SamizdatMath

This is a seven part investigation into the carbon footprint of different kinds of food and diets. Investigation #1: What We Emit When We Eat: This is a list of 20 different foods, including meats, dairy, vegetables and grains and the amount of carbon released during their production. Students calculate the equivalent in miles driven by a car, as well as the amount of carbon released per ounce. Investigation #2: Students investigate the carbon footprint of three different meals. The first is a s

This is an activity that teaches students to classify acute, obtuse, straight and right angles using semaphore flag signals. Why semaphore flag signals? Because they're fun, interesting and "real." And also, they're a good example of how to teach a concept beyond the "prototypes." What do I mean by this? Well, do an image search on "right angle" and you'll see that the examples that show up are "textbook prototypes." That is, they all have a side resting on the horizontal, the other on the verti

This is a detailed description of a "strategy" game anybody who can count up to 100 can play with their class and win each and every time. The rules will take about 45 seconds to describe, and within 3 minutes you will be able to keep an entire class occupied by the question, 'why does he/she/they keep on winning this game?" If you follow the instructions described in this activity, it should easily keep a class engaged, puzzled and frustrated for at least 45 minutes, usually longer. Your class

Here's a very uncomfortable fact: it takes 4 pounds of potatoes to make 1 pound of potato chips. That means that for every 1 pound bag of potato chips you eat, 3 pounds of potatoes have to be thrown away. What a waste of food! This is a series of activities that looks at the hidden world of food waste. It includes a look at how much food is wasted as it is "processed" into finished products like french fries and potato chips. It also includes mathematical activities where students calculate how

I developed this activity for a kindergarten teacher who wanted to introduce her students to the "syntax" and "grammar" of writing equations without the need for drill. She also wanted me to make it somewhat fun, AND include practice for fine motor skills, as well as practice writing numerals. Can you believe it, I packed this all into one activity? Yes, I did, and here it is. Full disclosure: this is NOT a "drill your little kindergartners on addition and subtraction facts." Kindergartners are

ALL KILLER - NO FILLER! This is the all the materials you need to teach a killer, do you hear me, KILLER lesson where students will identify and practice sorting 4 different addition strategies. The strategies: "Count On" "Doubles" "Near Doubles" "Make Ten" What I love about this lesson is that it reviews these 4 strategies without having the teacher name them directly: instead, you place examples of each strategy on separate areas and then ask the students to create more

"One, Some or None? Geometry" has a simple premise: if I gave you three clues about a geometric shape, would you be able to draw one, some or no kinds of shapes? This activity raises the bar on critical thinking and combines multi-model types of problem solving, as students draw examples (or non-examples) to support their ideas. This 40 page packet comes with clues for triangles ("has 2 equal sides," "has a right angle," etc.) and quadrilaterals ("has 1 set of parallel sides," "has 3 right ang

Here's the task: Put the following fractions in order from least to greatest: 3/7, 1/5, 5/6, 4/7, 7/8, 1/9 and 12/13 Would your students be comfortable doing this task, or would they groan and give up? Would you want your students to attempt this by drawing individual pictures of fractions? Would you want your students to attempt this using a desk full of manipulatives? The first thing you get in this kit is a set of standardized fraction cards that use a hybrid linear model; they are in th

This 60 page booklet incorporates the theories of Pierre van Hiele and Dina van HIele-Geldorf, better known as the van Hiele Theory, to teach developmental geometry in elementary and middle school. The van Hiele's were pioneers in the understanding that children go through different levels of cognitive development in their understanding of geometric concepts, and that these levels changed with the age and education of the child. Through their work, we've come to understand what kinds of thinking

Since the first modern Olympics in 1896, runners in the 100 meter sprint have been setting records on a regular basis, earning the title of the "fastest human on earth." How long can these records be broken? Will there eventually be a runner who can do the 100 meter sprint in just a few seconds? This activity shows students how the change from measuring time from tenths of a second to hundredths of a second allowed more records to be broken, and that by graphing these records, the new records ca