Thursday, January 31, 2013

House # Math

This activity is from one of my favorite sites for real world math, Illuminations! Students create a three digit house number, using numerals 0 through 9. The three numbers they choose must add up to a certain sum. They can't repeat numbers in their combination or begin their combination with 0. For example, if their number has to equal 6, one combination might be 321. There are 14 combinations if the sum is 6. If the 3 addends must add up to 7, there are 18 combinations. Visit Illuminations for details and printables to go along with the activity.

Afterwards, incorporate measuring by having students create a "house that measures up" from Cathy Searcey. After kids make their "house plan," they head outside and draw a large version of their house using sidewalk chalk. (House dimensions: 6ft. x 6ft. frame, a 3ft. x 1ft. door, and two 1ft. x 1 ft. windows).

You could also explore geometry by having students design their very own clubhouse! Click here for details!

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Super Bowl Activities

football via: wikihow
Super Bowl Prediction: This activity comes from Kid Zone. Kids draw both teams' jerseys or you could have them design new ones! Who do they think will win? Why do they think that team will win (just a guess, past experience, they like their uniform, statistics, etc.). Click here for the original activity! Kids estimate, tally, and graph!

Paper Football Measuring Competition: Have kids construct a paper football and measure the distance they can flick it. Whose went the farthest? What's the best way to flick it? Visit wikihow for instructions on how to make a paper football (featured left)! Visit BCPS to see how to incorporate addition or multiplication skills.

Team Geography - Locate the teams on a map!

Create a Commercial - Give students 1 minute to persuade their classmates to buy a product they made up! They must create visuals and possibly a jingle!

Halftime Planner - If students were in charge of the halftime show, who would they invite to perform?

Super Bowl Science - Experiment from Teach Hub
Place a football in the freezer, one in water, and keep one dry. Throw the footballs and see if temperature affects the distance! "How would a coach prepare his team for bad weather?" Visit Teach Hub for more fun activities!

Recipe for a Snack - Ask students what they would serve at a Super Bowl Party. Have them write a recipe for their treat.

Super Bowl Scavenger Hunt - Kids try to find things during the game, such as "Which quarterback had the most passing yards?" Visit Illuminations for a free printable! Also, check out their analyzing scores activity!

Super Bowl Pool - Free printable from Teach Hub! Students estimate the sum of the final scores while watching the game!


Monday, January 28, 2013

Rainbow War


Place cards in a pile face down. Kids pull a card off the pile and flip it over. The player with the larger fraction wins and takes one of the color paper rainbow strips. If a player has a gold coin, the gold beats the rainbow fraction, unless the card has a full rainbow (7/7). The player with the gold coin take the number of coins it says on the card. No one gets a rainbow strip. If a player has a shamrock, shamrock beats a rainbow fraction card, unless the card is a full rainbow. The player with the shamrock chooses any color rainbow strip. There can be two winners of the game. The goal is to collect all the colors of the rainbow (each rainbow strip). The other way to win is to collect the most gold coins. Players can't count their coins, until someone has collected all the colors of the rainbow. Free printables below, print more than one of each sheet for a longer game. Drag images to your desktop to print.


Sunday, January 27, 2013

Fraction Hopscotch

Have kids design their own hopscotch board! The only catch, it must consist of fractions!

Stained Glass Art Project

Mathy McMatherson had his students design and write a proposal for a stained glass window. Students had to stay within their price range and listen to their client's wants / needs. Check it out on his Bloggy McBloggerson!

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Cupid's Arrow

This fun Valentine's day science activity comes from Smmart Ideas! All you need are straws and q-tips! To add math, have students estimate the distance they think they can shoot their "arrow." Then, have them measure the actual distance. To incorporate geometry, have students try holding their straw at different angles. What angle shot the arrow the farthest distance? Visit Smmart Ideas for the science behind this experiment!




