Hands On Math

Concavity While Driving

2012-02-05T12:16:00.000-08:00

Soon enough your students will be deriving points of inflection in their college calculus classes but for now lets get them used to the language of concavity

Here is a pic

Class work:

Have students watch the following video and count the amount of convex and concave turns the vehicle goes through (Using the reference point of the driver’s side of the road)

Homework:

Now, for their homework, have students count the amount of convex and concave turns they go through on their way home from school. Have them determine the concavity using the reference point of the driver’s side of the road.

Math Shapes With Hands

2012-01-22T14:47:00.000-08:00

First, take a moment to watch this beautiful commercial involving hand shapes.

Now, what better way to get your kids up and having fun then math shapes with their hands?

What You Will Need:
1) 4-5 flash lights or an large lamp
2) Turn off all lights and close all blinds
3) Split students up in groups or call them up to the front of the room.
4) Have one student hold the flash light while the other students make various shapes

See Who In The Class Can Make The Best of These Shape With Their Hands

Make it a guessing game to test them on it!

Metal Project

2012-01-07T08:20:00.000-08:00

A personal hobby of mine is scrapping old electronics and computers for recycle. Scrap yards pay various prices for different metals which get recycled and reused in the products we buy. The process is a wonderful way to make some extra income while keeping electronic & metal waste out of our landfills.

Here is a project based on this theme.

1) Have each student bring in a tiny piece of metal they find from their home. Here are some suggestions.

2) Talk about the various metals, where they are used and see which ones can be identified by the students (a magnet may be helpful)

Common Metallic Materials

• Iron/Steel - Steel alloys are used for strength critical applications

• Aluminum - Aluminum and its alloys are used because they are easy to form, readily available, inexpensive, and recyclable.

• Copper - Copper and copper alloys have a number of properties that make them useful, including high electrical and thermal conductivity, high ductility, and good corrosion resistance.

• Titanium - Titanium alloys are used for strength in higher temperature (~1000° F) application, when component weight is a concern, or when good corrosion resistance is required

• Nickel - Nickel alloys are used for still higher temperatures (~1500-2000° F) applications or when good corrosion resistance is required.

• Refractory materials are used for the highest temperature (> 2000° F) applications

3) Have students weigh each of their metals.

4) Have students convert their weight to pounds

5) Hand out the following chart for current metal prices http://www.metalprices.com/

Material Rate Per Qty

Aluminum Cans $0.55 LB

#1 Copper $2.50 LB

#2 Copper $2.40 LB

Scrap Metal $7.00 100 LBS

6) Ask each student how much their tiny piece of metal is worth

7) A side project could be have students imagine how much their home, car, etc. would be worth if it was made up of some type of metal.

Conversion of The Week: How Much Is The Statue of Liberty Worth in Copper?

2011-12-17T13:10:00.000-08:00

"The Statue of Liberty ("Liberty Enlightening the World" by Frèdèric Aguste Bartoldi) in New Jersey waters outside New York Harbor is sheathed in copper of average thickness 2 mm. The statue is 50 m high and some 80 metric tons of copper was required for its fabrication. It is probable that few projects before or since the Statue`s construction in 1876-1885 ever required as much copper."

Here is copper prices per pound

Copper Scrap USA
  Most Recent COMEX $/LB
Dec 3.3500 16 Dec  17:14 NY
Mar 3.3550 16 Dec  17:14 NY
May 3.3420 16 Dec  16:35 NY
USA Consumer Avg $/LB
Bare Bright 3.291 Nov 07
#1 Wire / Tube 3.206 Nov 07

The questions to your student could be.

1) How much is the total amount of copper worth in the Statue of Liberty?
2) If that amount were divided among the population of the U.S. how much would each citizen recieve?
3) From here the educator could ask the question, is the Statue of Liberty worth the sum of its metals or does it represent something more?

Warm-up Activity Involving Time

2011-12-09T06:40:00.000-08:00

I love my Think Geek Math Clock! But even if you haven't purchased the clock yet, you can still implement the idea. Simply draw a circle on a piece of paper, add a problem and ask your students to draw the answer in time. As you can see in the problem below, the time is 4:00.

Water Project

2011-12-01T17:08:00.000-08:00

More Real Number Extra Credit

2011-11-17T08:21:00.000-08:00

Volume of a cylinder & The sum of Areas

2011-11-13T05:19:00.000-08:00

“Why do we need to know this?” How often do we get these questions in the classroom? Sometimes in order for students to see the value in mathematics you must take it away from them.

Take for example the formula for the volume of a cylinder, V = (pi)(r^2)(h)

If you take away the (h) within the equation you are left with the equation for the area of a circle. Thus, as we know, a cylinder is simply a bunch of circles stacked over top of one another. But, do your students know this?

Here’s an exercise,

1) Bring in a printable worksheet with numerous circles of equal size

2) As your students to cut out each circle

3) Next, ask them to find the sum of all the areas of each circle they cut out

4) Next, ask them to stack all the circles and use a ruler to measure its height

5) Finally, ask them to find the volume of the cylinder using V = (pi)(r^2)(h)

6) Does it closely resemble the sum of areas they previously calculated?

7) Wasn’t it a lot faster?

Creating a Valuable Expression Game

2011-11-06T07:15:00.000-08:00

Creating a Valuable Expression Game

You know the routine, 2x + 3z, evaluate the expression when x = 2, z =1

You see the disconnect here right? None of our students care what the solution is. Now, let’s create a new expression in which students value the solution.

You need

1) A tennis ball

2) Meter/Yard Stick

3) Stop watch

4) A football field/ or play ground

5) And an expression worth evaluating

Here’s the goal. Students will be given points based on two variables: hang time (t), distance (d).

New expression: 2t + 3d

1) Have your students line up at the goal-line of a football field

2) Designate a ball return person

3) Have each student throw the tennis ball as high and as far as they can and record the hang time and distance

4) When you return to the classroom, write the expression on the board and have each student evaluate their points to see who the winner is

Extra: Want to make it harder? Use decimals or fractions.

For example use the expression 2.1t + 3.2d or 2/3t + 3/4d

Real Number Beer Pong (Extra Credit)

2011-10-29T07:24:00.000-07:00

**although not for public school consumption, this is a very neat activity by one of my college students**

More Real Number Extra Credit

2011-10-24T18:31:00.000-07:00

I'm a sucker for the real number system :) I love offering extra credit for this topic. Here is a cute idea based on a theme I did many posts ago titled "Pin The Tail On The Real Number Donkey". A student of mine had the same idea and her donkey looks better than mine. The only flaw is that her 'irrational' circle is mixed with the other 'rational' circle. It's still a cute project though!

Making Use of Old Phone Books

2011-10-08T04:34:00.000-07:00

Old phone books may still offer some mathematics educational value.

It has plenty of built in subtraction problems

Another project would be to weigh the phone book and calculate the approximate weight of all the phone books in your area. You could even assign an approx cost if you research materials.

But, of all these, the best exercise for authentic learning I can think of is to simply ask your students what we could do with all these phone books? How could they be used in education?

Math For Breakfast

2011-09-29T06:13:00.000-07:00

Here's the scenario, it's Monday morning and your kids are sleepy. The last thing on their mind is learning math. The solution could be as simple as a box of Fruit Loops or Cocoa Puffs!

These yummy treats are packed with fun ways to teach math.

Area, circumference or circles or spheres
Ratio's and Probabilities involving of colors
Adding, Subtracting, Number Sense...the list goes on!

Number Sense For K-2 (Piggybank)

2011-09-07T19:45:00.000-07:00

I love this idea offered by one of my previous students.

Using a picture of a piggybank, seven pennies and construction paper, students may arrange the number seven in various ways showing the properties of equality.

