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Students will love designing, building, and battling these inexpensive robotic arms as they learn about the principles of hydraulics. The simple instructions make this an ideal S.T.E.M. maker lab for eager engineers in grades five through eight. Most of the simple and easily accessible materials can be reused year after year to keep the cost low. Complete illustrations make the construction process simple, but students can modify and improve the designs if they wish.

This great holiday activity shows students how to use a computer spreadsheet to calculate the cost of their true love's gifts in today's dollars. The simple step-by-step procedure will allow both beginning and computer-savvy students to experience success as they learn how to use spreadsheet software. Students will enjoy the engaging and entertaining activity. No computer? No problem! Use the activity master so students can calculate the costs themselves.

This engaging project develops students' understanding of crucial geometry concepts of volume, surface area, and spatial visualization. The comprehensive 21-page handout will provide everything you need to help your students foster these skills: isometric drawing paper, examples, full instructions, answer keys, and actual student samples. The Common Core connection is also included. You and your students will be rewarded with eye-popping examples of the beauty of mathematics. The activity includ

What better way to welcome students back to school? The "Getting to Know You Project" integrates fractions, decimals, percents, and data in an engaging and exciting lesson. You'll be the envy of your department on Back to School Night when your walls are covered in beautiful and mathematically rich projects. The students will enjoy the project so much they will forget they are doing math. Extensions adapt the lesson from grades four through high school. Compass and straightedge construction

In this engaging activity, students make intricate and beautiful five-point and six-point snowflakes and stars as they learn about symmetry and geometry. Full written and pictorial instructions are included along with Common Core alignment. Ideas for extending the activity into visual arts are also embedded in the lesson. Sample snowflakes are included also. What an engaging way to spend the week before Christmas!

OVER 50 PAGES! These are the best strategies for teaching linear functions to all students. Tested in grades 4 through high school, this unit helps students develop competency with both the concepts and computations involved in functions. The multi-representational activities cover slope, y-intercept, t-tables, graphs, formulas, and visual representations of linear functions. This unit is part 1 of a four-part series and includes 17 patterns in both color and black and white versions to provide

4 out of 3 students struggle with fractions! The other 50% don't know their multiplication facts. Now you can solve both problems easily with the classroom-proven approach used by hundreds of teachers throughout the U.S. My own struggling 8th graders memorized their times tables and learned to do all four fraction operations, simplify their answers, and even solve proportions effortlessly. This is my far my most popular workshop now available in a simple yet comprehensive handout. Your studen

Over 30 worksheets! If you are searching for a source of linear equations for your students, this is the comprehensive source. Students will begin with one step equations and proceed through subsequent incremental levels until they are solving multi-step problems (involving distribution and combining like terms) with success. Each level begins with positive whole number solutions before introducing negative and fractional solutions. Equations involving addition, subtraction, multiplication, and

These pop-up cards vary from simple to more advanced and can be customized to suit the level of your students. Students can decorate their trees and add a message of their liking or use the preprinted samples.

My students love to play with the Newton’s cradle I have in my class. Five steel pendulums hang from nylon threads on a steel frame. By dropping one ball, the corresponding ball moves on the other side and then returns giving a visual demonstration of Newton’s three laws of motion. The problem is that my 32 students can’t play with one cradle. In this “STEM on a Shoestring” activity, students will make their own inexpensive models to demonstrate Newton’s Laws. This handout contains many options

Students explore the science of "steganography" in this easy-to-implement yet highly engaging lab. No chemistry experience is required, yet it ties in well to any chemical unit on acids and indicators, oxidation, and fluorescing light. Both a student lab sheet is and a student notes sheet are included along with simple step-by-step procedures, answer keys, and illustrations. A reference to tie in the movie "National Treasure" is also included.

Your students will love designing, building, and testing these inexpensive and creative robots that wiggle their way across their desks. They can compete with them in races and battles and even use them to draw artistic patterns. Using materials purchased from discount stores, each robot can be built and rebuilt for less than $2.00.

Proportional reasoning is the heart and soul of mathematics in grades five through eight. Future success in secondary mathematics and in the real-world math beyond school depends upon an understanding of and proficiency with proportions. This comprehensive handout explores eight ways to solve proportions including using graph paper, factoring, and even a multiplication table. The popular "Proportion Boxes" approach shown to teachers throughout the U.S. at my workshops is presented along with a

In this powerfully engaging activity students of all skill levels will study standard and nonstandard tangrams to determine the values of the pieces. Students will compare the pieces to see how they relate to one another as fractions, decimals, percent, and areas. They will also develop geometric vocabulary and form an understanding of congruence and similarity. The best part is that the entire process will lead them seamlessly into algebraic thinking as they navigate among the pieces and their

This delectable diet of engaging math leads students effortlessly from the world of hamburgers into the world of algebra. Piloted in grades 2 through college, this activity has helped students develop a sense of algebra as they practice math in a restaurant context. Even students who have struggled with algebraic concepts will find that algebra makes sense! The handout contains directions, activity masters, journal prompts, and versions to implement the lesson with primary, upper elementary, a

This is an engaging and proven approach to teaching systems of equations. It has even been used with students in 4th & 5th grades successfully and is a great approach for students in pre-algebra classes, struggling algebra students, and even those in a traditional algebra program. The multi-representational approach begins by integrating visual models with a guess-and-check strategy tied to t-tables and graphs fostering rich connections in conceptual understanding. This then leads seamlessly i

The King’s Pathway, provides an engaging project your students can do to create their own beautiful functions based on their work with the previous sections. Adaptations allow students from elementary, middle, and high school levels to succeed in making projects that are engaging and empowering examples of the beauty of mathematics. Very detailed instructions and classroom tested in 4th grade through Algebra. Linear and non-linear models are offered for students of varying levels. Color examples

Students have found that quadratic and cubic functions can be conquered using this engaging multi-representational approach. They not only can work with non-linear functions, they understand them and enjoy them! Great for an upper middle school or gifted class or a high school algebra program. Includes 16 new color patterns, complete teaching directions, answer key and more. A great follow up to my previous units on Functions, parts 1,2 and 3.

Do you want engaging ways to create cooperative teams for S.T.E.M. lessons, project-based learning, or just to make your classroom run more smoothly? Here are four fun and functional ways to create an environment of cooperation. In addition, your students will learn engineering skills, negotiating skills, communications skills, and leadership skills while having a great time. Use these as a class warmup or as an entire lesson. Activities include full directions, rules, materials lists, step-by-s

This is one of my students’ favorite activities. They love exploring the intriguing patterns and making discoveries, and they don’t even realize they are engaging in rigorous mathematics. Students encounter the 100’s chart in the primary grades, but did you know that there is a wealth of arithmetic and algebra embedded in the chart for older students as well? You can use the 100’s chart to teach many math skills such as number operations, mental math, integers, functions, writing expressions, u