up 22 stations and students had 2.5 minutes to complete each station. I had each student record their answers on the answer sheet. They also brought around an independent reading book and read it if they finished certain questions early.

Click on the picture below to download the answer sheet and 22 questions.

I’ve been too busy…

I’ve been too busy to blog the last few days, because I’ve been laying out at the pool, shopping, spending time with my family in Palm Beach, Florida….Oh yeah, and watching my awesome little brother graduate…

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend! Be back tomorrow