Dance Dance Transversal & Angle Relationships

Have you heard of dance dance transversal??? 

If so then you know just how cool this blog is going to be!

If not you need to check out Jenn's blog and the original blog by Algebrainiac because this is the coolest activity I have done in my class. I love love love it!!! I wish I had tried it sooner in the year with my honors class because I really think they would have enjoyed it and would have remembered their angle relationships much better. 

I started my lesson with notes on the different angle relationships using the set of notes below. 

Then we went right into the dance dance transversal activity. Of course you will have a few students who are shy and may not want to do this activity with the class but just try to convince them that they will have fun and that you are going to dance with them. I did not have my activity as prepared as others because it was a really last minute decision. I would suggest already having your tape placed on the floor but if you don't (like me) it doesn't take that long. I used painters tape because it comes off the floor really easily. Also you do not have to move all your desks out of the way. Just place the tape in open holes around your room. 

Before we started the powerpoints we practiced the moves. I modeled what each angle relationship should look like and they copied each move. 

Then we did rapid fire practice like: 

Alternate Interior

Corresponding

Same Side Interior

Alternate Exterior

Corresponding

Same Side Interior

Alternate Interior

etc. 

I also had them do the opposite of each move we just completed. So if they used left top and bottom right for Alternate Exterior then they would use right top and bottom left for the switch move. After a few more rapid fire practice rounds we were ready for the powerpoints and our dancing. 

You can download the powerpoints (music is included) from the blog by Jenn. They are awesome and I really hope to either get a copy of the orignial templates or learn how to create some myself. I love the movement involved in this lesson and hope to incorporate this idea into other topics. 

Do you have any ideas for other lessons that you could use this kind of movement? 

My current thoughts:

 Different types of functions 

Maybe no tape & more like simon says, I've done this before

 but a powerpoint with music would be a great addition

 Use end behavior like y=x left foot Q3 & right foot Q1

End Behavior of functions 

Just x & y axis students would use left foot as -x & f(x) 

while right foot +x & f(x))

Unit Circle Degrees or Radians

Not sure how to do the tape, seems like a lot of lines

 but maybe you could do large circles

 & small groups that rotate out

Another resource for Angle Relationships is a card sort that I created. They could work in groups or individually. I love this one because you could use them more than once to reinforce the skill. I even had a few students ask to take these home to practice the day we did it and the night before their test. 

If you would like to download the resources for this lesson they are below:

Notes for Angle Relationships

Powerpoints for Dance Dance Transversal

Card Sort for Angle Relationships

Systems of Linear Equations (Elimination)

Super excited to share these resources with you today after all the amazing feedback from twitter. Last week I shared a photo of my newest dry erase template that I use to help guide students through the elimination process and I got so many great responses that I had to put this at the top of my list to blog about.

Over the years I have seen that students really struggle with solving systems of equations by elimination. When teaching I try to find a process that will be consistent so students can repeat the same steps and eventually remember how to solve a particular problem. There are definitely faster ways to solve the systems than I teach them but this process works for all the problems if they are in standard form. 

I have students focus only on eliminating the x's even if the y's look easier. Once they understand the process I then tell them about finding shortcuts. So if we focus on eliminating the x's first I tell them the coefficient has to have the exact same number but different signs so that the x's cancel out to zero and disappear. We practice flipping the coefficients and then multiplying to essential have the same coefficient for the x's. Then I ask them if they already have different signs. If they do then we go into the elimination step. If they do not I tell them to ONLY multiply the TOP equation by a negative. Before we go into the entire process I practice just determining what to multiply each equation by to solve. So I created a card sort activity to practice that. Remember that I am focusing on the x's. If you do not do it this way then you will probably find these resources need to be modified to fit your needs. 

Here are the notes I start with to teach this topic. We focus on the rule part at the top for a little while then finally move to actually solving the equations at the bottom once I feel like they understand what we need to multiply by to eliminate one of the variables. 

Here is the card sort activity that I use to help reinforce what they must multiply by to have the x's eliminate.

You may notice that many of the problems have the same numbers in the front of each equation. I purposely did that because I wanted to force the students to really have to think about what they needed to multiply by and not just match up the numbers. Most of my card sorts I try to do this. I find similar problems that have only a few changes so they really have to focus on the rules and steps of a concept. 

Like factoring trinomials for example, I try to make sure that other trinomials share a common factor and also make sure 3 or 4 trinomials all start with the same coefficient so it isn't easy to just match up by multiplying the first two parts of each factor. 

Here is the dry erase template that I use to practice solving systems of linear equations by elimination. 

***Update*** I totally forgot about the truths & lies activity that I made for elimination. I love this activity because it focuses on students having to find mistakes and fix those problems.

Hope you guys find these resources helpful. If you would like to download the files you can find them below. 

Notes for Solving Systems of Equations by Elimination

Card Sort for Multiplication Process of Elimination

Dry Erase Template for Solving Systems of Equations by Elimination

Truths & Lies Activity for Solving Systems of Equations by Elimination

Do you want to find more resources like this??? 

Check out my virtual filing cabinet page

Ratios & Proportions

I'm on a blogging roll... now if only I could keep this up. 

