Robotic Binomials

I needed a little extra practice on multiplying binomials so I decided to do some more STEM integration. I've been surprised by how many students seem to enjoy the creativity coloring aspect so like to give them a chance to 'brain break' with the work.

Thinking back on my Emoji Math one (you may read about it and/or get it here), I asked the students what they would like to color. The definitive answer was something different! Enter, Walter! Walter is my Space Center Houston USB Hub Buddy that regularly sits atop my desk and helps encourage me. I received him while attending SEEC, the Space Exploration Educators Conference. It is incredible and if you ever get the chance, GO! I cannot speak enough about what an incredible experience it is. People come from around the WORLD!

Sorry, back to the topic at hand, h👀ere is Walter Algebr-ing and downloading...

So I'm looking for a robot outline to use for the activity when Walter pipes up with his hand in the air... So I made him in a word document. He's very excited to make it onto an activity!

Look at the Joy!

So the activity, students will multiply the binomials, match it to the answer below which tells them how to decorate that 'Walter'. There are 3 versions in the same document so all 12 answers/designs are used.

Easy way for them to have instant feedback and assessment. Plus, they get a little relief before factoring!  

Get my Walter Activity, Robotic Binomials HERE for FREE!
The font I used for the title and directions is KG Payphone and you may download it free here at dafont.com. I have also saved it in Word and PDF for you.

For answer keys, please email camfan54@att.net from an official teacher school or professional account that I can verify. I have had a number of students and generic email accounts request keys. I don't want to ruin the integrity of an assignment for any of you. Thank you and hope you understand.

Enjoy!
Lisa

What's Your Mission... Patch?

Last February, I attended NASA's Space Exploration Educators Conference (SEEC) at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.  One word, WOW!  What an incredible experience.  I attended every minute of learning and really got caught up in the magic and amazement of space exploration.  Now, I live around the corner, could probably walk to NASA so to say, I took it for granted would be an understatement.  I knew it was there but now I realize what a gift it is.

That is Walter posing in my pictures of the legendary Gene Kranz and the Shuttle Mock-up.  He attended many a session with me throughout the weekend.

I had never heard of SEEC until this year and hope to never miss another one.  Starting with this post, I will be sharing several lessons that were inspired by SEEC that my friend Valerie Blackburn and I developed for our Summer Camp that we made Space themed after attending SEEC!  It really had us wrapped up in the moment and still using the knowledge 4 months later to help foster learning and creativity in students!

This blog entry is to share the Design Your Own Mission Patch activity we developed from a great presentation by Brian Ewenson.  Below is the patch that Walter and I created to represent me as a teacher!

Valerie and I wanted to embrace the A in STEAM learning and allow for not only creativity but some personal ownership and self of each team member.  We were blown away.  Every 'Mission' (table group) really embraced the activity and theme.  Below were our patches and Mission Worksheets.

 

 

 

These were fabulous.  The WS template (pictured below) was to allow freedom to pick things that represented them, rather it be video games or pizza!  We wanted them to own their Mission

There is a great lesson template online from New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science LodeStar Astronomy Center that can be found here.  Me being me, or course, I had to make it harder on myself.  I needed like 10 Patch options so every option was available to the students.

We also had a handout developed from all our research and gave one to each group so they knew the history and inspiration that goes in to a Mission Patch design.  The above lesson from the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science LodeStar Astronomy Center has some great information.

You may get our badge templates and rubric here for FREE!

I want to use this in my math class next year.  I think it would be a great way to set a math goal and have the students tell me about them selves.  It can be used beyond Space learning!  I love how our students embraced the activity and taught us about themselves!

Enjoy,
Lisa

Sphero-ing Our Way Around the Coordinate Grid

If you have previously read my blog, you know I usually go overboard!  I usually end up creating something extravagant or if I get a new manipulative, I try to work it in everywhere.  This summer and school year, I was awarded several grants and as a result, I had to caution myself to not go so overboard that I overwhelmed myself and my class.  Enter this quick post about using Sphero to find slope!

 

The WS is somewhat simplistic and the robotics integration is really more engaging than intense but it was a different way to find slope form 2 points.  As many students as wanted to were able to drive a Sphero on the coordinate grid I taped onto the floor.  I would then tell them to name the coordinates from two Spheros to put on their WS.

I displayed the WS on the board so they could copy down if they were 'busy' driving.  After a few problems, I changed one axis too.  You might want to be cautious if you make negative points dominant for differentiation.

On a couple of problems, I also changed the scales and made each tick 2 or 1/2.  You could really do anything you wanted!   

This was just how we practiced slope from 2 points.  I also had problems on the back to write the equations but we had not reviewed that skill yet.... I had a lot of Professional Development this month!

While this was not an intense integration, it was effective and engaging which is always a desirable outcome!  

Get the WS here for FREE!  The font I used for the title was A Little Sunchine and you can download it here for FREE!

Enjoy!