Using T-shirts To Teach Math Properties

2011-08-21T18:25:00.000-07:00

(Be sure to ask your local stores for donations)

Geometric Angles & Putt Putt (Math Field Trips)

2011-08-20T08:17:00.000-07:00

Why can't we have more math fieldtirps! Kick off the new year by requesting a field trip to learn angles! And what better place to earn various angles than a putt putt corse

(Mini Golf With My Son)

Compound and Simple Interest & Your First Home

2011-08-17T16:46:00.000-07:00

Compound and Simple Interest & Your First Home

This is a neat activity if you need to teach compound or simple interest. Bring in one of your local real estate books (or print real estate pics online) and have your students choose which house they would like to live in. Next, have them calculate the total amount they will pay over the course of 30 years using both formulas (if you are teaching younger students who need not yet learn compound interest it may still be in the interest of the teacher to calculate the same home using the compound interest formula)

Playing Squares with Addition, Multiplication, Division & Subtraction

2011-08-14T07:01:00.000-07:00

Playing Squares with Addition, Multiplication, Division & Subtraction

Here is another great resource from Mathwise. The game is played normally, like you would play squares (for an example click here) but once the students complete a square using lines they must answer the math question inside the square to get points. If they answer incorrectly, no one get the points.

Word Search Math: Another Wonderful Exercise From Mathwise

2011-08-13T08:24:00.000-07:00

Mathwise offers some great exercises. This particular exercise involves a number grid and your choice of addition, multiplication, subtraction or division used with an equal symbol

Simply create, or print off, a number grid and give your students the rules of play

In the exercise below, the students may only use the multiplication symbol and the equal symbol

The students search for numbers that could be multiplied. Next they add the “X” and the “=” symbol and circle.

Sample Space, Clothing and Outfits

2011-08-11T09:48:00.000-07:00

Normally a discussion on probability or statistics begins with outcomes from an experiment, what we refer to as sample space

Taken From CNX.org

A sample space is a set or collection of outcome of a particular random experiment.
For example, imagine a dart board. You are trying to find the probability of getting a bullseye. The dart board is the sample space. The probability of a dart hitting the dart board is 1.0. For another example, imagine rolling a six sided die. The sample space is {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}.

Examples of Sample Space.

The tossing of a coin, sample space is {Heads, Tails}
The roll of a die, sample space is {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}
The selection of a numbered ball (1-50) in an urn, sample space is {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, ...., 50}
Percentage of calls dropped due to errors over a particular time period, sample space is {2%, 14%, 23%, ......}
The time difference between two messages arriving at a message centre, sample space is {0, ...., infinity}
The time difference between two different voice calls over a particular network, sample space is {0, ...., infinity}

Many educators use a tree diagram to help students understand outcomes which is a very handy tool.

(Flipping a Coin and Rolling A Die)

Yet, even with a great tool like a tree diagram, there is still a disconnect between the teaching and the student. We need a better way to reach them!

I like this idea suggested by one of my statistics students!

How Many Outfits Can I Wear?

Using stickers of different clothing (shoes, hats, dresses, etc), let your students discover the amount of mixing and matching they can perform to create different outfits.

Composite Functions and Almonds f(g(x))

2011-08-03T17:02:00.000-07:00

Here's a tough concept for high school math students, composite functions (for more on functions click here)

Definition of Composition of Functions

Composition of Functions is the process of combining two functions where one function is performed first and the result of which is substituted in place of each x in the other function.

Yet, what does this actually mean? And how can a young student of math make sense out of such abstract definitions. Let's call upon an analogy using almonds.

Let our ultimate goal be to have roasted almonds mixed with other assorted nuts. Thus, we have two machines; one that roasts the almonds and one that adds other assorted nuts in with the roasted almonds.

But, loosely speaking, a machine is simply a function; it transfers inputs to outputs (or in the language of math it transfers domains to ranges)

Let us revisit our example

(Here is a picture of our process f(g(x))

(Let x, our input, be regular almonds)

(We feed our regular almonds in our first machine, call it our g machine, which roasts our almonds)

(Our g machine takes plain almonds and roasts them, thus, it takes almonds x and roasts them making them g(x). We then take our roasted almonds and use them as our input in the next machine)

(Here is out next machine, our f machine. Our f machine takes roasted almonds and adds assorted nuts )

(Thus, our final output for our regular almonds after traveling through two machines is roasted almonds with assorted nuts; f(g(x))

(Here is how such a concept would look in a textbook)

Number Sense For PreK-Kindergarteners

2011-08-02T10:32:00.000-07:00

This is a cute idea created by one my Hands on Math students who teaches kindergarden.

The Idea is to have your students arrange the skittles on their card to match the one given to them. After each card the students count the number of skittles they have. The goal is to arrange, for example, six skittles in a variety of different ways on a 5 x 2 card so that students become accustomed with estimating.

Paperclip Division With Remainders

2011-08-01T13:10:00.000-07:00

This is a clever idea one of my students came up with for teaching division with remainders.

The student may either place the remainder from their division in the middle page or the amount of times the number divides (not shown here). The student may then either place the remainder or the amount of times the number divides on the edges of the construction paper. This particular student decided to do clusters of paper clips around the edges in 25's.

Extra Credit From My Statistics Students

2011-07-25T09:49:00.000-07:00

Go Faith! Awesome Job With Your Extra Credit!

Rollout Math

2011-07-14T19:43:00.000-07:00

This is a neat, cheap and quick idea for teaching basic arithmetic operations taken from the Hands on Math book MathWise. In the pictures I use the letter x, but the project would be neater if you used stickers.

Paperclip Multiplication, Division, Addition and Subtraction

2011-07-11T19:26:00.000-07:00

Here is a fun and cheap exercise for teaching Multiplication, Division, Addition and Subtraction.

1) Notice how the number three is in the middle of index card

2) Have students use paper clips and each sign +, -, x, / to form a problem with the answer of three

(3 paper clips divided by one paper clip = 3)

This is a fun riddle (be careful it's not what you expect)

2011-06-26T08:26:00.000-07:00

What is heavier a pound of feathers, or a pound of gold?..........................................................................................................................................It's actually feathers!

....................................................................................................................................................

.......................................................

Weights of feathers are given in Avoirdupois units whereas gold is given in Troy units. A Avoirdupois pound is 453.59 grams whereas a Troy pound is 373.24 grams

Enjoy Your Summer Everyone!!!!!

2011-06-19T09:04:00.000-07:00

I will be posting sporadically this summer but will start back up full-time in August. Please contact me if you have any ideas or math subjects that you want me to post about.

Please Tell Me Your Schools Out For Summer

2011-06-17T08:07:00.000-07:00

If anyone is looking for some last min ideas, feel free to check out Vi Harts website http://vihart.com/ for awesome videos

Working On A Detective Story To Teach Math Properties

2011-06-11T04:37:00.000-07:00

[Door slams open and in walks a pretty, blond, number 1 with high heels]

Number 1: "You a detective"

Detective Number 4: "You askin, or are you tellin"

Number 1" What difference does it make"?

{Detective number four is staring out the window]

D4: "The difference is always in the maken tootse"

Number 1: Listen, i need help! Now, are you the detective i need to speak with or not?"

D4: "You don't need a detective love, you need muscle and muscle aint what i do ya see?"

D1: "How do you know what i need?"

[detective number 4 turns and looks her over]

D4: I know, cause them heels been talkin since you turned the corner on Elms street. Whose in trouble huh? Your husband, Your lover. What difference does it make...you need muscle and muscle ain't what i do.

[detective 4 turns and looks back out the window]

Number 1: It's my brother...x...he's got himself into some trouble and now he's got himself held up

D4: Whats this got to do with me heels?

Number 1: He needs your help detective...I, need, your, help [she gets closer to and puts hand on his arm]

D4: Let me get this straight, your baby brother shook some hands and bet on black when he should of bet on red and now that he wants to take someone elses money for a ride you volunteering my services? I think I'll pass sweetheart

D1: It's not that simple. He didn't just shake hands with anyone, he shook hands with the likes of "three eyes"

[detective number four turns and looks at her]

D4: "three eyes"?

