Quadrilaterals part 2 (Tons of links to amazing quadrilateral resources)

We just finished the quadrilateral unit and my student that rarely does anything made a 72!  Whoa!  I mean we cannot discuss the child's average, but let's just state that if grades were like golf scores, this kid would be killing it.  First, I started with the coloring quadrilateral notes from Math Giraffe.  Go sign-up as a follower on her site and you get the doodle notes for free!  Umm, yes please.  Site link here.


I also paid a few bucks for her coloring quads always, sometimes, never sheet.  Again, anytime that is coloring, my kids are down.  You can find the link to her store here.

We went on to a classifying activity and most of them knocked it out of the park.  I threw in a quiz that day on kahoot!  If you have never used Kahoot and you have wifi capable tools in your class, sign up!  The kids again, loved it!  This whole week was a success lesson wise, if only they were always like that.

Then, as a summary activity we did the bulletin board, found here.  I put the kids in groups with giant pieces of bulletin board paper and they worked in teams of 4 putting it together.  I made sure I checked it prior to gluing, but a few did it prior to me checking.  They only had a few errors, which show that the properties were mastered.  We finished up with Kahoot, once more checking to see if they could solve for the missing angle measure.





Study guide and test day were a breeze, thanks to all the wonderful resources available.

Did I Say Test Day?

We had reached the end of the quadrilaterals unit, which was a huge success (post for tomorrow will include links to all resources used). My class is not what guidance would consider to be the tough crowd, but today they wanted to learn and make sure they were prepared for the test. This was not the typical attempt to stall a lesson, but a genuine plea to make sure they had a grasp of the concepts. 

So how did we get to this point that would have shocked administration?

- First, this grading period is different because we are not required to give students a free grade. Whomever thought that we should just give grades to students was nuts. 

-Do not waver. No matter how tough a bunch of students are, keep the expectation for learning high. They may resist at first hoping you will cave. Do not give in. This benefits your classroom in the long run, but it also helps show you want them to earn the grade they receive. 

- Find engaging material. The sorting activities, games on Kahoot!, and coloring page notes, all are ways to get participation out of the students. During time on the study guide, I made sure to sit with the kids in a circle and work through each one as a class. They saw me putting in the work with them instead of far away at the board. 

- Finally, love them. Yes, my class destroys property, has run clean through 6 boxes of pencils, used multiple packs of paper my notebook paper, but they are my babies.  

So, I did what my profession states that I do. I taught them and was pleased as punch. 

Geometry: Pythagorean Theorem

Always provide a leg example and a hypotenuse example. Man, did I learn from that mistake of assuming my first year as a lateral entry teacher. I need to go back and add some color, but the kids caught on pretty quickly. I do my notes and post them on my school webpage now. This totally reduces the number of questions in regards to how and where does this go for the foldable. 

By the way, the paper was part of the donorschoose package. Apparently, I must have been mentally ill when I wrote approximately as approxi"mentally". I left the mistake for the kids to see that I can make mistakes as well. In a class like my math tech 3 group they need to be assured that mistakes are okay. 

 I love the textbook for this class. It is one of the first that puts the distance formula with the Pythagorean Theorem. Thank goodness, the connection was already made!  Other than a few moans and groans about the distance formula and the requirement to draw the triangles, my class caught on relatively quickly. 

Geometry triangle terms

I love tearing the corners of a triangle to make the straight line. I have a tough crowd this year, so little amuses them. Typical the connection is made and they know the angles of a triangle add up to equal 180. This also shows how how the 2 remote angles add up to equal the measure of the exterior angle. The terms on the note cards were terms I thought my students had mastered in middle school, but Friday we spent time reviewing the terms again. Teacher lesson, never assume especially in a tech class. 

Geometry: Angle relationships

Angle relationships are easy visuals to teach students. Change the c into a 9 for 90 degree complementary angles. The s into a 180 for supplementary. You can see the others below. 

Again, color is super important in geometry for your visual learners. I also believe the act of coloring them helps the hands on learners. 

Finally, I have caught up on my tech/ geometry notebook. This week we will be covering congruent triangles. I look forward to sharing my hook for this lesson later on this week. 

Geometry: All things Parallel, with a transversal

Okay, while I enjoy teaching Algebra 1 my favorite class is geometry.  I cannot state this enough.  This includes all of my activities, notes, and games I use teaching parallel lines.  My students have have really impressed me with the projects and even the game (considering the lack of enthusiasm for the study guide, go figure).

