Amazing Race

Today we tried something fun and exciting for our students...an Amazing Race!  The students spent the entire day racing around campus to different "pitstops".  Each of the teachers came up with a 20 minute challenge for the students to complete and earn stamps.  I loved our math challenges!  The first was to fly a kite and determine the height of the kite using the Pythagorean Theorem.  To do this, the students had to measure the string that was let out and the distance from the person holding the kite to the person standing underneath the kite.  This proved to be difficult because of the windy day, but we provided a "detour" where the students could still complete the task.

Our second challenge was for students to calculate their rate using d=rt.  They were to run the bases of the baseball field, skipping second base.  We only gave them the distance between home and 3rd base and home and 1st base.  They again had to use the Pythagorean Theorem to find the distance between 1st and 2nd and then calculate the total distance run.  The last task was to find their group's average rate.

The students really did a great job and it was nice spending a day outside taking in the sun!  Here are a few pics, with more to come!

My awesome colleague Monica who got us the cool shirts "Weapons of Math Instruction"!

My advisory team "Cute as Pi"!

Shape Up!

One of my favorite math tools to use is the CBR (Calculator Based Ranger)!  If you've never used one, these are motion detectors, timers, and much more.  This particular day, we created graphs involving distance and time.  Students had to create graphs that looked like plateaus, two mountains with different peaks, and letters.  I follow this activity up with a worksheet of interpreting graphs of different scenarios, such as graphing speed vs. time in climbing up a slide.  Love, love, love this!  Texas Instruments produces excellent activity books to use with the CBRs!  The next day we looked at the bounce of a ball in "Curve Ball".

Return of the Fiesta!

We had our annual salsa and queso making party in January.  I love this activity!  The class took a recipe and determined how many servings of that recipe they wanted to make for everyone.  We then used proportions to determine how much of each ingredient we would need.  I try not to make it as easy as doubling or tripling the recipe, which is why we talk about the number of servings to make.  My classes did an excellent job making the recipes and even had to improvise, since not everyone brought in their ingredients.  I was very impressed awith their culinary skills and they definitely knew their way around a kitchen better than the classes from last year!

These recipes are easy to make in the classroom because besides bowls, all you need is a blender and microwave.  However, this is a great activity to do with any recipe!

Here are some fun photos of the students in action: