Girl Math

This project is pretty fun and I've been using it for about 20 years and I have no idea who should get credit for the idea. But like everything else this year, it got a reboot. We converted it into a Desmos project and, quite frankly, I have no idea why we didn't do this years ago! Here's the breakdown. There's a farmer and his pigs. The farmer's wife is convinced that her husband is just taking naps all day instead of working so she records his snoring and compares it the pigs' snoring. She does this by using trig... of course! Each student will have slightly different equations of snores because the periods of the two functions (Brian and the pigs) are based on the cell phone number of the student. It is a little confusing at first, so I spent some time working on the set up with my kiddos. Once they had their graphs figured out, it was smooth sailing. After graphing the snores with sinusoidal functions, the students must then compare the two graphs and decide...

  Gotta love online learning. I created this activity in Google Slides so that students could type in their answers. Only issue - I can't see their work. However, it made it very easy for me to grade. Just wanted to share some of the basic activities that I am trying while doing this online thing. :( If you would like to give your students this activity, click HERE !  ~RJ

I see a lot of teachers using Circuits, so I thought I would try to make one! I created an online interactive circuit using Google Docs for properties of logarithms. I think it would have gone a lot better if students were in class, but overall, I think they received some extra practice. One of the main problems was students not understanding where the question started and where they needed to go. I updated the activity to indicate the questions this time.  I have also been introduced to TeacherMade ! Love it! I didn't use it for this activity, but you definitely could if you saved as a PDF. Teachermade automatically grades your worksheet - which is a life saver since I have three preps, learning Canvas, creating videos, and creating online assessments. I would highly recommend using Teachermade.  If you would like to use this activity, here are the links:  SE Properties of Logs Circuit  TE Properties of Logs Circuit  ~RJ

Most of my activities are geared towards in-class learning, but that has changed now. :( Our district is in a hybrid model with most of the students still working remotely. I made this activity as a quick way for students to show understanding of solving exponential and logarithmic equations. In Canvas, I used the Google LTI add-on for students to show mastery. I really like having all of my content and assignments in Canvas, so I didn't do a link. However, it is very easy to force a copy and link it to whatever platform you are using!  Students move the answers to the correct spot. I made the questions part of the background, so the only movable items are the answers. The kids can't mess it up!  What I love? So easy to grade! :)  If you would like to use this activity, here are the links:  SE Exponential & Log Drag/Drop TE Exponential & Log Drag/Drop

 I created this Drag and Drop activity for students to practice using the equations of circles. It's nothing fancy, but definitely gets the job done! I used Google Slides to create each type of situation I would expect my students to encounter in my class. I also relied heavily on Desmos for this activity (and I hope my students did too). It's pretty straight forward. Students drag and drop different components of equations of circles such as x- and y-values of the center, the radius, and the graph.  Lots of fun had by all! Feel free to make a copy and use with your own kiddos! Student edition Teacher edition ~ssb

  This activity allows students to practice writing equations of the tangent line. Students will drag the pumpkins and the signs to create the equation. I love fall and drag and drops, so why not incorporate both? These are so easy to grade - so I try to use them from time to time.  If you would like to use this with your students, click on the links below:  SE Edition TE Edition ~RJ

I used this activity as a short check-in for students to practice division with complex numbers. If using Canvas, yo u can use the  Google Apps in an assignment or you can Force a copy to send to students.  One reason I love drag a nd dr ops, it is so easy to grade! I have been using Canvas this year, so grading is a breeze with the Google App and speedgrader. This activity doesn't take long, but still allows for practice!  Click on the links below: SE Division of Complex Numbers TE Division of Complex Numbers   ~RJ

I created this activity for students to evaluate derivatives. In this activity, students must answer the 9 questions. Once they have found all answers, they must place the sum into a Google Form. If they have answererd all correctly, then they will be able to submit the form. If not, they will need to check their answers to find the mistake. I like using Google Forms for this type of activity. For one - it provides instant feedback. For two - students must go back to find their mistakes! Most students hate looking back at their work, but I find that students learn better that way. I quickly put this together and haven't tried it out with my students yet! I double checked the answers, but you never know! My brain hurts from teaching online! :)  Click on the links below:  Sum It UP Questions Sum It UP Google Form ~RJ

