If you liked the post Algebra with a dash of probability check out Keith Turton’s Tes resources. He has made a teaching resource to go with the activity for you to download.
Thank you Keith for sharing!
All you need is you, a class and a playground. Easy!
Loci around a single point
You stand in the middle of the yard and the class must all stand 2m away. Hopefully you will end up with a circle of radius 2m. Discuss why this happens.
Equal distance from two lines/Bisecting an angle
Find part of the playground which has two edges, ideally at 90 degrees. The class must stand the same distance from each edge – this should look like an angle bisector. Discuss.
Locus of a line
Get a few pupils to stand in a straight line. Everyone must stand 1m away from them. Discuss why the lines are parallel and the ends are semi-circles.
Locus around an object
Repeat the previous task around an object eg building, bench. Why do right angles produce quarter circle loci?
I’m always trying to find ways of keeping my classroom tidy. The mini-whiteboards are never put back ‘properly’ and it drives me crazy.
I’ve tried plastic wallets: ‘Miss, the pen is missing’, ‘Miss, mine hasn’t got a wiper’ …
I’ve tried seperate boxes: no-one takes responsibility for the ‘odd’ bits that are left on/under the table (someone must have used that pen!).
Then I saw these:
They are actually being sold as children’s mini garden organisers. There is a small, medium and large section in each basket. This became :
Each one holds six pens, six dusters and six boards (mine are small size, but standard size will fit too). They also stack nicely. I’m sure there are similar baskets in pound shops.
All I have to do is put one basket at the end of each row or group table. The pupil sitting closest is responsible for counting up the equipment at the end of the session. I have also found that keeping them in a tidy container takes away the ‘novelty’ – I can leave the whiteboards out after a class task and some pupils will use them to plan out ideas and others just get on with their work.
And the room stays tidy …
How can you celebrate individual pupils’ achievements, without having different reward schemes for different abilities?
I found this lovely activity at Teachwithme.com. Everytime a pupil achieves a specified goal, their peacock gains another tailfeather. The website has a link to a free pdf template.
You could start a new peacock each term and they’d be a good discussion point at parents’ evening. I also thought you could adapt this for each term: baubles on a christmas tree, leaves on a tree or flowers in a vase.
This would make a very colourful wall display in a Primary or Year 7 classroom and you could adapt it for any subject or pastoral targets.
I found this brilliant website via Pinterest. It is a great way to practise prime factor decomposition and it allows pupils to either be creative or use a timed challenge.
I particularly like the fact that you can generate as many base and power boxes as you want, as opposed to similar games where you are given a rigid structure to complete – pupils are allowed to try their answer and be wrong, rather than see their answer doesn’t fit and just give up.
Just a picture of a beautiful triangular structure today:
The Arctic Cathedral, Norway
Shameless Stars Wars reference!
To explain: My Foundation GCSE class are finally realising that if they work, they might just get that elusive Grade D or even C. This is my ‘Hope’. They have been doing well with the D to C essential skills sheets by @MathedUp and are developing a positive attitude.
The ‘New’ thing is they have shown an interest in knowing how their* calculators work, for the calculator paper.
‘You mean that little button will work out powers for me?’!
* When I say their calculator I of course mean mine – they haven’t got as far as bringing in theirs from home!
Activity
I used Google images to find a clear picture of the calculators we use in school. I put it in the middle of a page and surrounded it with common calculator topics/problems:
We discussed how to use the calculator with each problem. The best students labelled the buttons, gave instructions on how to use them and even asked me for simple examples for each case. This is an example of a pupil’s sheet:
I was very impressed by their attention to detail. I gave them no instruction on what to write and they produced good revision resources. This would be a good activity for KS3 as well as D/C border students.
Update: 21st November 2013
My worksheet is available here: How to use a Calculator