I love Dragon curves!
Thank you to PG for sending me this link.
29. Dragon Curve
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28. 1st March
Belated ‘Dydd Gwyl Dewi Hapus!’
My non-welsh speaking classes had fun yesterday doing mental arithmetic in welsh to celebrate St David’s day.
27. Pirates vs Sailors
This is a simple compass directions game which can be extended as you see fit. The basic concept was thought up by some KS3 pupils who were designing an activity for KS2 pupils.
Aim
To practise using compass directions (4 or 8).
To develop the concept of bearings (extension)
Equipment
Chalk
Coloured tokens (or equivalent) – optional
Compasses – optional
Dressing up hats – optional
Set Up
At opposite sides of the playground draw out two boat shapes. Draw a compass half-way between them.
Pick a pirate captain and first mate.
Pick a Navy captain and first mate.
This is where any dressing up hats make it fun.
Split the rest of the class randomly into pirates or sailors – tokens can help here.
Compass Game
Each captain must stay in their ship.
The class spread out across the playground. The first mates are rescuing their crewmates based on their captains’ instructions.
Each captain shouts instructions eg 4 steps north, 2 steps west.
(The instructions can be varied depending on the level of difficulty eg 5 steps NW).
Once a crewmate is reached, they ‘swim’ back to their boat.
Variation: If a sailor rescues a pirate (or vice-versa), they are held hostage for 10 seconds.
Winners
The first team to rescue their whole crew.
Variation:
When a person is rescued, the first-mate becomes the captain and the rescued person becomes first-mate. In this way lots of pupils get to practise using directions.
If you need a quieter version of this activity, the captains can hold up mini whiteboards with directions, rather than shouting.
Extension
Develop the concept of bearings with the first mate starting next to the captain and following a bearing.
26. FDP Pyramid
This nifty little pyramid summarises how to convert between fractions, decimals and percentages.
Equipment
A5 paper or lightweight card
Scissors
Pens
Glue/tape
Compasses & pencil
Make a square
Fold the paper over to make a perfect 45 degree angle. Cut off the excess paper to make a square.
Fold & Cut
Unfold the square and fold the opposite diagonal. Cut from one corner to the middle along the fold.
Label
Draw an X on one of the quarters next to the cut. You will glue this piece later.
Either side of each fold label ‘Fraction’, ‘Percent’, ‘Decimal’.
Arrows
Using compasses and pencil, lightly draw two circles. Go over these lines with a pen to create one set of arrows going clockwise and one set anti-clockwise.
Facts
Label each arrow with the correct conversion fact and example.
Stick
Fold the X flap behind the next section and glue in place.
Summary
This is a tactile activity which could be used on a wall display. It can also be collapsed down flat where it can be taped on one side into a book and ‘pop up’ when required.
25. Infinite Monkey Cage
If you haven’t discovered the BBC ‘Infinite Monkey Cage’ podcasts yet you are missing out on a scientific treat – oh, and it’s presented by Brian Cox & Robin Ince.
24. Foundation GCSE student review
This idea came about after a Departmental INSET on teaching the C3 unit run by my HoD.
Students never believe you when you tell them they must understand this topic as it’s an essential skill for their exam. So get them to tell you what is important…
Before you start
You will need a different GCSE paper for each student (I used Foundation non-calc). It is possible to use one between two.
You will also need pens, scissors, glue & display paper in four colours.
Cut and label
Each student cuts out the individual questions and labels them with the month & year eg Jan 12.
Sort 1
Each student sorts their questions into Number, Algebra, Data, Shape.
Sort 2
Assign each area of study to one of the sheets of display paper. The students pile their Number questions onto the Number sheet etc.
Categorise
Split the class into four groups and give each group one area of study to look at. They must sort the questions into common themes eg BIDMAS, sequences, pictograms.
Review
Ask each group what they notice eg in most exams there is a question related to drawing/reading a bar-chart.
Display
Each group sticks the questions down and labels the common themes.
The class spotted all of the common themes and key skills, without me turning into a nag. As you can see from my wall display, we needed an extra sheet for number questions. The foundation GCSE paper has 40% number questions, which equates to 2/5 of the exam – our work was spot on. During the revision sessions I have referred to this wall display frequently. It has also been a talking point for other classes.
Update
Mark Greenaway (@suffolkmaths) has made an instructional to go with this idea. Go to his website www.suffolkmaths.co.uk and select ‘Exam Advice – Supporting powerpoint’ to see it.
23. Coffee overload
I was sat in a coffee shop when I overheard the barista say to a customer ‘Take your time, there are about 20,000 different drinks available’.
Sounded like a mathematical challenge to me.
If the menu below was real, how many different drinks could made?
How many would be drinkable?
Size: S, M, L
Drink: Filter, Americano, Cappucinno, Machiatto, Latte, Espresso, Hot chocolate.
Coffee type: Decaf or caffeinated
Flavour: Vanilla, Mint, Hazelnut, Ginger, Caramel, None
Milk: None, whole, skimmed, soya
Hint: Be methodical, work out the hot chocolate options first.
Solution
Hot choc
Size *Flavour*Milk = 3*6*4 = 72
Coffee
Size*Drink*Type*Flavour*Milk =
3*6*2*6*4 = 864
Total number of drinks
864 + 72 = 936
This doesn’t consider extra shots of coffee or syrup. Imagine how many variations there are in a big coffee shop!
Me … I’ll have a black filter, no milk, no sugar.