Number 1: "yes, three-eyes and if i don't help him their not only going to hurt him, their going to hurt his wife and kids...two boys, both still fractions"

D4: "you got that right tootse, three eyes is gonna off him, his wife, his fractions and you". You want my advice, I'd grab them kids and take a one-way train out of this state"

Number 1: And tell his kids they don't have a father anymore

D4 "it's better than the alternative"

Number 1: "Listen, either your going to help me or i'm going by myself...i can take care of myself but i can't let anything happen to those little fractions"

[detective 4 starts daydreaming of those two little fractions]

D4: "Where's he held up at"

Number 1: "Downtown, in the old abandoned parenthesis...are you really going to help us? [big smile]

D4: "I didn't say i was going to help...but i'll make a few phone calls. Now you go on home and call me tomorrow, you hear?"

Inner monologue "i always was a softie when it came to blond hair and high heels"

[Shows detective standing outside of abandoned parenthesis, smoking with a top hat. A gloomy, cloudy night]

{detective peeks through the window and sees

(5x - 3)

x is the brother

3 is “three eyes

5 is a soldier

The minus symbol is a knife

[detective moves to the door of the parenthesis to knock but hears the conversation going on inside”

#3 “Listen...see...i’m tired of waiting for my money to appear. I told you you had 24 hours to get me my money and the times winding down. Tell me why i shouldn’t cut my losses if you know what i mean?”

x “Please, think of my kids, their only fractions”

#3 “It ain’t me who needs to be think of your kids x, it’s you”

x: “Please, i promise i can get it by this time next week”

#3: “You got to be kidden me, you know who i am? I’m done dealing with this guy...time for you talk to the worms”

[detective number four knows what he has to do, he breaks through the parenthesis door and “distributes punishment” to 5x and 3 like so

(4)(5x) - (4)(3)

20x - 12

Latter shows the grave of the detective, with the blond in heels over looking, holding the hands of the little fractions.

Number 1“this man combined his life to save you boys, you remember him in your thoughts ok?”

The End

Tips For Writing Your First Book

2011-06-05T15:07:00.000-07:00

Here is a project i've been working on for a few months, see my math downloads section to download the e-book for free

Your Book Now PDF

Parabolas and Water Fountains

2011-06-04T09:03:00.000-07:00

The term parabola is often associated with the quadratic equation but students often encounter parabolas much earlier in their studies. For many, a parabola is simply a “u” or an “n” shape; either the top half of a circle or the bottom half. Later, when students start transforming the graphs of functions they begin to notice that parabolas can be wide or narrow in addition to being the shape of a “u” or an “n”. It was Apollonius who gave the shape its name, but it was Galileo who showed that projectiles falling under uniform gravity follow parabolic paths.
We can find parabolas everywhere in nature including water fountains.

What better way to introduce parabolas to your students than to take them to the local park and view the water fountains (If travel is an obstacle, look to your hallway to investigate the drinking fountains).

Potential questions to ask your students:
-Is the shape positive or negative?

-Is it narrow or wider than the graph of x^2

-Where is the vertex?

-Where on the graph is its slope zero?

-Where on the graph is its slope positive?

-Where on the graph is its slope negative?

Extra credit type of questions:

-What is a way to determine the area under the parabola?

-Given two parabolas and two potential equations, which equation is probably the best fit for which graph?

More involved experiment:

-Have your students use yard sticks for your x and y axis and try to find the equation of the parabola.

Math For The Summer: How Long To Fill Up The Pool

2011-05-31T10:53:00.000-07:00

End of the year classroom boredom? Take your kids to the town pool or buy a kids pool and calculate some math :)

This exercise is perfect for calculating volumes, adjusting units and calculating the amount of time to fill a volume

p.s. You could also use buckets

Updated Greek Multiplication Table

2011-05-29T08:24:00.000-07:00

Here is an updated Greek Multiplication Table of 10 x 10 (notice there is no zeros)

Creating A Greek Multiplication Table

2011-05-28T13:20:00.000-07:00

It’s the end of the year and your kids are dreaming of summer. It’s hard enough to keep them in their seat much less quite, right? Time to do something different and hopefully fun. How about learning their multiplication tables (or how to add) in Greek!

Our number symbols is taken from the Arabic number symbols, but here is the Greek equivalent. And here is a site of all Greek Numbers 1-999

Arabic number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Greek numbers :

The Greeks “had different symbols for 1,2,3 up to 9, just like us. However, they did not use the same symbols to represent numbers greater than 9. They had a new set of symbols for 10, 20, 30, and so on, and yet another set for 100, 200, 300. This has the disadvantage, like so many of the ancient counting systems, that you eventually ran out of symbols!”

The goal of this project is for your students to create a Greek multiplication table like the following helping solidify their own multiplication understanding.

For numbers 1-144 use the following site

Shout Out To "Real Teching Means Real Learning"

2011-05-28T11:55:00.000-07:00

http://realteachingmeansreallearning.blogspot.com/

I'm really proud of the work David Martin is doing over at Real Teaching Means Real Learning! Recently instead of having his college kids suffer through another boring test covering trigonometric functions, he decided to pose a challenge. The video above is one of the student results!

Grasshopper & Proportions Workbook

2011-05-27T14:36:00.000-07:00

Seller's Description

The following workbook offers a great way of teaching proportions with the theme of grasshoppers. The initial question asks If a grasshopper were your size how far could he jump?

(Click The Picture To Download The Workbook)

I. Initial Question

II. Lesson about grasshopper

III. Read and Respond section

IV. Math Based on Read and Respond

V. What is a Proportion?

VI Grasshopper Proportion Worksheet

VII. Grasshopper Proportion Word Problems

VIII. How A Grasshopper Jumps

IX. What Are Similar Shapes

X. Similar Shapes of Grasshopper Legs Worksheet

XI. Similar Shapes of Grasshopper Legs Homework

Running A Lawn Business

2011-05-25T17:56:00.000-07:00

Though my profession is teaching mathematics, in the summers, when I'm only teaching part-time at my college, I run a lawn mowing business. Like any business I must calculate my profit by subtracting my costs from my revenue. I think this type of analysis would make a good class project. The goal is simply to getting them thinking about how many variables can go into an equation, though depending on the time you put into the project you could make it a competition or a game or simply a problem. Again, my goal would be to get kids talking in the language of algebra

Ask your students to list all the possible costs that could be incurred in a lawn mowing business and write them on the overhead.

Next, give each student a budget (say $1,000) that they must buy a mower and/or market their business. Next, build an equation to calculate the revenue (R) and costs (C)

P = R - C

C = Fuel, mower, marketing (flyers, adds in the paper, etc)
R = pay per lawn

You could make your profit equation as detailed as you would like, listing as many costs and types of revenue as you would like. You could have kids make flyers for their business, listing the equation on the flyer. Some students may take such knowledge and start their own lawn service. Nevertheless, it's a good introduction to the language and applicability of algebra

Teaching Area of Irregular Shapes Using Architecture

2011-05-24T08:59:00.000-07:00

I love looking at architecture. There's something so therapeutic about the symmetry.

In this exercise your goal as the educator is to get students thinking about how to take an area of an irregular shape. The shapes that you will use are extremely advanced

So the goal is not for your students to take exact areas but to develop the thought process of how to approach such a problem.

Tell your students that they need to know how much paint to buy to paint the front of this house. How can they figure out the area? Print out the picture and have them spot as many regular shapes as possible in the picture, like so

From here we could get a close approximation of the area of the front of the house if we knew the measurements.

IronMan Standardized Test Math Problems

2011-05-21T20:01:00.000-07:00

Click on the Picture or see Math Downloads section

How Much Does A Speeding Ticket Really Cost

2011-05-18T08:53:00.000-07:00

Students often find little use for their equations. Here is an equation that has some more applicability. What is the true costs of a speeding ticket.

It's easy to estimate the initial costs of a ticket by paying the fine, but it takes some math to tell the true costs of a ticket

Let the total costs of the ticket be represented by the letter C

Let the costs of the actual ticket be represented by the letter T

Let the anual costs of increased insurance be represented by the letters IC

Let the years be represented by ht e letter t

C = T + IC(t)

John gets a ticket for speeding in a school zone. The ticket itself is $110.00. John calls his insurance to notify them and upon doing so figures out that his monthly insurance plan has been raised by $23. What is the total costs of the ticket over the next 10 years?

