Math Links for Week Ending Oct 27th, 2017

This week @MrOrrGeek posted a really cool set of activities for linear, quadratic and periodic functions. The general idea with this Talkers & Drawers activity is that students are paired up, each on their own device. One person sees the relation and has to describe it to the other and the other has to draw it on their graph. Even though the two computers aren't linked (like when you are using Polygraph) as the students move through the slides they see the appropriate draw or talk slides. He's got three versions, one for each of the function types.
Curriculum Tags: MPM1D, MFM1P, MPM2D, MFM2P, MCR3U
http://mrorr-isageek.com/3-new-desmos-activities-talkers-drawers/

Lots of Desmos this week. This one is one that I finished to have kids learn about subtracting integers. In it they start by turning a subtraction question into an addition question and then use a numberline to get the answer. Finally on the last slide students get a chance to try out a bunch of randomly generated problems.
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8
http://engaging-math.blogspot.ca/p/desmos-activities_10.html





It's always great when teachers share their stuff and @Mr_Stadel is definitely a serial sharer. His latest share is a spreadsheet of the 80 Desmos activities he has created (with more to come, I'm sure). These span many grades and many topics and grades. Have a look.
Curriculum Tags: All
http://www.estimation180.com/blog/stadel-desmos-activities


It's always good to find fun data to help compare linear and non linear data. In this 3Act task from @wheeler_laura starts with a large pumpkin and ends by collecting data on pumpkin sizes and weights and making predictions with linear and non linear data.
Curriculum Tags: MPM2D, MFM2P, MCT4C, MHF4U
https://mslwheeler.wordpress.com/2017/10/27/pumpkin-challenge-3actmath-mfm2p/





This looks fun for practicing adding polynomials. In this case @DpScher has created some dynamic crossword puzzles that are like Soduku for polynomials. After seeing this you could probably see that it would be a simple activity to have students create their own puzzles.
Curriculum Tags: MPM1D, MFM1P
http://www.sineofthetimes.org/algebra-cross-number-puzzles/

Need a nice visual of data about soft drinks and their outrageous size then look no further than this clip from the movie SuperSize Me
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8, MBF3C, MDM4U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjQs8bIxdB8

It might not be as interactive as the Desmos Palmagraphit but it still might help students get a handle on scatterplots and graphing points.
Curriculum Tags: Gr8, MPM1D, MFM1P, MDM4U, MAP4C
https://xkcd.com/1904/

Math Links for Week Ending Oct. 20th, 2017

I realize it's early to think about OAME 2018 but if you are interested in presenting, then you only have a couple more weeks before the deadline for proposals will have passed. If you have an idea for something you want to present then make a submission and we will see you next May in Toronto.
Curriculum Tags: All
http://oame.on.ca/mcis/index.php

Any time you have a physical card sort, I'm in. In this case @MissCalcul8 shares a complete lesson on angle of elevation and depression problems for trig. There are INB templates, IWB files and of course the card sort template (among other things.
Curriculum Tags: MPM2D, MFM2P, MCF3M, MCR3U, MBF3C
http://misscalculate.blogspot.ca/2017/10/angle-of-elevation-and-depression.html





How many women do you follow on Twitter? If you are teaching Data Management and speaking about gender equity or bias you might want to collect some data about followers and who are being followed on Twitter. Check this post out which includes a link to a little app that tries to figure out what percentage of your followers and those you are following are men, women and gender binary. Check the @lovestats post out below.
Curriculum Tags: MDM4U, MBF3C
https://lovestats.wordpress.com/2017/10/13/how-many-women-do-you-follow-on-twitter-mrx-newmr/

Thanks to @davelanovas for reminding me of this video that immediately makes y
ou think of the importance of collecting like terms. See the rest his day to day posts on teaching his grade 9 academic class at the link below:
Curriculum Tags: MPM1D, MFM1P
http://sine-of-the-times.blogspot.ca/2017/10/mpm1d1-day-25-graphing-stories.html

Let's keep adding to the "only geniuses get this" images on Facebook. They are pretty friendly for kids to solve instead of standard algebra questions.
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8, MPM1D, MFM1P
https://www.facebook.com/MelissaWardieFit/photos/a.1664187200485002.1073741829.1664182220485500/1991705737733145/?type=3&theater

Math Links for Week Ending Oct. 13th, 2017

Are you looking for some ideas for games to use in class? Well @jroulbach has you covered. Most of them have been around for a while in other blog posts but she's done a great job of putting them all together in one post. Trashketball, Row Games (here's my own set), speed dating and many more with templates and examples. Check them all out.
Curriculum Tags: All
https://ispeakmath.org/2017/10/10/my-favorite-math-games/

