Now that Autumn term is done or nearly for most in the UK, I just wanted to mention Christmas crackers, read all the way to the end!
I wouldn’t have thought, all those years ago as a child, when first pulling crackers with my family at the Christmas table that I would be putting some of their contents to excellent use as a Maths teacher. Often their contents is as quickly discarded as the ‘left over crackers’ and yet many of them have use in the classroom. So encourage your friends and family to save those crackers contents for you and here’s how I put some of the most common contents to good use…
The Screwdriver and pencils
Yes these are both keepers, absolutely perfect for construction lessons. The screwdriver is perfect for fixing and tightening the legs on a pair of compasses (put one in each classroom set of compasses)! Constant issue when completing constructions with pupils, they need to ensure not only that they have a sharp pencil that is kissing the point of the compass but also that the legs of the compass are tight.
The Tape Measure Lots of uses for the tape measure such as estimating and measuring objects within or outside the classroom. One of my favourite uses is for pupil loci, as described in our post Teaching Loci.
The Plastic Jumping Frog– Data collection activities with the following question to investigate; “How far will the frog jump?”.
The Magic Calculator Sometimes called the mystery calculation. I’ve collected over 16 of these over the years and can now use in algebra lessons! At first I just put them in my end of term puzzle box.Check out our post here for more on a class puzzle box. Your best ever investment; A puzzle box
Check out Maths Ed Idea’s blog here explaining the binary process behind some of these calculators.
The Bad Jokes
I am always looking for a good bad joke tell to my students or to include in my worksheet resources such as my collect a joke resource like this Christmas themed Collect a Joke worksheet which pupils need to be able to find the nth term of linear sequences and as a result collect the punchline to the joke; “Why isn’t every man in a red suit with a beard Father Christmas”? Check this resource out here Christmas Maths Sequences Collect a Joke Worksheet Activity.
The jokes within the Christmas crackers, although not often with a mathematical edge (these are my favourite kind of jokes), they are most often family friendly jokes that can be used in the classroom. Check out my previous post Joking around in Maths? Collect a Joke! in which I describe these resources and their uses in more detail.
The Playing Cards So many uses from tricks such as these described in our post Magic Maths or the classic probability “higher of lower”, too many to list but grab those cards and keep them.
Thank you for reading this far! Here is a little Christmas Cracker for you, follow this link below for a free download of our most popular revision foldable usually £3…this link will be free just today, that is until midnight tonight Friday the 18th so download and save (checkout of free resources doesn’t require bank details)!
How will you celebrate Pi day in your classroom? Pi day lands on a Saturday this year 2020 but we plan to celebrate a day early on Friday March 13th. Here are some ideas including a free download from NumberLoving.
Beauty of Pi Use this video below to demonstrate the beauty of Pi or download the app by Fraser McKay and Chris Smith from their PiWire site here to explore Pi and other numbers visually.
One Million Digits of Pi Display as a list here or a rap video by AsapScience for just the first 100 digits in the video below.
Pi Day Dingbats These are great for form time; say what you see! Download this PowerPoint presentation shared by Lloyd here.
Pi Day Puzzle Free Download Two different puzzle styles, one is a straight forward pi-doku based on Sudoku but only using the digits 314 and the second is a reasoning puzzle similar to GCSE area/percentage question with no dimensions.
Check out our Pi Day bundle by clicking the link below, this includes resources suitable up to Higher GCSE Maths in the mystery which involves the equations of a circle.
Check out our previous blog post Pi-Day Resources for more ideas to celebrate the day!!
Our fourth freebie this week is a series of four maths picto-puzzles each of varying difficulty.
Here is an example page;
They include addition, subtraction puzzles and multiplication. Challenge your students to find the value of each Valentines symbol, watch out for valentine’s symbols within symbols on the more challenging picto-puzzle 4 and 5.
The full resource can be downloaded here by clicking the link below.
This free download includes 4 different Valentine picto-puzzles which can be displayed or printed as worksheets, with solutions. Ideal for a quick starter or plenary. You should also check out our premium Valentine bundle.
Click the picture below to visit this bundle.
Don’t forget to check out this weeks Valentine posts for our freebies!
More NumberLove to share and we ask if there is a substitute for love? Well the only substitution we’re covering here is algebraic substitution!
This free download requires pupils to answer questions evaluating expressions and then they shade the number grid to create the LOVEly picture!
Click on the picture above to get the free download from our store. If you like this you will LOVE our Valentine Math bundle, available via our store. It includes these two Math Art resources.
Another quick NumberLoving freebie Maths activity for the week of love, leading up to Valentine’s Day. Definitely suitable for GCSE 9-1 Maths and has plenty of challenge (Pythagoras, multi-step, area of parts of circles, area of sectors and segments).
There are five different hearts and pupils are asked to find the area and perimeter of the heart. The hearts are made up of triangles and two semi-circles or the more challenging heart (heart 5) requires pupils to calculate the area of two identical major circle segments.
Take a closer look at worksheet five for the extra challenge, suitable starter or plenary for Higher GCSE students.
Download the full free resource via the link below; this includes five different hearts of varying challenge that can be printed as worksheets (or displayed) and includes the solutions!
A quick free logic puzzle for our favourite time of year Valentines Day, we are NumberLoving after all!
Download the full resource below: this includes the option of clue cards for traditional mystery or a worksheet option with built in two way table and the solution.