T= 110

IC = 23 * 12 = 276

t = 10

C = 110 + 276(10)

C = $2,870

Archamendes and Math In The Sand Box

2011-05-17T09:26:00.000-07:00

It is believed that Archamendes wrote in the sand before he wrote on paper (papyrus). I've even read that Archamendes carried with him a box of sand at all times offering him the ability to work on mathematics from anywhere. I believe there is merit in this method. I would encourage you to take your students outside before the school year is over, to the nearest sandbox (or my case, mud) and conduct class with a stick.

Viva Honduras!!! Visiting A Mathematics Classroom In Central America

2011-05-16T10:06:00.000-07:00

As customary for my vacations i enjoy visiting the schools to witness learning in process. Here in the town of Gracias i set in on a mathematics class for 10th grade boys.

The class began at 4:30pm in order to allow the teenage students to work in the morning. The uniforms are customary for all public and private schools here in Honduras. Today, in 95 degree weather with no air conditioning and no textbooks (they aren't affordable) we learned matrix addition.

Hi Wonderful Readers

2011-05-07T10:11:00.001-07:00

My family and I will be out of the country for a couple of weeks without much internet. Will post some new ideas soon enough as well as tell you about my upcoming radio show. Please let me know what topics you would be interested in discussing on the show
All the best in education,
Jeremiah Dyke

Extra Credit Assignment Book

2011-05-05T14:08:00.000-07:00

More Pics From My Students Extra Credit Assignment

2011-05-05T14:05:00.000-07:00

Using Maps to Teach The Real Number System Part 2

2011-05-04T13:07:00.000-07:00

Here are pictures of the following

1) A medium size picture of a world map
2) A picture of the map of Australia
3) A picture of the map of the United States
4) A picture of the map of the state of New York
5) A picture of the map of The City of New York
6) A picture of the map of Time Square within New York City

Students will cut out each picture paste them to the worksheet labeling each part real, rational, irrational, integer, whole and natural like so.

The point of this task is to establish the fact that specific numbers can be both

You can download these in the Math downloads section

Operation Rocky--You Vs. The Test! Standardized Test Project

2011-05-01T08:33:00.000-07:00

Operation Rocky--You Vs. The Test! First things first, you must hype of this exercise! You have to sell it! More on this below.
The goal of this project is for students to train for their big upcoming fight (the state test). To do this they must go through daily fights via daily 2-4 question quizzes.
Each day you will give a lecture about an upcoming topic for their state test, at the end of the class each student will take a 2-4 question quiz with a picture of the guy they are fighting for that day. At the end of class, you tally of the grades and mark on a poster if the student won or loss with tally marks
How to plan:
You might not have enough time to re-cover every topic on the test, so pick the top 5-10.

How to introduce the project and make it successful

This is huge! Your kids should be pumped to take on these quizzes, how do you do this?

1st Go out and buy the Rocky soundtrack or at least the theme song and play it everyday during this exercise.

2nd Have students come up with their own fight name Mr. "Mountain-do-the-Dew" Dyke!

3rd Have posters made listing each students name and their fight name with two columns wins and losses

4th Each quiz should have a pic of who they are fighting

5th Play Rocky during the quizzes

6th Say corny of cliché things to get them pumped up like "its you vs. the quiz", "you can do this", "let's see what you got"

7th There is a powerpoint in "math downloads"

Finally, just to give you an overall idea, i would walk around the class punching kids in the arm, allowing kids to punch their quizzes, screaming "Are YOU READY!", doing pushups, jogging in place screaming "we won't go down without a fight". For most this is too over the top

One thing i would redo, is to allow rematches for each quiz

Talking To Educators #6

2011-04-30T15:28:00.000-07:00

Learning The Real Number System With Maps

2011-04-29T19:47:00.000-07:00

Learning The Real Number System With Maps

You Will Need:

Construction Paper

Tape

Scissors

Map World (google maps works great for materials)

Map of 2 unconnected Countries

Map of State within one of the countries

Map of County within the State

Map of Town Within the County

Remembering the differences between natural, whole, integer, rational, irrational and real numbers can be confusing for anyone. How can a natural number be a rational number but not all rational numbers are natural numbers? To remedy to this confusion let's use maps.

First cut out a picture of a world map and tape it on a piece of paper (you may also draw the pic). Picking two countries on the map that are not connected by other countries (North America and Australia work great)

Now pick a state within one of the countries, cut it out, and tape it to the paper

Now pick a county or city within the state, cut it out and tape it to the paper

Now pick a town within the county or street within the city, cut it out and tape it to the paper

We now get to label each map.

Label the map of the country Real Numbers, since all of the numbers in this article are real numbers

Label the country that you found states and cities in Rational Numbers

Label The State Integer Numbers

Label The City or County Whole Numbers

Label the town or street Natural Numbers

Finally, label the other country Irrational Numbers.

Now using the United States as an example lets ask the question, if you live in New York City, do you live in the United States?

What about the question

If you live in the United States must you live in New York City?

As you can see, maps can help us learn the real number system

More Extra Credit Projects From My Students

2011-04-28T20:48:00.000-07:00

My college students were offered extra credit for producing a hands on math project on one of the following themes

1) The Real Number System
2) The Commutative, Associative or Distributive Properties

You Can Now Download This Whole Site in PDF

2011-04-26T23:40:00.000-07:00

You Can Now Download This Whole Site in PDF

Look under 'Math Downloads'

Simplifying Radicals Involving Students Up & Moving

2011-04-26T22:47:00.000-07:00

First give each student an index card with a square root that needs to be simplified

Each student will tape the index card to their chest

Have each student write an empty square root symbol on each hand, like the following

Now pair up students and have them face each other like so

Each student must simplify the others radical by writing the answers in each hand.

The final simplified form should be written under each picture

Simplifying Radical via Hangman

2011-04-26T22:22:00.000-07:00

Goal:
To simplify the radical by choosing the perfect square and the non perfect square before the radical is hung

The Bonus Question could be to write the two square roots in final form where the perfect square is written without the radical

Student Projects For Extra Credit

2011-04-26T15:43:00.000-07:00

Students Were asked to create a hands on math extra credit assignment based on one of two themes.

1) The Real Number System
2) The Different Properties

Algebra Sandwich Packet Is Ready

2011-04-25T20:52:00.000-07:00

Hands On Math Packet “Creating An Algebra Sandwich”

The following packet offers an awesome hands on way for teaching how to solve equations. Your students will use pre-made sandwich cutouts (bread, pickles, tomato, etc) to make an algebraic sandwich showing each step of their work on a piece of the sandwich.

The Lesson has lots of pictures, a detailed lesson plan, student directions sheet, printable cutouts, three worksheets-- before activity worksheet, after activity worksheet and homework worksheet and powerpoint slide.

Your students will have a blast learning equations with this activity. Everything is included!

Please go to http://handsonmath.blogspot.com/ to get the powerpoint or email me (jeremiahdyke@gmai.com) since TPT wont let me upload both a pdf and a power point in the same post

Prime Number Challenge!

2011-04-25T16:46:00.000-07:00

An integer greater than one is called a prime number if its only positive divisors (factors) are one and itself.