After students experiment with this S.T.E.A.M. project, then have them go on the hunt to find Cupid's Missing Arrows! Free download: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TJqN5n8v2v85fr4Sv18_Qgw4dqLVxyAo/view?usp=sharing

Taste the Rainbow


Skittles Exploration
1. Online collaboration project - skype and compare results with schools across the U.S. (Registration opens March 1)
2. Skittles Density Column - Cool Science at Home
3. Skittle Chromatography - Awesome Crazy Guyz
4. Skittle Color Separation - Parents: Homeschool Den
5. Fizzle a Skittle - Gigi Reviews
6. Skittles Riddle Book - Fun with a variety of math concepts
7. Skittle Arrays / Fractions - click here
8. Crack a skittle open like a clam shell?! - Parenting

Free Printables!
1. Skittles Graph, Tally, Sort - Golden Gang Kindergarten
2. Skittles Math Center - Erica Bohrer's First Grade
3. Skittles Place Value - Beacon Learning
4. Skittles Fractions - NWACC

Online Tool
Pie chart creator

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Guess Who?! - Teeth

photos via cc: mouth 1 - Dana Beveridge, mouth 2 - Chris Penny, mouth 3 - Izik

This fun idea comes from Fall into First! Take photos (or have students take photos) of students' toothless mouths (showing their teeth). Next, ask kids to estimate the total number of teeth that have been lost in the class (sum of all their teeth lost). Have students go around the room and tally how many teeth each of their peers has lost. Have them count all of their tally marks and figure out the total. Whose prediction was the closet? Then, as a class, create a graph of how many teeth each child is missing. Hang the photos up, as well as the graph. Students try to guess who's mouth is whose based on their knowledge of how many teeth each of their peers has lost, as well as their keen observation skills.

Science experiment - Brush your teeth! - Part 1 and Part 2

Baloney Belly

Read the poem "Baloney Belly Billy" by Shel Silverstein. Then have kids brush up on their money skills! Give them a certain amount of money to feed Billy. They decide what they want him to eat. Have them create a receipt including the cost of each item they fed Billy and the total amount of money they spent. 

Optional Craft (kids love this craft!) - Create your very own Billy. Have kids make an oversized construction paper head with a hole cut out where his mouth is. Tape a sandwich bag underneath. Kids can throw the items he eats in his mouth (kids draw paper items). You could also tape the head to a brown, paper lunch bag or tissue box (both with a hole for Billy's snack items).

Writing - What would you offer Billy for "another 50 cents?" ($1.50)

Paperclip Math

1. Hands on Math: Paperclip Equations (also can be done with fact families)
2. The Longest Chain - First, have students estimate how many paperclips they think they can link in a certain amount of time. Then, set a timer and have students make a chain as quickly as possible! Measure the paperclip chains. Who created the longest? Who's guess was the closest to their actual number? 
3. Just my size - Have kids estimate how many paperclips it would take to create a chain the same height as them. 
4. Mean, Median, Mode, Range - Race to make a chain! When time is up, kids count how many clips they linked. Write down the number of clips they linked on the board from lowest to highest. Next, find the mean, add up all their scores and divide the sum by how many teams there were. Then, circle the number that falls in the middle (median). Mode - did anyone have the same number of paper clips on their chain? Finally, find the range: subtract the lowest score from the highest.
5. Paperclip patterns: link colors to create a pattern.
6. Floating Paperclip! - Visit Science Bob for a paperclip science experiment about surface tension.

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Place Value Town

Game - Who can get the most visitors to Place Value Town?
Create a town out of construction paper or blocks with three recreational spots to represent each place value. Use matchbox cars or paper cars for the numbers (0-9). Kids roll a die. Then, park the number car next to the building. The winner is the player that had the most visitors!

Monday, January 21, 2013

Stuffed Pets


monkey via cuddle works
My Pet Pal - Revised
This is a lesson I'm creating for one of my education courses. You can view the original post I wrote here.

Have students bring in a pet stuffed animal from their home. Ask students if they think they can determine an object’s weight and size without using standard tools. Write the children’s answers down on the SmartBoard. Then, try out their answers to see if they are right. Next, read the book Measuring Penny by Loreen Leedy to show students ways to measure a pet without standard tools. 

Have students predict which pet is the longest, tallest, shortest, widest, and thinnest. Choose a nonstandard tool for measuring. Have students record their pet's measurements (ear, eye, nose, mouth, head, paw, arm, leg, tail, body). Also, have them write down the name of the longest, tallest, shortest, widest, and thinnest pet in the class.

