Spark Student Motivation - The Ultimate Puzzle

Happy Saturday! If you are like me, you had yesterday off for Good Friday, so it's a 3-day weekend! I am linking up with Joanne at Head Over Heels for Teaching for her Spark Student Motivation Saturday.

This time of year, I will do ANYTHING to keep my kiddos motivated! They tend to finish their work a little faster now that testing is over for math, and the end of the year is about 7 weeks away! Last week, I had some students ask for something to do after a quiz, and I told them I had some extra credit for them. "Sweet!" they thought...even sweeter when I gave them a 16 piece puzzle and told them to make a 4x4 square. When they did, they would get a free 100. I knew that it took me much longer than the 15 minutes they had left in class, but it had been done in under 5 minutes before. Or so I am told. I don't know if I believe it!

They started by trying to make a 2x2 and then add on to make a 3x3 square.

These boys got the hang of it quickly!

Until--that LAST piece didn't fit! BUMMER!

These kiddos refused to leave until it was finished--I had to write them a tardy pass when I finally got them to go!

Needless to say, no one has gotten it YET, but every free moment we have had they have worked on it! And that, to me, is a WIN!

P.S. In case you are wondering, I got these from a math conference, but I believe you can get more information/order them online here: http://www.theultimatepuzzle.com/

I was not compensated or asked to write this post. All opinions are my own.

Currently April!

Well, hello there! Remember me? I am so glad to find some time to blog again--it seriously has been too long. It's not that I haven't had anything to say...no, no, no, that is definitely not it. I have had way too much going on at school, commitments with things outside of the school day, and my own personal life that I literally haven't had a chance to breathe if it wasn't written in my agenda ahead of time. I might be a little dramatic. Or maybe not. But that is just the way things have been lately...Soooo:

I am so excited for the once-a-month-linkup that gets me back on track! Farley's Currently!

So, without further ado, here we go!

Some things are pretty self-explanatory, but let me go into some more detail here:

I cannot even stand that I am up this early. I really woke up at 5:34 (well, that is when I was frustrated enough that I was awake and looked at my phone). Friends, I cannot get out of bed FOR ANY REASON short of a fire during the week. I literally cannot make myself get up when the alarm goes off. But on the weekends, I am a bright-eyed birdie in the middle of the night. Yes, the middle of the night is anytime before 7 AM, just so we are all on the same page. I remembered going to bed thinking I wanted to blog today, so maybe this is a blessing in disguise. Hubby is still asleep and my sweet puppy graciously took my spot in bed when I got up. The things I do for others. I am a giver, I tell you.

I am loving that it is the weekend! Well, let's be clear, what teacher is ever sad to go home on a Friday? Not this one! April 1st and 2nd we had state testing (STAAR) for 7th and 8th graders. My kids took Math on April 1st. They all told me that it was just a joke and that when they opened their tests they swore it would say "April Fool's! You don't have to take the STAAR today!" I kept telling them in the weeks prior that, "Yes, you will take the test, the state doesn't make jokes, ever, and you need to be prepared." You should have seen some of them after the test. STILL shocked that they had to take it. I can honestly say I am glad to be done with it as the stress leading up to testing day was insurmountable. Now, I am just stressing about who passed and who didn't!

Another reason that I haven't posted in a while is because the hubster and I have spent the month of March looking for and signing a contract to BUILD A NEW HOUSE!!! Well, with that, of course comes the stress of selling the current one! More about that this week :)

After this week, I need a back massage. Enough said.

Although our work hours are 8:10 - 4:10, I usually arrive by 7:30 to get things ready before the kids come at 8:55. Because of the two "ice" days, we have to make one up on Memorial Day, and the other on June 6, so the teacher workday from June 6 was moved to June 7 :)

Until next time--Have a wonderful weekend!

Answer to Currently Question

Happy Tuesday! Also known as "I only have to teach 3 more days before it is spring break" day. Whichever you prefer :)

Anyhow, I had big plans for a post today, but I have come down with whatever yucky illness is going around and I can barely sit up at the end of the day. Yes, I am that teacher who is going to work sick.

AND, I had to tell you what question goes with the answer I gave you on my CURRENTLY post!

This is really nothing creative like so many other bloggers that I saw/read. Nope. The question is "what color eyes do I have?" That's right, I have two different color eyes. My kids think it is the coolest thing and as soon as one student figures it out at the beginning of the year, I soon am swarmed by others who have to see it to believe it! So, there ya have it...I have two different color eyes!