Here is a chart detailing the all Primes from 1 - 100

We know via the proof-by-contradiction by Euclid that there are an infinite number of prime numbers, yet, this doesn't reveal them. Unlike a standard integer (whereupon whatever number you can come up with, for example n, i can surpass this number with the simple exercise of n+1), large prime numbers are incredible difficult to find. There is no formula for churning out prime numbers, they must be found :)

In 2008, a mathematician won $100,000 for finding the next highest prime number (the largest known to date)

The number is 2^43112609-1

Most likely you students won't be able to grasp how big this number really is, but, for intents and purposes, if you were to sum up all the atoms in the entire universe you would get a number roughly 10^80 (vastly smaller than the one shown here)

If you would like to see how big this number really is i suggest you download it from here http://prime.isthe.com/chongo/tech/math/prime/m43112609/prime-c.html

I will produce a tiny fraction of the full number for you here, but if you want the full thing, you must go to the prime site http://prime.isthe.com/chongo/tech/math/prime/m43112609/prime.html

three hundred sixteen quattuormilliamilliatrecensexviginmilliaunsexagintillion,
four hundred seventy quattuormilliamilliatrecensexviginmilliasexagintillion,
two hundred sixty nine quattuormilliamilliatrecensexviginmillianovemquinquagintillion,
three hundred thirty quattuormilliamilliatrecensexviginmilliaoctoquinquagintillion,
two hundred fifty five quattuormilliamilliatrecensexviginmilliaseptenquinquagintillion,
nine hundred twenty three quattuormilliamilliatrecensexviginmilliasexquinquagintillion,
one hundred forty three quattuormilliamilliatrecensexviginmilliaquinquinquagintillion,
four hundred fifty three quattuormilliamilliatrecensexviginmilliaquattuorquinquagintillion,
seven hundred twenty three quattuormilliamilliatrecensexviginmilliatrequinquagintillion,
nine hundred forty nine quattuormilliamilliatrecensexviginmilliadoquinquagintillion,
three hundred thirty seven quattuormilliamilliatrecensexviginmilliaunquinquagintillion,
five hundred sixteen quattuormilliamilliatrecensexviginmilliaquinquagintillion,
fifty four quattuormilliamilliatrecensexviginmillianovemquadragintillion,
one hundred six quattuormilliamilliatrecensexviginmilliaoctoquadragintillion,
one hundred eighty eight quattuormilliamilliatrecensexviginmilliaseptenquadragintillion,
four hundred seventy five quattuormilliamilliatrecensexviginmilliasexquadragintillion,
two hundred sixty four quattuormilliamilliatrecensexviginmilliaquinquadragintillion,
six hundred forty four quattuormilliamilliatrecensexviginmilliaquattuorquadragintillion,
one hundred forty quattuormilliamilliatrecensexviginmilliatrequadragintillion,
three hundred four quattuormilliamilliatrecensexviginmilliadoquadragintillion,
one hundred seventy six quattuormilliamilliatrecensexviginmilliaunquadragintillion,
seven hundred thirty two quattuormilliamilliatrecensexviginmilliaquadragintillion,
eight hundred eleven quattuormilliamilliatrecensexviginmillianovemtrigintillion,
two hundred forty seven quattuormilliamilliatrecensexviginmilliaoctotrigintillion,
four hundred ninety three quattuormilliamilliatrecensexviginmilliaseptentrigintillion,
sixty nine quattuormilliamilliatrecensexviginmilliasextrigintillion,
three hundred sixty eight quattuormilliamilliatrecensexviginmilliaquintrigintillion,
six hundred ninety two quattuormilliamilliatrecensexviginmilliaquattuortrigintillion,
forty three quattuormilliamilliatrecensexviginmilliatretrigintillion,
one hundred eighty five quattuormilliamilliatrecensexviginmilliadotrigintillion,
one hundred twenty one quattuormilliamilliatrecensexviginmilliauntrigintillion,
six hundred eleven quattuormilliamilliatrecensexviginmilliatrigintillion,
eight hundred thirty seven quattuormilliamilliatrecensexviginmillianovemvigintillion,
eight hundred fifty six quattuormilliamilliatrecensexviginmilliaoctovigintillion,
seven hundred twenty six quattuormilliamilliatrecensexviginmilliaseptenvigintillion,
eight hundred sixteen quattuormilliamilliatrecensexviginmilliasexvigintillion,
five hundred thirty nine quattuormilliamilliatrecensexviginmilliaquinvigintillion,
nine hundred eighty five quattuormilliamilliatrecensexviginmilliaquattuorvigintillion,
four hundred sixty five quattuormilliamilliatrecensexviginmilliatrevigintillion,
ninety seven quattuormilliamilliatrecensexviginmilliadovigintillion,
three hundred fifty six quattuormilliamilliatrecensexviginmilliaunvigintillion,
one hundred twenty three quattuormilliamilliatrecensexviginmilliavigintillion,
four hundred thirty two quattuormilliamilliatrecensexviginmillianovemdecillion,
six hundred forty five quattuormilliamilliatrecensexviginmilliaoctodecillion,
one hundred seventy nine quattuormilliamilliatrecensexviginmilliaseptendecillion,
six hundred seventy three quattuormilliamilliatrecensexviginmilliasexdecillion,
eight hundred fifty three quattuormilliamilliatrecensexviginmilliaquindecillion,
five hundred ninety quattuormilliamilliatrecensexviginmilliaquattuordecillion,
five hundred seventy seven quattuormilliamilliatrecensexviginmilliatredecillion,
two hundred thirty eight quattuormilliamilliatrecensexviginmilliadodecillion,
one hundred seventy nine quattuormilliamilliatrecensexviginmilliaundecillion,
three hundred fifty seven quattuormilliamilliatrecensexviginmilliadecillion,
nine hundred quattuormilliamilliatrecensexviginmillianovemtillion,
eight hundred seventy six quattuormilliamilliatrecensexviginmilliaoctotillion,
four hundred twenty six quattuormilliamilliatrecensexviginmilliaseptentillion,
one hundred three quattuormilliamilliatrecensexviginmilliasextillion,
nine hundred forty three quattuormilliamilliatrecensexviginmilliaquintillion,
seven hundred eighty two quattuormilliamilliatrecensexviginmilliaquattuortillion,
three hundred seventy six quattuormilliamilliatrecensexviginmilliatretillion,
four hundred ninety four quattuormilliamilliatrecensexviginmilliadotillion,
five hundred ninety one quattuormilliamilliatrecensexviginmilliauntillion,
seven hundred forty two quattuormilliamilliatrecensexviginmilliatillion,
nine hundred thirty four quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongennovemnonagintillion,
five hundred eighty eight quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongenoctononagintillion,
four hundred ninety seven quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongenseptennonagintillion,
one hundred seventeen quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongensexnonagintillion,
five hundred eighty seven quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongenquinnonagintillion,
one hundred forty six quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongenquattuornonagintillion,
nine hundred sixteen quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongentrenonagintillion,
nine hundred seventy two quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongendononagintillion,
nine hundred eighty four quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongenunnonagintillion,
seven hundred sixty one quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongennonagintillion,
one hundred fifty nine quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongennovemoctogintillion,
sixty quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongenoctooctogintillion,
eight hundred seventy three quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongenseptenoctogintillion,
two hundred fifty quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongensexoctogintillion,
nine hundred thirty nine quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongenquinoctogintillion,
four hundred sixty two quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongenquattuoroctogintillion,
eighty five quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongentreoctogintillion,
five hundred seventy five quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongendooctogintillion,
seven hundred forty quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongenunoctogintillion,
seven hundred fifty four quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongenoctogintillion,
five hundred seventy seven quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongennovemseptuagintillion,
ninety eight quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongenoctoseptuagintillion,
six hundred twenty quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongenseptenseptuagintillion,
five hundred fifty eight quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongensexseptuagintillion,
eleven quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongenquinseptuagintillion,
seven hundred seventy nine quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongenquattuorseptuagintillion,
five hundred twenty nine quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongentreseptuagintillion,
eight hundred eighty four quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongendoseptuagintillion,
forty two quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongenunseptuagintillion,
one hundred ninety eight quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongenseptuagintillion,
two hundred eighty seven quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongennovemsexagintillion,
six hundred forty three quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongenoctosexagintillion,
three hundred nineteen quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongenseptensexagintillion,
three hundred thirty quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongensexsexagintillion,
four hundred sixty five quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongenquinsexagintillion,
sixty four quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongenquattuorsexagintillion,
four hundred fifty five quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongentresexagintillion,
two hundred thirty four quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongendosexagintillion,
nine hundred eighty eight quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongenunsexagintillion,
one hundred forty two quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongensexagintillion,
one hundred thirty nine quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongennovemquinquagintillion,
five hundred sixty five quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongenoctoquinquagintillion,
seven hundred eighty five quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongenseptenquinquagintillion,
four hundred forty seven quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongensexquinquagintillion,
four hundred seventy four quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongenquinquinquagintillion,
twenty three quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongenquattuorquinquagintillion,
five hundred forty six quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongentrequinquagintillion,
three hundred fifty three quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongendoquinquagintillion,
seven hundred fifty eight quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongenunquinquagintillion,
five hundred thirty seven quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongenquinquagintillion,
three hundred twenty four quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongennovemquadragintillion,
eight hundred one quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongenoctoquadragintillion,
eight hundred thirty eight quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongenseptenquadragintillion,
one hundred twenty quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongensexquadragintillion,
three hundred eighty seven quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongenquinquadragintillion,
six hundred quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongenquattuorquadragintillion,
eight hundred sixty eight quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongentrequadragintillion,
four hundred sixteen quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongendoquadragintillion,
five hundred twenty five quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongenunquadragintillion,
four hundred quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongenquadragintillion,
seven hundred ninety quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongennovemtrigintillion,
three hundred eighty one quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongenoctotrigintillion,
two hundred eighty five quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongenseptentrigintillion,
eight hundred eighty eight quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongensextrigintillion,
two hundred fifty six quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongenquintrigintillion,
six hundred eighty seven quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongenquattuortrigintillion,
eighty five quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongentretrigintillion,
eight hundred fifty five quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongendotrigintillion,
four hundred fifty six quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongenuntrigintillion,
two hundred thirty one quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongentrigintillion,
five hundred seventy seven quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongennovemvigintillion,
five hundred twenty seven quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongenoctovigintillion,
nine hundred thirty nine quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongenseptenvigintillion,
three hundred five quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongensexvigintillion,
nine hundred twenty quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongenquinvigintillion,
eight hundred eleven quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongenquattuorvigintillion,
seven hundred sixty six quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongentrevigintillion,
five hundred eighty five quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongendovigintillion,
three hundred eight quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongenunvigintillion,
six hundred seventy quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongenvigintillion,
one hundred thirty two quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongennovemdecillion,
one hundred twenty nine quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongenoctodecillion,
one hundred fifty five quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongenseptendecillion,
two hundred twenty one quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongensexdecillion,
eight hundred four quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongenquindecillion,
three hundred eighty one quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongenquattuordecillion,
five hundred forty eight quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongentredecillion,
six hundred twenty five quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongendodecillion,
seven hundred eighty seven quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongenundecillion,
nine hundred forty three quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongendecillion,
twenty quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongennovemtillion,
six hundred ninety four quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongenoctotillion,
five hundred twenty eight quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongenseptentillion,
fifteen quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongensextillion,
nine hundred ninety nine quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongenquintillion,
two hundred twenty one quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongenquattuortillion,
seven hundred eighteen quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongentretillion,
one hundred ninety one quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongendotillion,
five hundred fifty seven quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongenuntillion,
seven hundred sixty one quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmillianongentillion,
seven hundred eighty nine quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmilliaoctingennovemnonagintillion,
thirty eight quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmilliaoctingenoctononagintillion,
five hundred thirty nine quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmilliaoctingenseptennonagintillion,
five hundred twenty two quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmilliaoctingensexnonagintillion,
three hundred forty nine quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmilliaoctingenquinnonagintillion,
seven hundred forty six quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmilliaoctingenquattuornonagintillion,
eight hundred eight quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmilliaoctingentrenonagintillion,
seven hundred ninety seven quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmilliaoctingendononagintillion,
four hundred seventy six quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmilliaoctingenunnonagintillion,
nine hundred seven quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmilliaoctingennonagintillion,
six hundred sixty four quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmilliaoctingennovemoctogintillion,
fifty quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmilliaoctingenoctooctogintillion,
six hundred one quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmilliaoctingenseptenoctogintillion,
two hundred forty eight quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmilliaoctingensexoctogintillion,
four hundred seventy three quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmilliaoctingenquinoctogintillion,
two hundred six quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmilliaoctingenquattuoroctogintillion,
eight hundred seventy four quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmilliaoctingentreoctogintillion,
one hundred thirty three quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmilliaoctingendooctogintillion,
one hundred ninety four quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmilliaoctingenunoctogintillion,
six hundred sixty three quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmilliaoctingenoctogintillion,
five hundred eighty five quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmilliaoctingennovemseptuagintillion,
three hundred thirty four quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmilliaoctingenoctoseptuagintillion,
nine hundred eighty three quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmilliaoctingenseptenseptuagintillion,
eight hundred five quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmilliaoctingensexseptuagintillion,
seven hundred thirty four quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmilliaoctingenquinseptuagintillion,
eight hundred three quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmilliaoctingenquattuorseptuagintillion,
six hundred twenty quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmilliaoctingentreseptuagintillion,
seven hundred five quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmilliaoctingendoseptuagintillion,
seven hundred seventy eight quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmilliaoctingenunseptuagintillion,
two hundred seventy quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmilliaoctingenseptuagintillion,
nine hundred ten quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmilliaoctingennovemsexagintillion,
five hundred sixty one quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmilliaoctingenoctosexagintillion,
seven hundred sixteen quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmilliaoctingenseptensexagintillion,
seven hundred sixty seven quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmilliaoctingensexsexagintillion,
six hundred eighty quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmilliaoctingenquinsexagintillion,
nine hundred fifty four quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmilliaoctingenquattuorsexagintillion,
eight hundred fourteen quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmilliaoctingentresexagintillion,
four hundred fifteen quattuormilliamilliatrecenquinviginmilliaoctingendosexagintillion,

