Tag Archives: Template

130. Banging your head against a y-axis

Confession time!

I like teaching co-ordinates.

I like teaching plotting graphs.

But …..

Getting pupils to draw axes drives me up the y-axis.

 

Right now I can sense people shaking their heads – why are you doing co-ordinate plotting if they can’t draw axes?

 

The problem is that they can draw axes, but for some pupils it takes about half an hour to get lines drawn with a ruler, axes marks equally spaced, lines (not gaps) numbered. For other pupils, their particular SEN means it’s a struggle using equipment. Should I be penalising pupils because they are slow to draw axes, when I know they’ll work brilliantly if I give them axes?

 

So I’ve put together an A4 sheet of axes. There are two identical sets: the x-axis goes from 0-10, the y-axis goes from 0-18. There is also space to write name and Question number so you can keep track of who has done what. I know there are many websites that will generate these for you on demand, but I’ve just used what was available to me at the time to make something that works for my pupils.

 

You can download it from TES resources here.

129. A pie without a stab wound

A pie? Without a stab wound? What craziness is this?

image

From a cook’s perspective this pie divider is a great way to cut pie and not stab yourself. Google ‘pie divider’ for other genius/bonkers ideas.

But … back to school:

Imagine you are teaching pie charts. You’ve discussed what they are about, how to calculate angles, you may even have used the earlier blog post on Human Pie Charts. The class settle down to apply all their knowledge, when the floodgates open:

  • ‘What’s that thingy you draw circles with?’
  • ‘My pencil doesn’t fit in my compasses?’
  • ‘I haven’t got a compass.’ (Do you mean pair of compasses?)
  • ‘I did have a compass (!), but Mr X took it off me in Y.’ (Why?) ‘ I was stabbing Z with it!’
  • ‘My compasses keep going wiggly’
  • ‘I’ve made a hole in my book’
  • ‘I forgot to mark where I put the point bit’
  • …..etc

By the time all this is sorted out, all their shiny new knowledge has shrivelled away.

 

A helping hand

To assist with this issue, I’ve put together an A4 sheet of 6 piechart templates that you could enlarge on a copier. They’ll get you through the first pie-chart drawing lesson and set you up for
Round 2
:

‘You know that pointy thing you told us to bring to this lesson and I even wrote it in my homework planner well I had one in my new geometry set aren’t you impressed that I finally bought one but my mum said I had to lend it to my brother for his test and he’s only just given it back and he’s wrecked it and he said he’ll get me a new one but he doesn’t get paid until next Saturday and he’ll forget but that’s the reason …I haven’t got a compass(!) today.

92. Snapdragon Fun

After creating the trigonometry snapdragon template, I decided to create a blank version for anyone to use.

There are two versions available to download. The Publisher file contains text boxes which you edit, while the PDF can be printed off and written on.

Snapdragon_template (PPTX)

Snapdragon_template2 (pdf)

Enjoy!

PS: If you don’t know how to make a snapdragon/fortune teller (also known as a cootie catcher in USA), have a look at this tutorial by Doanie

snapdragon_instructions