So, what to craft for that maths geek special someone … may we suggest polyhedral dice pillows?
These squashy beauties are from ¡The Anticraft!. There are full instructions and helpful diagrams on the website. These would also be a great classroom resource.
Warning: the folks at Anticraft are honest in their language, so don’t click if you prefer subtler prose.
Santa’s secret is that he can get your class to revise harder topics – without them realising!
Equipment
Activity
Paper chains are made from equally sized strips of paper. Each loop is made from a strip of paper, which has one end glued to the other.
Question 1
How many 3cm by 18cm strips of paper can you cut from a sheet of A4 paper? Remember, each strip is made from one complete piece of paper.
Question 2
If each strip has an overlap of 1cm, what is the circumference of the loop made? What is the diameter?
Question 3
When two loops are attached there is an overlap of 0.5cm. How long would a chain of 12 loops be?
Hint: two loops with diameter 4cm would have a combined length of (4+4-0.5)cm = 7.5cm.
Question 4
A room has dimensions 5m by 7m. How far is it diagonally across the room?
Question 5
How many loops would a paper chain have if it reached diagonally across the room?
Extension
To make the chain hang in U shape, rather than stretching flat across the ceiling, 5 extra loops are added per whole metre of chain. How long would the chain diagonally across the room be? How many loops?
Challenge
How many sheets of paper would be required to make enough paper chain to hang in a U shape joining every corner of the room?
Why is ‘reality’ TV so popular, when we know so much of it is as unreal as it gets?
Whilst you ponder this, consider your eighth gift from the Sandpit – some paparazzi fun!
Download the poster here: On the eighth day of Christmas
UPDATED: Grammatical typo in download corrected (9th December)
Look what my class did today:
We used a hexagonal Tarsia puzzle on expanding single brackets to create large hexagons.
The puzzles were stuck on paper, cut out and the edges reinforced with tape. Twelve hexagons make a splendid snowflake. Once it was stuck together, the wall display was as tall as a Y7 pupil.
Just think what you could do with Tarsia puzzle shapes: snowflakes from hexagons, christmas trees from triangles and bunting from dominoes.
If you want more puzzles, visit Mr Barton Maths for a plethora of resources.
On the seventh day of christmas my true love sent to me … seven swans a flipping (through a magazine)!
Image credit: babyanimalzoo.com
Download it here: On the seventh day of Christmas
On the sixth day of Christmas my true love sent to me … teeny tiny little boots!
Image credit: ebay.com.au
Of course, most geese don’t wear boots these days, but before mass transportation geese were walked to market in little boots or with tar applied to their feet.
Download the poster here: On the sixth day of Christmas
There is a rather splendid video from 31st Dec 1966 on the BBC archive about walking geese to market: http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/chronicle/8619.shtml
I am … well, actually … the noticeboard is nearly ready. Just needs some tinsel and decorations!
This is the title:
You can download it here: Twelve days of ChrisMaths title
This is one of the snowflake placeholders (for Day 3):
The six point snowflakes are quite easy to make :
Each of my snowflakes references a number from 1 to 12 and each day the appropriate poster will be put on top of the appropriate snowflake.