BUT, with all that (using about 150 lines) there were over 4,321,381 lines omitted ...

What a mouth full!!!!

So, here is the goal. Using a large fake check made out for $100,000 and a small bag of candy, pose the challenge to see who can come up with the largest prime number using only paper, pencil and calculator (don't let them cheat on their cell phones by Googling)

I've made some adjustments to the page!

2011-04-24T18:36:00.000-07:00

I'm working to adjust the column width and add a few things. All should be ready soon :)

Talking To Teachers: Classroom Advice 5

2011-04-24T03:55:00.000-07:00

As always, theres a delay :(

I've Added Some Tips For Helping Students Pass The Standardized Test

2011-04-22T14:29:00.000-07:00

In the pages section to the right of the screen your will find my "Top 7 Things To Do To Prepare Your Students For The Standardized Test". I hope it helps

Beads & Math (It's Mardi Gras In The Classroom)

2011-04-22T11:33:00.000-07:00

Bring in a few sets of beads and distribute them to each student. The goal is to estimate the number of beads without actually counting them.

Hmm...geometric formulas may do nice here. What shape and what formula would give us the best estimate of the number of beads?

Here is My Variation of The Number of The Day

2011-04-21T07:58:00.000-07:00

There are lots of resources out there that give free "number of the day" printable's. I like this type of worksheet if your going to assign homework or extra work.

Simply provide a number like 2.15 and allow the students to fill in as much information as possible about the number. I should have this up and for free soon. Check the "math downloads section"

Volume of a Cylinder Made of Jello!

2011-04-19T07:59:00.000-07:00

Jello containers make pretty good cylinders! But there's a problem, the jello container is not completely full of jello. Thus, we have two volumes, the volume of the jello container and the volume of the amount of jello. What is the difference?

Well, have your students bring in a container of jello (have extras for those who forget) and have your students find out

Do You Use Box Paper To Help Students Show Their Work?

2011-04-18T17:09:00.000-07:00

I created the following box paper keeping two things in mind:

1) Students need help keeping their work boxed together
2) Some students finish faster than others.

You can see that each box represents a place for your students to show their work and the sheet is full of mazes, math questions and other things to keep your students busy if they finish early.

Since i had to outsource the project to someone with better skills at graphic design than i posses. I will need to charge $1.25 for each download. Sorry :(

If you would like a copy you can purchase it through my teacher pay teacher store or you can paypal the money to my e-mail jeremiah_dyke@yahoo.com and i will e-mail you the pdf file

Using A Creative Teacher Printable: Love This Book!

