Linear Equations Graffiti Posters

WOW does time fly by- my last blog post was January 13 and it is now May 23! I think it goes without saying I have been a terrible blogger this year.  I have had the best of intentions of posting new ideas over the past few months- I have the pictures on my phone to prove it :)

One of my favorite activities from this year was a graffiti poster on linear equations.  I used this activity to summarize several of the investigations in the curriculum I teach.  I was becoming increasingly frustrated that my students could tell me all parts of the equation (independent variable, constant rate/slope, dependent variable, y-intercept) but could not connect how the equation could be communicated in the table and graph.  I thought that if students could get all of the connections out of their mind and in their face on a poster the connections would happen.

Before students started on their posters I showed them an example of the end product.  Students worked in groups and were given one linear equation.  I tried to include some more difficult equations like an equation that has  slope of one or y-intercept of (0, 0). 

I had student color code each part of the equations to help keep their ideas organized. 

 I loved the final products and we had great conversations about each poster.  Next year I will try to start this poster earlier in the book to have an ongoing summary.  I want students to keep reflecting on the equations and add new knowledge after every investigation. 

I am 3 weeks away from summer which hopefully means I can spend more time updating this poor neglected blog :)

Happy Thursday!

Scaling Up Candy Wrappers

The 7th grade teachers at my school decided to do a fun candy wrapper project right before winter break.  Students brought in a candy wrapper and we drew a centimeter grid over the wrapper.  It works well if you tape the wrapper on centimeter grid paper so students can easily draw straight lines.  After they grid their wrapper then each student decided on a scale factor to enlarge their wrapper.  I encouraged students  to go larger than a scale factor of 5 so image was a decent size.   Students then drew a new grid matching their scale factor ( scale factor of 5 = 5x5 cm squares).  Many students struggled with drawing straight lines so I had pre-made grids for my IEP students and anyone else who was struggling.  After the grid was drawn students started drawing images in the matching squares.  It was amazing to see the talent and engagement of my students throughout the project!

 Final products

  

How amazing is this wrapper?!  I am in awe of my students' talent! 

Sorry I didn't take any pictures throughout the project - maybe next year :)

This is a great project to do with students right before any of the breaks throughout the school year.  It took my students about 3 days (two days before break, 1 day after) to complete the wrappers.  In the past I have done a similar project with cartoons.  Both cartoons and candy wrappers work really well! 

Happy Sunday!

Mind Maps - Round 2

This post is coming WAY later than I had planned - time has gotten away from me!  In November the time had come again for students to create mind maps for the word "compare".  I love having students connect all the the different ways to compare quantities after practicing them in the first investigation of CMP's Comparing and Scaling. 

For each class I made a poster with the main stems (fraction, percent, ratio, and difference) and selected students to add branches to the stems to make a class mind map.

At the end of the day I went to see how the mind maps went in the other 7th grade class and I was blown away! The maps were so creative!  Next year I will have to show these examples so to help my students become more invested with their creativity. 

This student had all the detailed information as the muscles and the main branches were the body parts. 

This student had each comparison as a different middle school that was in the district.  

This student drew what she visualized with each comparison - fraction = piece of pizza!

Now that I have seen a whole new level of creativity I can't wait to try mind maps again to see what my own students can come up with! 

Happy new year everyone!

Student Reflection

Parent conferences were held last week and I have been relaxing/recovering from the two exhausting days.  Our parent conferences are held from 4:45-8 two nights in a row (Wed &Thurs).  We only have 5 minutes to share student progress so I made a packet of students work consisting of homework quizzes, unit test and a student reflection. 

I created the student assessment at the last minute to have my students reflect on how they work in groups and independently (homework).  

 

If you would like to see the whole word document click here .

Students completed the assessment first and then I filled the teacher column and commented on their improvement plan.  This was a great way to give a snapshot of strengths and weaknesses of students during the conference.  This also helped me target my concerns since I only have 5 minutes.  I shared this with other math teachers in my school so I will be interested how they used the assessment during the conference.  

I am always looking for new ways for students to self assess their effort and knowledge.  If you use something similar I would love to hear about it!  

I hope everyone is enjoying their Sunday!

PBIS bulletin boards

For the past couple of years our school has been trying to get PBIS (positive behavior intervention system) off the ground.  This is the first year we have a school wide reward system to motivate our students to make good choices.  As part of the PBIS committee I offered to use my bulletin board space to advertise our "elite eagle" stamp system.  Each student has an elite eagle card in their planners that teachers stamp when students are showing positive behaviors.  Students can use the stamps throughout the year to enter raffles or buy goodies from our new school store! 

Both bulletin board ideas came from my favorite inspiration - Pinterest!

The iPod board. 

All of the "apps" are positive qualities or behaviors that could earn students stamps throughout the year! A fellow math teacher helped me make the apps and we tried to match apps with words.  Flexible on the weather app, focused on the camera app and organized on the calendar app - so fun! 

 The puzzle board

 

 Each puzzle piece is again a quality or behavior of our elite eagles!

As much as I love making bulletin boards I can only do such involved boards at the beginning of the year.  I am so in love with these boards that I am happy to leave them up for the year! I feel that I set the bar pretty high this year so I am going to need to start planning now for next year's boards! 

Vocabulary Wall

The vocabulary tree I created in the hall is one of my most creative vocabulary displays to date.  As much as I loved the tree I needed my vocabulary words to be in my room instead of in the hall.  Students weren't able to refer to the tree when they were trying to think of a vocabulary word during our discussions.   Along with the tree my students created a glossary to keep all of their words, definitions and pictures.  I found students weren't referencing their glossary (shocking I know) so I had a volunteer write the words on sentence strips and attach a magnet to the back. 

Magnet Roll

 

Magnet attached to the sentence strip.

Last year I put up the words that would be used during the current unit on the board so students had words to use while speaking and writing. 
 

As I took the words down I forgot to label the books they belonged to causing a huge mess when I got them out this year.  Instead of sorting all the words I decided to devote my entire chalkboard to create a word wall. 

My plan is to have students find the words on the word wall as we come across them in the book.  Once the word is found a student will move it to my front board so we remember to use the word during our discussions!

I would like to say that four days into school and my room is finished but sadly I still need to add a few more touches.  I will hopefully be able to post some new additions to my room in the next week.. Get excited!

T minus 3 days!

The 2012/2013 school year is almost here (T minus 3 days) and I feel like I need another month to actually be ready for my students.  I worked in my classroom until 7 pm then made a point to stop at Home Depot tonight to pick up some paint swatches for a quick project to do at home.  

I have 7 tables so I picked up 7 swatches. 

I cut down the white stripes on each swatch so that I had 4 separate strips of each color. 

I am now ready to form my groups on the first day of school! Each student will pick a color as they walk in the door and sit with students in the same color family. Such a simple way to switch up the groups when you need a quick change! 

This idea came from a Pin on Pinterest but I can't seem to find it to give credit to the savvy teacher who came up with this idea.  I can at least thank Pinterest for providing me a hundred different projects that I have on my "will create someday" list!

I hope everyone has had or will have a wonderful start to the new school year!