If you are looking for some interesting resources using ancient mathematics then check @jcrabtree's site of ideas and interactives.
Curriculum Tags: All
http://www.jonathancrabtree.com/mathematics/




There is a new blog out called QED that is bringing together mathematical minds from all over the place to talk about teaching math in the 21st century in a progressive way or ways that might challenge the status quo. In some cases they are cross posts from individual blogs and in others they are new posts just for the site. The site was kickstarted by @fjmubeen and @mathgarden but there are many more contributors than that. Check it out
Curriculum Tags:All
https://medium.com/q-e-d

I really like the idea of gradeless classes where all the learning comes about via from teacher-student dialogue and the grade comes from a collaborative effort between students and teachers. Here @MsHLye is starting to talk about here journey into this idea via a TLLP grant that she was awarded. So follow along with her and see if you can pick up some tips on going gradeless in your own class.
Curriculum Tags: All
http://teachinginspirations.blogspot.ca/2017/09/week-23-in-gradeless-math-self-peer.html


The idea of a math coach is not new but I remember feeling a bit odd when I started calling myself that in 2009 when I started my journey as one. But I quickly found that the idea of co planning, co teaching and debriefing with individual teachers was some of the best ways to get teachers to adopt new ideas. In this post @MarkChubb3 does a great job of breaking it all down when adopting the math coach model.
Curriculum Tags: All
https://buildingmathematicians.wordpress.com/2017/09/28/co-teaching-in-math-class/

This may seem a bit frivolous to complain about the accuracy of a street sign but here @standupmaths does a great job. He even manages to bring up Euler's identity for vertices along the way.
Curriculum Tags: Gr8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btPqKAGyajM

You had me at Fibonacci. In this @numberphile video we see the connection between Fibonacci numbers and fractals. 

Curriculum Tags: All

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LQvjSf6SSw

A couple of new ones from @jstevens009 at Would you Rather Math
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8, MPM1D, MFM1P
http://www.wouldyourathermath.com/hotels/

Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8, MPM1D, MFM1P
http://www.wouldyourathermath.com/would-you-rather-66/

Math Links for Week Ending Oct. 6th, 2017

I have added a new page to this blog. I called it Notable Links. It compiles many of the teacher generated sites (Estimation 180, WODB etc) as well as many teacher blogs where they often share resources. It's by no means a complete list and I am sure I will miss some but I wanted to have a running list of the best stuff somewhere (if only for me)
Curriculum Tags: All
http://ontariomath.blogspot.ca/p/notable-links.html

A few Desmos activities. This first one is a very cool calculus activity originally from @sergeballif but edited by @nemoyatpeace. Here students first start to estimate the value of the slope of the tangent of a function at a point and they get points for how close they are to the actual value and then it turns into a tutorial on the mean value theorem. Nicely done.
Curriculum Tags: MCV4U
https://teacher.desmos.com/activitybuilder/custom/59b9034cd89ded07ddf04552

I also like this one from @klockmath on conversion to and from mixed to improper fractions. It's very dynamic and has some neat coding in the background to make it work. Well done. Thanks to @Jstevens009 for pointing this one out
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8
https://teacher.desmos.com/activitybuilder/custom/59cc4518f54ea23b05c24a85

Then, after creeping @Klockmath's Twitter feed I also found this gem for introducing fractions conceptually. Some great tools here to understand fractions on this one.
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8
https://teacher.desmos.com/activitybuilder/custom/59c06a9eea1a8c0add5a0472

In this post @msbjacobs does a great job analyzing student work under the guise of interesting methods to solve the same solutions. In this case the catalyst was some student work from a student new to our country.
Curriculum Tags:All
http://themathguy.blogspot.ca/2017/09/more-than-one-way-to-crack-egg.html

If you haven't heard, this coming week is Global Math Week. The goal is to get over 1 million students engaging in joyous math. In this case, it is through the activity called Exploding dots (https://www.explodingdots.org/). It's a cool activity that starts with what looks like code breaking and the payoff is that the math can take you from elementary all the way to polynomials in grade 12. You can watch the intro video below or click on the link below from @mathletepearce for a nice summary and register your class to participate.
Curriculum Tags: All
https://tapintoteenminds.com/exploding-dots/

Are spinners still a thing? If they are in your class and you are teaching linear, quadratic or trig functions then you might like these resources from @harrytomalley. Follow the link for all the handouts. Thanks to @jocedage for pointing this one out.
Curriculum Tags: MPM1D, MFM1P, MPM2D, MFM2P
http://www.harryomalley.com/spinnermath/

Any time you can intrigue students with an image or video that makes them think then I think it's a good thing. So start with this image of a large Snicker bar and go to town. In this case @YummyMath has your resources around this image at the link below.
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8, MPM1D, MFM1P
https://www.yummymath.com/2017/big-snickers-bar/