Wheel of Equations Notes

I love gimmicks!  Interactive notebooks lend themselves to gimmicks and the Wheel of Equations are perfect!  This is a short post sharing my favorite note delivery template!

Yes, I hum as I rotate the wheel to the next problem.  And yes, I purposely chose problems far from each other on the wheel so the Wheel of Fortune theme could be fully completed in my glorious nerdy humming display.

I got this from a grant I participated in a few summers ago from Jennifer Clayton and Valerie Blackburn.  It was probably my favorite takeaway!  It also allowed for more problems on my one-page notes too so... extra practice!!

I first gave a top sheet of the 3 Questions and then had them connect the wheel directly to ther notebook.  This was to conserve paper.

I discovered that students are not very versed in brads/brass fasteners so I started doing it whole page which made it easier to use in the notebook.

The wheel perfectly fits in the blank space and the page perfectly fits in a spiral notebook!

I have them put the brad right through the middle!  These notes are always a hit and the students periodically play with the wheel.  It's also easy to refer back to these notes because they are so unique!

They, of course, could be adapted to any note or activity!

Get all the templates 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! 

Enjoy!  And I'd love to hear feedback or any other things you create with it!

Lisa

How Do I Solve This? Problem Processing and Testing Strategies Activity

A couple of years ago, I noticed that a lot of times we gave practice problems but not necessarily word problems until the test.  I wanted to start helping with not only math but testing strategies to help prepare them for future classes.  

I also looked at frequently missed STAAR Questions (Texas Standardized Test) and wanted to help walk students through them.  I did a quick template of How Do I Solve This?  and applied it to a number of problems.  

The questions might need editing or a change of order from each problem.  These activities are to both help them get started and write about math!  I usually do some with them (especially the first few) and then assign some throughout the year.  I will do them with the unit they apply to and use them as spiraling.  

I have had some positive feedback from students and they definitely get quicker at them.  When I grade them, I usually put a check if they got it correct and wrote sufficient information and an X if they missed the problem.  They still received credit for trying.  My goal is the processing!!!!

Here is an example of a multi-step inequality problem.  

I always tell them as far as the writing goes, there is no write or wrong.  Often, throughout the day, different classes even have different responses.  It's all about processing the problems!  At least trying to get started!

Here are a couple others so you can get an idea of what I am trying to get them to express.

I have 20 done as of this writing and they are all available here for FREE!  These are great for exit tickets, warm-ups, assignments, and spiraling.  I have based these off released STAAR Tests from Texas Education Agency which you can access here for FREE.  These were all from the Algebra 1 tests.

If you ever have any questions about how I do one, please feel free to ask me!  I usually post most answers throughout the year on my Twitter and Instagram @cbhsrichmath as they are part of our notebook that I post almost daily.

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! 

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