Below you will find my notes and card sorts that I have created for a lesson on ratios and proportions. I think this is a middle school standard but because we need to know ratios and proportions for triangle similarity I thought it was best to do a quick review before teaching that topic. 

This is my first triples card sort and honestly I haven't actually used it yet. We breezed right over this just doing random examples but I wanted to prepare something for the next time I taught it that would be more fun for my students. The plan is to tell them to start with problems 1-8 then explain there are two more ratios that are proportional.

Again we haven't actually used this activity but I'm preparing for next year. This card sort has alot of problems so I will probably allow students to work in pairs to find the solutions so it will not take as long to complete. 

Here are the files if you would like to download and use them: 

Notes for Ratios & Proportions

Card Sort for Ratio Triples

Card Sort for Solving Proportions

Truths & Lies Activity

Super excited to share this new activity with you guys. It was inspired by Sarah over at mathequalslove when we discussed some common activities that could be structured around all courses. One of those awesome ideas was the game Truths & Lies which is amazing!! 

I originally came across this idea as an icebreaker that you do on the first day with your students so everyone can get to know each other and get a few laughs.

Like: 

1) Allie & I were almost licked by a giraffe 

2) I've been ziplining in the mountains

3) I won $1000 on a lottery ticket

Can you guess which one is the lie? 

Wait for it!

Wait for it!

Wait for it!

Eventually I'll tell you...

I promise I will...

Don't cheat...

Which one do you think was the lie???

Our first trip to the zoo was amazing! Thanks to an awesome friend 

who let us come visit over the summer and took us to the zoo. 

Wish I had gotten someone to take the pictures but it was a last minute decision. You know your an exhausted momma and teacher when you would rather take a nap during free time than go zip lining or ride go carts. HAHAHA!! Luckily when I woke up there was still plenty of play time left. This was truly an awesome experience and I hope to do again in the future.

Well I guess you now know I haven't hit it big with the lottery. I'm smart enough to use my money for something that is a sure thing... like new teacher clothes!!

So back to the activity...

Later I came across the idea while looking at twitter or a blog about how someone used this idea in the classroom (honestly, I can’t even remember where – too many great resources). I then decided to use it in my classroom with my geometry unit and congruence shortcuts where students in groups had to create 2 correct examples and 1 wrong example. Then all the other groups had to try to figure out which example was incorrect. It actually worked really great and got them talking. 

After talking with Sarah about some other cool ideas this truths & lies kept coming back into my mind and I really wanted to make another card sort type game but with a little change. The activity below is what I have come up with so far. I have made one for my math 2 class on the sum of the angles in a triangle and one for my math 1 class on systems of equations using elimination. Here is a picture from class. 

I'm also thinking it might be cool to laminate some larger ones and let kids make their own and switch among groups. If I try it out I'll let you know how it goes!

If you would like to download the file you can get them here:

Sum of the Angles in a Triangle

Solving Systems of Equations using Elimination


Do you want to find more resources like these???
Check out my virtual filing cabinet page

Interactive Learning & Card Sorts

We all know that time is our enemy in the classroom. We are always racing against the clock and the calendar to get all our standards taught and to the level in which students hopefully retain the content. Not sure about you, but I'm always looking for more effective ways for students to learn and practice in the classroom. I hate to say it but my first few years I was that teacher that gave out a boring worksheet for every concept we covered. I would allow students to spend more than half the class period doing independent practice and mostly talking. Needless to say we never covered all the standards and that was when we didn't have as many to cover either. Looking back I realize I was CRAZY!!! We can't allow students to just sit around and waste time when we have so much to accomplish.

So how do we try to fix the wasted time issue? Well first we have to stop doing whatever we are that is causing us to waste time or be unproductive. Then we have to make a change; do something fun or outside of the box that will interest students. Also remember that you may fail several times before you figure out what works for you and your students but being a teacher is trying and never giving up.

For me I realized I had to actually try to teach instead of take the easy way out everyday by handing out a worksheet and calling that "teaching". I have tried several things over the years: group work, student whiteboards, interactive notebooks, games, and most recently technology. I am so thankful to have all these things in my teaching toolbox that make me more adaptable to my students' needs.

I'm super excited to share with you something that is new to me this year which I truly love and that is card sorts.

 It's nothing spectacular just basically a worksheet put onto several different little cards that students get to sort different ways. Depending on how you design yours for a particular activity they could be sorting a problem with its answer or sorting the cards into different categories. The cool thing is there are lots of options. I have made a template in Microsoft PowerPoint which is totally editable for you to use, save, change, and share. I'm always looking for something great in my classroom and who really wants to spend money on classroom materials; shouldn't we be helping each other become better teachers for our students? Well hope you enjoy!!

Here are links to 6 card sorts I've already completed. I printed them in portrait mode and 2 slides to 1 page.

***There might be typos I was entering and solving pretty fast today so check behind me***

Factoring by Trinomials
Verbal & Algebraic Notation
Combining Like Terms
Distributive Property
Solving Equations (with variables on one side)
Solving Equations (with variables on both sides)

Card Sort Template
The PowerPoint Template already has 1-32 number question boxes and A-X letter question boxes