Enjoy a great activity I've completed with First Graders & Middle Schoolers! Every year prior to spring break I've enjoyed executing this wonderful fun egg math activity with my students.  There's minimal prep time and materials for this activity - you will only need plastic eggs, paper for math problems or task cards already printed with answer key, a shoe box, and of course, candy or treats for students.  The students only need paper and a pencil.  Every year all students became very, very involved with this lesson!  Read below on how I executed this Eggstravagant Math Activity with my students!

I love cementing students' learning of terms and concepts with simple visuals as much as possible!  For students who may struggle with reading, learning the English Language, or the subject being taught, I enjoy bringing in my visual arts background and cementing the concept with a simple visual if possible.  It's like the saying 'A picture is worth a thousand words'.  Maybe not always in education, a thousand words, that's a lot.... however, a picture or visual to assist students in learning a skill, term, or just the vocabulary needed in the subject they are learning is so beneficial.

If you've read my previous post about '4 Ways to Engage Learners' or have some of my products from TpT, I am sure you are aware by now, I try to incorporate visuals as much as possible.  The below example of rise demonstrates how I use visuals with math vocabulary to assist students learning math concepts and terms.

 ALL IN ONE:  Statistics, Probability, Classroom Management, Scatter Plots, Student Engagement, & Graphing!

The first year I taught scatter plots, statistics, and probability, I kept wondering how I could engage my students fully into the lesson and assist them in getting back into the routine of school after long holiday breaks.  After much thought, I came up with my 'Time to Get Ready' Lesson for all four of my classes.  I was nervous and unsure how the students would respond to the lesson, yet, at the end of that school year, this was one of my favorite project lessons the students accomplished that year.

Task Cards are so Versatile, ​Even in Middle and High School!  
​They are great because students feel they have a choice in which task they do first and in middle school this is a great way to engage students.  Another benefit of task cards is that students do not feel overwhelmed by worksheet after worksheet of problems to do.  It breaks up the day, week, or month.  Read below about 9 ways you may use task cards.

                        ~  9 Ways To Use Task Cards  ~

1.  Centers or Stations.   
Set up multiple stations with task cards you wish the students to complete.  Students work and rotate through the stations and the respective tasks you set up. Stations or Centers may be set up with 4-5 specific stations on the tasks you wish students to complete with white boards, recording sheets, or notebooks.  The number of stations may be determined by the time students are in your class.  Students may record their answers and rotate through the stations for a specific amount of time that you designate. Students may also work on a station you specify if you do not wish for them to rotate through stations.  For example, one group may need to improve their skills on "Number Sense" tasks, so they work in the "Numbers" Station, another group may need to improve their skills on "Pythagorean Theorem", therefore, they work in the "Pythagorean" Station.  This could be done weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly, for middle school or high school students.   Stations may also be set up as 'self-checking' stations where an answer key is available for students to check their work.  However you set up stations or centers, task cards are fantastic for this purpose.  

One of the largest things I had to do teaching middle school math was to find ways to engage students in math that absolutely did not like math or struggled with mathematics.  

Following are some strategies I utilized to assist my students! 

1.  VISUALS
 I learned that by engaging visual learners and students who ‘do not like math’ with entertaining visuals and color it grasped their attention.  For example, when I introduced the definition of Pythagorean Theorem to my students I used a hippo for the hypotenuse and legs for the legs of the right triangle.  I engaged students first with a discussion on why a hippo was sliding down the hypotenuse and why he was on a sled…that year it was January and we had a lot of snow and ice.  This was just what I needed to reach and engage my students.   

After this, I taught my unit on Pythagorean theorem and kept referring to the hippo and legs while students who struggled to solve equations learned this task.  Even students who struggled, all I had to say was ‘think of the hippo’ and they would remember the equation and visualize how to solve the problem.  (Let me just say, the day I gave an assessment and said ‘think of the hippo’ and I could see the students picturing Pythagorean Theorem and the equations in their head I was ecstatic!)  Another strategy I brought in to my classroom was color for a few reasons. ​

I am so excited about this growing category of Math Posters, therefore, I've put together a bundle of all the current math posters in my TpT store.

The bundle of 22 Middle School Math Posters {most measuring 24" x 36"} is the perfect bundle of resources to use year-after-year.  Just laminate or frame these great anchor charts and mount in your classroom as tools for learning!

These posters are wall 'poster size' like you find in the store. Below, a link to each poster is provided so you may see the individual poster size - (some are horizontal & some vertical).  Save $$$ by purchasing this bundle of Math Posters OR peruse the Individual Math Posters!

These are great resources to use teaching and for reference year-after-year!  Use these to decorate your class, bulletin boards, hallways, & more.  Perfect Anchor Charts for learning!  Individual Posters included in this bundle and the links to the product in my TpT store. Please feel free to click on the links to view the full descriptions of each product.

• 4 Ways to Engage Students Poster
• Geometry Vocabulary Poster
• Bring Together for Learning Poster
• Properties of Addition & Multiplication Poster
• Fractions - 5 Posters
• Decimals Poster
• Multiplication Poster
• 9 Laws of Exponents Poster
• Positive & Negative Integers - 6 Posters
• Pythagorean Theorem Poster
• Real Number System Poster
• Order of Operations - PEMDAS - 2 Posters

This is a growing category ~ Posters ~ in my TpT Store.  As more math posters are added you'll receive notifications by following me on TpT, following my blog for future postings of products, or following me on TpT to see when new products are posted.

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Best Wishes, M Moore
Certified K-6, 6-9 math, and 6-9 science
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©2015 M Moore, MMoore Educational Resources, All Rights Reserved. See Full Disclaimer.
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