Currently March!

I know I am a little late to the party, but I wanted to follow the rule of blogging and not post more than one time in a day. SO, here we are, on the third day of the month, and I will probably be the 5000th person to link-up with Farley for her monthly currently!

Most of it is pretty self-explanatory, but the last one is different! Farley had an idea to post an answer to a question and have our followers try and figure out the question! So, guess away!

Bring Home Deklan! A Fundraiser on TPT!

Good morning!

This is a quick post to let you know that I have donated a set of my Pythagorean Theorem task cards to this fundraiser bundle. The story of this sweet boy broke my heart and I wanted to do something to help his family with all of the medical bills that they are facing. The best part about this bundle is that it is ALL math resources! Almost $90 worth of resources for just $25! The fabulous Lindsay Perro put all of this together, and all that I ask is that you help us spread the word to whoever you know that might be interested in purchasing this bundle of fabulous resources.

Here are a list of all the resources included:

Here is the link to the product. It is only available for a limited time, so please don't delay!

Spark Student Motivation Saturdays - Math Libs!

Finding fun activities for 8th grade can be tough because they think just about everything is super lame! However, each week I am bound and determined for them to say, "Wow, time goes by so fast in this class!" because they are genuinely enjoying what they are doing. Normally, this time of year, I have to BEG my students to complete their work. But, not yesterday!

Today, I am linking up with Joanne from Head Over Heals for Teaching!

I have a lot of products from All Things Algebra that I use in my classes, but these activities are some of my FAVORITE! It is her Math Lib Activities - but we specifically did this one for Volume and Surface Area! 

After giving directions, they got to work and all I had to do every once in a while was quiet them down because we were in the hall and other classes were taking a quiz or test. They would get into some heated arguments discussing what kind of shape it was, slant height vs. height, etc. LOTS of good math conversations going on today!

Basically, here is how the activity works:

1. There are 9 stations (one problem per station). 
2. Teacher pairs up kids.
3. Students answer the question and hope that their answer is one of the 5 answer choices.
4. Then, there is a phrase next to that answer to fill in to a "Mad Libs" type scenario.
5. The students LOVE to see which teacher is the "star of the story!"

Here are some pictures of us in action today:

I have another one of these planned to review solving equations at the end of the year :) Go check out All Things Algebra's store. I dare you to leave without purchasing something amazing!

Conquering Volume!

Y'all, teaching middle school math can be hard some days! Don't get me wrong, I love my job, but there are some things that kids just have a plain old tough time understanding. One of those things is the difference between volume and surface area. They don't understand conceptually where the formulas come from, therefore can't figure out how to solve the problems. I don't want to be that teacher who just tells them to use the chart and plug in the values, I want them to understand WHY that formula makes sense.

I SO wish that students aren't told to find volume by multiplying length x width x height. It takes me a full day to explain the formula V = Bh is the real formula for prisms. The one that they learn in elementary school only works for rectangular prisms, so that is fine until they get to my class, but most students feel like their whole life was a lie when that is no longer on the formula chart! I feel like I have to start from scratch and tell them that volume is a stack of 2D objects. We need to find the area of the base first. If I had a nickel every time I corrected a student regarding "b" (which is just base) or "B" (which is AREA of the base), I could have retired this week.

Literally, I am emotionally exhausted from saying, "what does big B stand for?"

Students respond with, "BASE!"

Me: "No. You don't get to say base loudly because it is a capital letter."

Students: "Oh, right! AREA of the base!"

My lord. I hope they still remember next week when we have a test.

One thing I wanted to share that they were JUST NOT GETTING was why we multiply by 1/3 for volume of a pyramid (and cones for that matter). I had finally sold them on the formulas for prisms and cylinders and they totally understood it conceptually. YES! But, then we hit a wall with pyramids. They wanted to know why we multiply by 1/3. Or divide by 3. Yes, we had a conversation that those were the same thing. Minds were blown. It wasn't enough for me to tell them that it takes the volume of 3 pyramids to make a prism. I had to show them.

I started with one of these:

Then, we made 2 more and taped them together at their apexes.

And, folded them up!

This TOTALLY helped them to visualize what I was saying. I love being able to let them PROVE things. It's the best. Love being able to use my washi tape too. It's the little things, right?

Here are some foldables that I created to use this week as well and are now in my TPT store! Click the pictures to go to the listing. 

  

How was your week?