Next, they will estimate which pet is the heaviest and which is the lightest. For science, construct a balancing scale. Provide the materials and have students infer how they can use the material to create a weighing device. Then, weigh your pets! Have them write down the pets' names in order from lightest to heaviest. Afterwards, have them weigh their pet and compare it with pennies. What does their pet weigh in pennies?

Then, students will describe their pet’s attributes using a bubble map. What makes their pet unique? Then, they will compare their pet to a friend's pet using a Venn diagram. Once they compare with one friend, they will create a fraction by finding other peers whose pets have similar and different attributes.

For writing, have students write down how they think their pet’s attributes might help their pet (animal adaptations). Why does their pet have large ears? How does long shaggy hair help their pet? Where would their pet live? After they've made an inference, they will work in teams to research all of their pet’s attributes on the computer or ipad to find out how certain attributes (like large ears) help animals.

Sunday, January 20, 2013

RPS Angles!

Switch up the classic game Rock Paper Scissors with angles! Visit Hands on Math for details. This site has amazing math ideas!

Also, check out Odd vs. Even for another hand game.
Click here for Rock Paper Scissors Fractions.

Saturday, January 19, 2013

18 Flavors

Read the poem 18 Flavors by Shel Silverstein. Next, tell kids that they are going to become ice cream inventors! Pass out a template for a scoop of ice cream and lay out different colors of construction paper.  Each child decorates his scoop of ice cream to look like the flavor he invented. Then, have students cut out their scoops and write their name on the back. Place their scoops of ice cream at the math station, along with a paper cut out cone. Kids go back and measure the ice cream cone with different scoops. How tall is it with one, two, three, four, five, and so on. 

Optional: Hanging up next to the station, write the price of one scoop. Have kids purchase their scoops of ice cream before measuring them to practice their money skills.

Writing: Have kids write a recipe for the ice cream flavor they invented! What will they call their flavor?

Click here for ice cream fractions and here for Sweet Shop Math! Click here for the full lesson with free printables!



Thursday, January 17, 2013

Is your number 18?

Magic Math Trick
1. Choose a number, any number!
2. Multiply the number by 100.
3. Subtract the original number from the answer.
4. Add the digits in your answer.
Is your number 18?!

Example: 
5
5 x 100 = 500
500 - 5 = 495
4 + 9 + 5 = 18

Now, let's try a larger number!
1,467
1,467 x 100 = 146,700
146,700 - 1,467 = 145,233
1 + 4 + 5 + 2 + 3 + 3 = 18
It's magic!

Check out Is your number 2? for more mind reading magic! For more math magic activities click here!

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Octacube

paper cubes via flickr cc: Malachi Brown

This 8 cube puzzle helps kids develop problem solving skills, while exploring geometry! The goal - "build a 2×2×2 cube, so that every side of the larger cube has only one color, and so that faces that touch each other match in color." - Jaap. Above is an example of what your color patterns on your cube template should look like. You can find a blank printable cube template here (you will need 8 cubes for the puzzle). Visit Jaap's Puzzle Page for more details!

Note: You could also paint wood cube blocks.

Who made that scale?!

Read the Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister, talk about sharing, friendship, and being unique! Have each kid create an original, one of a kind scale for an oversized paper fish for homework. Along with their scale, have them write a couple clues that describe their scale. They bring the scale back in a brown, paper lunch bag with their clues. Remind kids not to share their scale, it's a secret! Lay all of their beautiful scales out on a table. Then, pass out  the clues to each child, making sure they don't end up with the clues they wrote. Students must try to find the scale that matches the clues. Who do they think made the scale? Could they find the correct scale that matches the clues? Did they guess the right artist? Then, use their scales to create a lovely fish!

Monday, January 14, 2013

Smart

President's day, poetry, and math: Have kids do coin rubbings in the open squares. Then, they write the coin amount on the line. For more president's day fun click here!

Saturday, January 12, 2013

Chopsticks!