2011-04-17T04:50:00.000-07:00

I will continue to mention The Creative Teacher. It is the single best book I have ever purchased for creative classroom ideas and I have surveyed a lot of them. Buy it via your local book store for 19.99 or via Amazon for the price listed to the left. Here is another Creative Teacher math variation of one of their paragraph printable

<-------------------------------------

Talking To Teachers: Classroom Advice 4

2011-04-16T17:41:00.000-07:00

, teacher

Cake & Fractions: Giving Your Students An Incentive

2011-04-14T19:48:00.000-07:00

If you place a fraction problem like this in front of your students, some will make the correct decision, some won't. Some were paying attention when you gave your lecture, some weren't.

Now, if you place the following option in front of each student (a large piece of cake or a small one) you better bet their going to listen to everything you say!

1) My suggestion, buy or bake a cake or cookie, pizza, etc. (ask the manager for discounts since it will be learning related in exchange for sending pizza magnets or coupons home to each parent).
2) Cut Two pieces for each student, a large piece and a small piece
3) Give each student a fraction problem like the one above and explain that by giving you the answer the are choosing which piece they get and you can not go back once your decision had been made.
4) Thus, the students being rewarded with a bigger piece of cake because they got the problem right...THEY are choosing the bigger or small piece of cake when they give you a <, > or = sign!

Your students now have a huge incentive to listen to what you are saying!

A Variation Of B-Day Cards: Teaching Perfect Squares

2011-04-13T21:12:00.000-07:00

Learning Perfect Squares With Birthday Cards

So, what's this perfect square stuff all about and how do we remember it? Time to create some square root birthday cards

1) Think of five people who you normally write birthday cards and write what age they will be this coming birthday (including yourself)

2) Let's figure out what their birthday is in "square root years"

Since we know that a square root undoes something squared, all we need to do is square their age.

Example: If your 10 years old, then your also Square root of 100 years old (10^2 or 10 x 10 = 100)

Therefore, square each age to get their age in "square root years".

3) Now, create them a happy birthday card but replace their age with their square root

D = RT; Using A Remote Control Car To Solve Equations

2011-04-12T19:18:00.000-07:00

Got a remote control car (or know someone that does)? Bring it in to class and have your students bring in their own remote control cars so that we can learn how to solve and manipulate equations.

What you will need:
*Remote Control Car
*Stop Watch
*Track or Field
*Pen and Paper

Iron Man Car

Young Mind

Stop Watch

Using Our Distance Formula:

D = RT

1) Measure off a specific distance on the track
2) Have a student be in charge of the stop watch and the remote control car
3) Use the information attained to determine the rate at which the car travels
4) See what happens if you increase the distance
5) Use the information to restrict and solve for the other variables

Have some fun with your Algebra!

"It's Getting Hot In Here" Time For Math Paper-Fans

2011-04-11T20:10:00.000-07:00

So, it's getting hot again. We need a way to keep each other cool throughout class while still learning math. My solution? A math paper-fans. Very simple to create and great for learning vocabulary. Emphasize that there will be fan breaks throughout class and therefore you must bring your fan back with you in order to take the break, otherwise you must keep working :)

My Son Turned The Square Root of 9 Years Old :)

2011-04-10T20:06:00.000-07:00

(Square Root of 9)

(My son and my wife)

Is It Standardized Test Time Again? Formula Sheet Help

2011-04-10T20:02:00.000-07:00

At this stage in the year educators begin preparing their students for Standardized Tests (and if your schools are like most, your job, raise, promotion, may be on the line).

Though I'm sure we all have our opinions as to the merits of this system, nevertheless. Hands on Math is here to help :)

First things first! We need to create some buzz for the formula sheets!

Our formula sheet, what we wanted our students to remember and write down before they began the test, looked like the following

Now, this is slightly too much for one sitting of memorization, thus it was proposed by my old colleagues to break it up in quadrants. Like so...

Not bad, but we can do more. We want students to know something goes somewhere but where?

I suppose we remedy this with the use of tetris pieces

Are New Formula Sheet looks Like The Following

Now Students can remember shapes to remember where something goes. I will be posting some awesome ways to get your students "pumped-up" for your standardized test as we get closer to May.

Talking To Teachers: Classroom Advice Video 3

2011-04-09T19:26:00.000-07:00

Food & Math Indirect Homework # 3

2011-04-08T09:55:00.000-07:00

You want your students to starting seeing math everywhere. You want them to have random math thoughts throughout their day. Give them some incentive. Assign extra credit for the best math photos. Start with a theme: Food.

Whoever submits the best mathematical food picture wins a surprise (for you to decide) and their picture will be hung in the classroom, etc.

Thinking I'm Crazy? Here you go...

Finding Area of Irregular Figures With Rubber Band Shapes

2011-04-07T16:51:00.000-07:00

Teaching Area of Irregular Shapes Can Be Confusing For Students

So, give them a ruler and some Rubber bands with shapes and let have some fun. The goal is not to present them with a testable question so much as to present them with a difficult question to which they must use known concepts.

Be sure to ask them what strategy they used----->A teenagers mind is amazing!

Possible thoughts of a teenage mind --"Well, that tail on the fish thingy kind of looks like a triangle and his body is like a circle i guess"--

Buy The Play Doh Algebra Math Packet

2011-04-06T23:32:00.000-07:00

After much demand, and personal sweat, i have finally put together the Play Doh Algebra Math Packet. You can purchase the packet for $2.99 by clicking the pics above or the link below.

Here is a product description
"The following packet offers an awesome hands on way for teaching algebra. Each lesson has pictures, a detailed lesson plan, after activity worksheet, powerpoint and homework assignment.

Your students will have a blast learning equations with this activity. Everything is included (except the Play Doh :)"

Equation Sandwich Anyone? How to eat Algebra

2011-04-06T20:04:00.000-07:00

I credit this idea to something similar in The Creative Teacher
<------------------------------------ One of the best books for Classroom Creativity

One of the great mysteries of the math teacher is how to get your students to show their steps! Here is something that might help. Have them create an Equation Sandwich!

First you need bread(2), mustard, tomatoes, mayonnaise, ham, cheese and lettuce like so

(bread(2), mustard, tomatoes, mayonnaise, ham, cheese and lettuce)

Each piece represents a step of your algebra problem

2x + 3 + 6x - (-1) = 20 (Bread)

(2x + 6x) + (3 + 1) = 20 (Mustard)

8x + 4 = 20 (Tomatos)

8x + 4 - 4 = 20 - 4 = (Mayo)

8x = 16 = 16 (Cheese)

8x/8 = 16/8 (Ham)

x = 2 (Lettuce)

Showing Work (Bread)

(You Get An Equation Sandwich)

(Eat The Knowledge!)

Happy Birthday To...X?

2011-04-05T06:38:00.000-07:00

Teaching Evaluating Expressions? Create birthday cards! Have students insert their age as "x"

Create an animal birthday card and translate to human years

Teaching Order of Operations? Make It Challenging With Guinness Book of World Records

2011-04-04T16:06:00.000-07:00

We know this is not a real Guinness Record, but your students don't need to know. Make it a challenge!

Talking To Educators About Classroom Discipline (slight delay)

2011-04-04T15:27:00.000-07:00

This is an ongoing video series based on my Book "Surviving The Trenches Of Education" available free for download. The quality is not great and there is a slight delay.

Math Instructor vs. Red Crayon (its all about data!!!!!)

2011-04-02T20:12:00.000-07:00

So i asked myself the question, "how long could i color, without stopping, before i would run out of crayon". Well, and hour and six min's later we have this work of genius :)

The New Teen "Math" Magazine: Is Lady Gaga Really Dating Pi?

2011-04-01T10:25:00.000-07:00

The New Teen "Math" Magazine: Is Lady Gaga Really Dating Pi?

How about having your students create their own "Teen Math" Magazine? Have each student bring in their fav magazine from home. Give them a strict set of math definitions or problems they need to know and have them make a magazine out of it!