  Eve n though we are learning online, I still wanted my Calc kids to have fun  while doing assignments. I normally do scavenger hun ts in the classroom, but that's a no right now,  so I created  this simple scavenger hunt in a Google Slides! It isn't the same, but at least it isn't another worksheet! :) Topics include power rule, product rule, quotient rule, chain rule, and trig derivatives. The students will start on the first slide and answer the question. They will search the entire presentation to find the answer! Once they find the slide with the correct answer, they will type the clue number on the student page. Students will then answer the question on the clue where the answer was found for #1. They will keep answering questions and finding the answers until they reach back at #1. Click on the links below:  Student Edition Teacher Edition If you have any questions, let me know!  ~RJ

I had a blast today teaching piecewise functions in NC Math 3; and that sounds crazy.  I used the Desmos activity Randi Metz created as my intro/discovery lesson and moved right in to using Desmos to graph "MATH" using translations with piecewise functions. Wow, they were all engaged the entire class. They also really amazed me because this is only the sixth day of the semester and not one kiddo said "I can't do this" or "math is too hard". They just graphed their little hearts out! I snipped several of my favorites. As you can see, they were not perfect, but it was awesome being able to watch them get creative! Feel free to use these with your students, I highly suggest doing the discovery lesson first- it will make your teaching life so much easier! Piecewise Intro/Discovery Graph "MATH" Using Translations and Piecewise Functions ~ssb

Now that Math 3 is an EOC and online, I need to show students different aspects other than multiple choice. So, I created this drag and drop to allow students to practice transformations.  While this took hours to create, it only took the students about 20 minutes to complete. I used this as an exit slip at the end of the lesson. The basic transformations were fine, but some students struggled with equations with a vertical compression/stretch. Since the kids can use desmos on the final exam, I really wanted them to use the Desmos calculator to check their answers. Some did, some did not! :(  I forced a copy and shared it with my students through email. The students completed the task and shared their slides with me. As for feedback, it was really easy for me to comment on each slide when I noticed that students were making mistakes.  I made this for an honors course, but I'm sure that you can use it for an on-level class as well (especially if you allow them...

I attended a Global Math Department webinar hosted by an amazing Mandi Tolen (who apparently saw this idea from Micah Shippee) and I completely fell in love with this project! Basically, the students create a Google Slide with their assigned unit, each unit has topics that must be included on a separate slide, and all slides are put together to create an App for their phone.  It may be helpful to check out this folder with everything relating to this post so you can follow along better. Here's the breakdown... I created a Slides Presentation for each unit in Precalculus (Triangle Trig, Conics, etc.) and labeled what topics needed to be addressed within those units. I also included directions for students to create their own Presentation so that the slides would fit on the screen of a phone (hence, the "app" part of the activity). I shared the folder of all directions and Presentation topics with the students to make life easier for me. They were prompted to choose a ...

With the revamping of the AP Stats curriculum from College Board, I have revamped most of my activities and all of my lesson plans. It has been exhausting to say the least. So when one of my friends (Paul Buckley) shared a spreadsheet of all Beatles song lengths I thought, "How could I use this with my students without reinventing the wheel?" Of course, I always end up reinventing the wheel anyway 😆 This idea occurred to me over Christmas break, so I did have a little time on my hands. When we returned to school from break we were set to begin 2-sample T-tests and I wanted to use the Beatles data for that lesson plan. This meant, I needed another population. I thought about other bands that have created many songs and I went with Led Zeppelin (I listened to them A LOT in high school- but I'm not THAT old).  Well, I googled "Led Zeppelin songs in spreadsheet" and hoped for the best. That did not work out for me. Therefore, I copied a list of their songs ...