Lisa

Career Headbands

This summer I participated in an Externship grant where we explored and were able to shadow different careers to bring back to our classroom.  Since there are TEKS (state standards) about budgeting and careers, this fit perfectly into Math Models.  Even if it was not a standard, it was a wonderful activity to help our kids explore different careers.  

There are so many different paths out there that I want to show my students to help them find their place.

Of course, I had to add in a couple of fun ones... my son has wanted to be both a Jedi and Pokemon Trainer!!  

I also put descriptions for some of the more difficult to describe/guess careers.  I also provided students with a check off list of all the careers.  There are over 60!

My classes are smaller so I broke it down into front page cards and back page cards.  The students seemed to enjoy it and some learned something new!

I made a direction PowerPoint to display but also explained.

I kind of helped them out with some sample questions and hints like,
Would I work in the mall? or tell them they would work in the mall.
Is it in the medical field?
You would come across someone working this job a lot.

OR the best hint of the day by a student....  "The movie you are in came out in 1977." 😆

The first time, we only did one card each.  This could be done so many times and even as a quick Warm-Up.  

I provided each student a copy of the hint sheet in a dry erase pouch so they could mark off if they wanted.  Even looking through all the jobs, they might see or learn something new. 

And if you do not have the plastic headbands, do not fear as I have a template of one you can use with your students.  I pre-made some and laminated them to save the cutting time and be able to reuse them but if yo plan on using them a lot, I'd have them make their own to keep in their notebooks.

They seemed to enjoy it and hopefully they might have a new idea of what lays ahead in the future!  And just in case you did not know, and Ocularist makes fake eyes!

Get a copy of all my resources here for FREE!!!  the font I used for the titles and career names was A Little Sunshine which you can download for FREE here at dafont.

Enjoy!
Lisa

Can You Escape the Death Star? Maze Activity

Are you brave enough to traverse the Dark Side?  Solve your way to the Escape Pod so you can join the rebel forces in defeating Darth Vader the Sith Lord.  

When will you ever use this in real life, you ask.... well here you go!  Nothing like defeating evil with Algebra to see the relevance of multi-step equations in the real world.  We never know when we need to fight a Star War!

And of course... I always go a little overboard....

These are just characters taped to solo cups to place over the Sphero to add come character.  Below is a video of how they move.

This summer I received a couple of grants for Spheros in my math classroom.  I've been working on integrating STEM and STEAM into my class as a way of engaging and motivating learners.  What is a Sphero you might ask?  

I saw these a couple of summers ago at the Texas Regional Collaborative in Austin, Texas.  I have played with them a few times and even brought them up to school at the end of last year.  I wrote a grant through WeTeach_CS and DonorsChoose.org.  Blessedly I received both of them!  The WeTeach Mini Grant allowed me to realize a life long dream too!  I received my first ever 'bigcheck'!  

He went on a  number of adventures the rest of the summer which you can see on my classroom Twitter: @cbhsrichmath.

Immediately I started brainstorming.  I have a bad habit of going overboard so I wanted to slowly bring Sphero into my classroom.  I have already integrated Ozobot into my class so I just needed a few assignments to work in.  Robotics and coding are so important to basic life skills as I've previously wrote about on my blog.  They teach fundamental life and math skills so even just 'playing' can be great learning.

So Sphero..... Hmmmm..... there are a ton of great resources to intorduce into the class like the following Teachers Pay Teachers Activities from Miss Talented and Gifted:

Bundle 1

Bundle 2

The Twister activity is fabulous!  When we did it at a STEM Camp they loved it and really applied their coding.

With my students, I wanted to work it in to the curriculum as an initial interest motivator.  So I thought, 'hey, they could drive it through a maze!'  Then I thought just take any maze WS  and print it poster size to put on the ground.  I have a bunch from Algebra Accents I could use! BUT.... this is me and I wanted a Star Wars themed one!! Of course I couldn't just use what I had, could I?!?!?

Enter Can You Escape From the Death Star?

I printed it in poster mode from PDF at 625%.  This made it 9 sheets by 5 sheets and the perfect size to navigate Sphero through to the Escape Pods.  Every pair/group/individual will solve their problems to navigate through the maze on paper.  They will then drive their Sphero through it all on the floor maze!

I added a students WS to show their work.

At first, they needed some time to familiarize themselves with it and play.  I demonstrated how to connect and do the basic drive commands for this activity.  We will get more into the coding later.

The students worked hard to get to the fun.  they were able to master the mechanics and even practice their 'escape' plan to show me for their grade tomorrow.  Below are the Sphero Mini's which have a totally different drive dynamic in my opinion. 

As always, I have provided copies of the activities in Word and PDF.  The fonts I used were Star Jedi and standard Stencil in Word. 

Download the Maze and Student WS here for FREE!

For any keys, please feel free to email me at camfan54@att.net from your school or professional account.  I've had students try and email for keys in the past but luckily their email said student! 

Have a gallactically great day!
Lisa