Too Fun!

Math Door Handles (Indirect Homework 2)

2011-03-31T17:48:00.000-07:00

I am all about assigning indirect homework. Indirect homework, to me, is simply learning in small intervals without the student directly knowing they are learning. To do this we must be sly ;) We must be crafty, clever teachers who give students something mathy to use in their room or their daily lives. How about a door handle?

Now, this need not be basic. It can be definitions, pictures, problems, etc. Yet, it needs to be stripped down to the essentials so that the student can make small glances at the picture multiple times per day and learn. Aggregate these small amount of learning over the weeks, months, and year and you have your extra homework :)

Thoughts?

Creating A Math Clock (Indirect Homework)

2011-03-30T18:05:00.000-07:00

Is it just me or can students no longer read the traditional clocks on the wall with hands? I remember being asked what time it is, pointing to the clock in the back of the classroom, and being told “I can't read that clock, can you look on your computer"?

Nonetheless, this next exercise is to build a mathematical clock.

The awesome guys at Think Geek (i want the whole store!) were awesome enough to send me this cool math clock that i have on my wall in my office.

The concept is both nerdy and genius for teaching math! By placing these math-problems on a clock, it becomes somewhat more challenging for anyone to figure out what time it is.

This Is The PERFECT HOMEWORK TOOL

Think about it, if you have your students make a clock to hang on the wall in their room, using knowledge they will be tested on throughout the year, you have created what i call "indirect homework". Every time a student wants to know what time it is, they need to do some math :)

How do you do it?

1)You can either take the expensive route and have your students buy clock making devices (about $6.00 each) at your local Walmart (or order them online and collect money to cover the costs)

2) You can simply build a face cover for a clock by cutting out a circle with a whole in the middle and a slit down the paper using the sites here and here.

Be sure to send me some pics ;)

Graphs of Functions In Nature

2011-03-29T05:12:00.000-07:00

For Algebra teachers we know there are certain "go-to" graphs of functions that tend to be most popular in our texts. Having the ability to recognize these graphs enables the student to anticipate the shape of the graph and any of its variations. Simply knowing its normal shape allows students to visualize any transitions or reflections in the graph.

The point of this exercise is to send your students on a scavenger hunt in nature for the graphs of functions. Such an exercise would make a great recess or study hall period activity as well as an end of the class exercise.

Twilight Math Word Problems

2011-03-27T13:21:00.000-07:00

You can download this via the link or in my math downloads sections. Though not hands on, it add some student relevance.

Vampire Math pdf

Teaching Statistics With Tootsie Pop Data

2011-03-25T08:17:00.000-07:00

Need To Teach Statistics? Mean, Median, Mode, Range, Standard Deviation, etc? Then you need data...

Now, you can surly get data from predetermined data sets, but such data does create any relevance. It doesn't spark any interest because it is too far removed from the student and the classroom. Here's an idea! Tootsie Pops!

How many licks does it take to get to the center of the tootsie pop?

So here's what you do. Buy a couple bags of tootsie pop suckers

1st: you must decide if your question is how many licks to remove all the candy around the tootsie pop, 1/2 of it, or simply to reach the tootsie pop.

Now decide, do you distribute them at the beginning of class and allow the students to lick the sucker throughout class, or assign it as homework? Either way, you will collect a diverse set of data that will interesting to investigate. Let me know how it goes! Send pics handonmath@gmail.com

Another Variation of Plotting Points and Graphing Lines

2011-03-24T10:21:00.000-07:00

Instead of plotting points the normal way here is a variation

Educator may choose to replace the nails with tac's and the board with cardboard or other products like construction paper. The purpose is, as always, to let the students engage the material.

The same concepts may be used for more advanced plotting also

y = x

y= x^2 (hard to hold the string and take pictures while watching your 2-year-old :)

What else could you do?

Matching Lines To Equations

2011-03-23T20:10:00.000-07:00

Does the above look familiar? You give your students an equation, ask them to pick arbitrary points for x in order to solve for y. Then take those points, plot them, and graph the line. Here's a variation from paper and pencil.

Instead of plotting point, try matching lines with equations

Bolting two pieces of wood together we create an X, Y coordinate.

Using a straight stick, the students goal is to hold the stick in a way that represents the line drawn when the points were plotted.

It's Here!! My First Math Children's Book!

2011-03-22T18:04:00.000-07:00

I dare say its the greatest math book for teaching the Real Number System of natural, whole, integer, rational, and irrational numbers ever :) At the very least it's a good one

Do Natural Numbers Ever Wonder What's Unnatural?

Journey with the wonderful number one as he travels throughout his Real Number universe to meet a diverse set of Real Number creatures. From the beginnings of his little Natural Number farm though Whole Number Forest, Integer Island, Rational Road and The Land of Irrational, our wonderful number one seeks knowledge.

The story couples cute art and alliteration to create an easy to follow story for you students learning the Real Number System. Educators may decide to use this wonderful guide as either supplementary or primary material for both inner subject or cross discipline learning.

The Future of Math Education

2011-03-22T14:25:00.001-07:00

Math Outside The Textbook (Acute Angles In Nature)

2011-03-21T17:34:00.000-07:00

Educators, we know that there is math outside the worksheets and textbooks. Let's take our students to the math! This short vid asks us to look for angles in nature

Angles In Nature 2

The power point was taken from here
View more presentations from micdsram.

My First Math-Childrens Books Will Be Out Soon

2011-03-19T22:07:00.000-07:00

It's about a wonderful number as he travels throughout the real number universe. It reads with lots of alliteration. Please let me know what you think of the pic

Rock, Paper, Scissors Math Variation To Teach Angles

2011-03-17T20:52:00.000-07:00

Most rock, paper scissor, games are played with an odd number of choices in order to optimize each choice. I choose to use four choices obtuse, acute, right and straight

Obtuse x > 90 degrees

Right Angle 90 degrees

Straight Angle (line) 180 degrees

Acute Angle x < 90 degrees

So here's how you play

1) Have your kids right down the choices and write their definition as well as draw a picture

2) Provide your students with the rules of play (shown below)

RULES OF PLAY

1) Obtuse Angles beat Acute angles

2) Acute beats Right and Straight Angles

3) Right angles beat Obtuse angles

4) Straight angles beat Obtuse and Right angles.

Icebreaker: Advice For The First Year Teacher

2011-03-16T22:11:00.000-07:00

Teaching Properties Associative, Commutative, Distributive, etc, Through Matching

2011-03-16T20:45:00.000-07:00

Teaching any properties in math can be tough for educators. Properties as intuitive as Associative Commutative, Distributive or as tough as the ones shown below are hard for students to memorize.

(hosted at ecalc.com)

And that's just what we need...a memory game!

Using flashcards (premade flashcards may be found here) have students play the old fashioned memory game.

1) Each student gets a turn to flip over two cards
2) If they match the proper property with its definition they keep the set of cards and go again. If they don't, its the other students turn
3) The Student who collects the most sets of cards, wins!

The same concept may be used to teach algebra properties. For example, the various definitions of perfect square trinomials and the difference of two squares. They too can be made to play in the same fashion.

Let me know how it goes :)

Teaching Simple Interest: Choosing The Best Deal

2011-03-14T22:28:00.000-07:00

Teaching Simple Interest:

I= prt

I =Interest, p = principle, r = interest rate (in decimal), t = time in years

Let's tell a story about a kid who wants to borrow $70.00. He has three choices to borrow the money, "mom and dad", "the bank" or "the loan shark"

Lets see who he chooses

Teaching Y-axis, Output, Range and Dependent Variable With The YORD

2011-03-14T16:04:00.000-07:00

The YORD is a mythical creature that teaches students to remember y-axis, output, range, dependent variable. The video shows a pic of a potential YORD. See more at our website

Talking About A Math Lab

2011-03-14T00:09:00.000-07:00

http://handsonmath.blogspot.com/2009/12/what-about-using-math-lab.html

I'm Working On A Sketch For Distributive Property

2011-03-13T23:04:00.000-07:00

It's going to be about a detective who busts into a set of parenthesis and "distributes" punishment. Let me know what you think