Place Value Game, inspired by Chopsticks Math: Counting. For a math station, set out 2 paper plates with different colored swedish fish laid on them. Each color represents a value. 
Red = Thousands
Green = Hundreds
Orange = Tens
Yellow = Ones
About ten feet (or more, depending on room size) directly across from the plates with gummies, set out 2 more paper plates. Each player gets a plate of fish and an empty plate. Kids have to use chopsticks and quickly transfer their swedish fish to the empty plate, without dropping any! If they drop a fish, they must return it back to the fish filled plate and start over. The goal is to create the highest number. Therefore, they will want to go for the highest value fish first. When time is up, they figure out their number (example below). The kid with the highest number wins! So, even if one kid had more fish, it doesn't necessarily mean he or she will win. One child might have 9 yellow fish (9). While his opponent only has a total of 2 fish: 1 red and 1 green (1,100). The number 1,100 is much larger than 9! 

Light Beams and Shadows

Measuring Light Distance
1. Beam of Light - How far does your flashlight beam shine? Kids practice measuring, while learning about reflection and refraction. Visit Net Places for this fun activity from The Everything Kids' Easy Science Experiments Book.

2. Light Travel - Does light always travel in a straight line? Check out Learning Ideas K-8's experiment with hole punched index cards!

Measuring Shadows
1. Object Position - Turn off the lights and investigate how shadows change when objects (such as your hand) are held close to and far from a flashlight. Measure the shadows. How much was the difference in size? Peep and the Big Wide World

2. Light Position - Set an object on a table. Try shining the flashlight above, in front of, and on different sides of your object. Before you shine the light, can you make a prediction about where the shadow will land? Have a friend trace your shadows. Measure the shadows. What position did you hold your flashlight to get the longest shadow? What about the widest shadow? Peep and the Big Wide WorldVisit Froggy Friends Fun for a free printable to go along with this activity.

Engineering / Electricity Project: Build a Flashlight! 
How far does your flashlight beam shine in comparison to a store bought flashlight? Build a flashlight and measure!
1. Soda Can Flashlight - Instructables
2. TP Roll Flashlight - Energizer

Friday, January 11, 2013

Alphabet Inference

thinking boy via parenting on track
Morning writing prompt: See if students can use their inference skills to figure out the alphabet puzzle from Cool Math 4 Kids! What separates the letters above the red line from the letters below it? Kids must observe the letters and compare their similarities and differences. Have them write what they think the solution is in their journal. If you're still stumped, visit Cool Math 4 Kids for the answer!

Candy Art

Explore multiplication and fractions by creating a candy art array! Kids create an image using colored candy. They must use their problem solving skills because their candy must line up evenly to create an array. When they're finished with their candy picture, they write down the multiplication equation that matches their array. Then, they write down the fraction for each color they used. Visit Candy Art for more intricate designs to get kids inspired!

Note: For this activity, split kids up into teams. Then, they can collaborate and create larger designs.

Juice Box Project

Kids measure the length, width, and height of different juice boxes to find out: "Which manufacturer has the largest volume of juice and uses the least amount of packaging material." Visit Science Buddies for all the details! Also, check out the extension activity: Rectangular ice cream containers vs. cylindrical.

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Cookie Rocks and Mining

2 activities, Science and Economics:


1. Cookie Rocks - This experiment is inspired by Kinderpond's "C is for Cookie." Have all students sit around a large table. Give each kid a cookie. Then, have them destroy it! 

Weathering
First, have them experiment with a toothpick. Next, give them an ice cube to see the effects of ice on a cookie. They'll use the cube to chop at the cookie. Then, hand out an eyedropper to represent rain. Kids squirt water on the cookie. Note: You could even use a spray bottle.

Erosion
Once their finished demolishing their cookie, pass out straws. Have kids blow (wind) their cookie crumbles (rock fragments) toward the center of the table. Then, sweep their crumbs into a pile. 

Deposition
Add a couple drops of water to their crumbs (if needed) and squish them all together.


2. Cookie Mining Economics -  Check out the Museum of Science and Industry's Cookie Mining Project. Kids excavate chocolate chips from a cookie; but, first they have to purchase the materials they need and stay within their price range!

energy resources (renewable vs. non-renewable) - You can also use this activity to explore . Kids get a soft and hard chocolate chip cookie (which represent 2 landsites). Can they dig out coal without harming the landsite? Which site was easier to retrieve the coal? Visit Third Grade Thinkers for instructions!