Let's begin with the notes.  I always have students shade in the acute angles one color and the obtuse another color.  Then, we put that the angles that are the same color = each other and the opposite colors = 180.  This really helps drive home the main two concepts.  Then, we discuss the interior vs. exteriors.  I hint that same-side starts with an S and so does supplementary.  Trying to help them recall the terms as well.  The foldable helps them organize the congruent angle relationships compared to the supplementary.

We do a little practice on worksheets, playing review games to get the answers.  On to the first project!  Design your own city.  I love this project, because I get to go over my previous profession in architecture and review urban design.  I show them images from my portfolio of how they could one day take this project to design cities.  Ya know, get them as excited as I am about the project.  I get to even throw in a mini lesson about scale. You can find the rubric I used here.  This was not my activity, but I loved the rubric and why re-create the wheel?

Review. Practice.  Time for the review game!  I didn't want my students that would be all so tempted to keep my real dice, so I had them cut out a template out of paper for the next activity.  I had played one similar to this activity before, but this one seemed to work out great.  Again, why re-create the wheel?  My kids surprised me in how engaged they were.  They had the terminology down!  We shall see how they do on the test, but right now I am pleased as punch.

Geometry notes: Segment bisectors & midpoints

For students who struggle with the midpoint formula, I typically put a number line on the board, so we can count to find the exact middle. This visual typically helps. 

In geometry class, I require colored pencils. It is the only way for students to easily visualize the areas and how they relate to the part + part = whole. Or in the midpoint section how the part = the other part. 

Geometry Notes: Segment Addition

We have had a nasty virus spreading through the school and therefore I caught it along with my three children.  So, I have had plenty of material to post, just no time to post the information.  The positive, tons of interactive notebook goodies.  Tons of pictures and some good tips that I have learned along the way when teaching geometry. 

Segment addition and angle addition work well together in a foldable. I think it helps kids see the same applied math to different shapes. 

I was quite surprised my first year teaching how many students need a review of the yellow box. 

Breaking down problems in geometry as two parts and a whole really helps them set up equations. 

Adele parody: A donation plea

I had opened a donors choose page for some classroom supplies.  After a week of it being posted, I had NO DONORS!  So I thought what gets the attention of people online?  A video.  And not just a video a parody.  So apologies to Adele, for butchering her song, but I figured my readers may need a good laugh.  Plus all teachers know how we would go to any extreme for our students, well almost any extreme.  So without further adieu, I present my pitiful vocal skills in hope for raising money.  Please donate or share to the cause.  If you post it, at least I know that is one more person that has looked at my donors choose page.  Today is the last day where donations will be matched using the promo code liftoff.  Thank you in advance! Update: After an hour of the video going viral, I had my full donation.  What a great way to get supplies that you do not have in your class and may be too broke to afford on your own!  If you need ways to get your project off the ground comment below.

For those of you who have been in the car with me you know I cannot sing. This means I am desperate. My donors choose promo code (liftoff) which will match all donations ends today. So I need donors fast! I wrote the lyrics for my page. Being pressed for time it was pitiful filming, but I am hoping it is corny enough to go viral. Please donate and/or share. Google Mrs. P hands on math.
Posted by Heather Padilla on Monday, January 25, 2016

I had opened a donors choose page for some classroom supplies.  After a week of it being posted, I had NO DONORS!  So I thought what gets the attention of people online?  A video.  And not just a video a parody.  So apologies to Adele, for butchering her song, but I figured my readers may need a good laugh.  Plus all teachers know how we would go to any extreme for our students, well almost any extreme.  So without further adieu, I present my pitiful vocal skills in hope for raising money.  Please donate or share to the cause.  If you post it, at least I know that is one more person that has looked at my donors choose page.  Today is the last day where donations will be matched using the promo code liftoff.  Thank you in advance! 

Geometry basics (and a cute baby)

And I am back. After a baby that was suffering from an ear infection and then turned out to be allergic to amoxicillin, I can truly say I am glad to have time to blog again. So this post will have several goodies, just because it has been a while.

First, I have been searching through sites such as issuu and flipsnap in hopes to find a way to present my work in one cohesive document (and for cheap).  I found one site which I will share my review at the end of the year. This is only because you must upload everything at once, but it is free.  In the meantime, I am using google presentation to post my notebooks online for students who may have missed a day of notes.  It seems to have no limit and now parents/students have access to the notes from class!  Problem of the absent student is solved. 

Math Tech 3 is a geometry based course with a slower pace. So having a matching activity for the terms guarantees that they will make it to the notes, but as one student pointed out "it feels like a game."  To this I respond by shrugging shoulders nod asking, "Who knew, that definitions in class could be fun?"

 This foldable needs tweaking prior to me posting it. After 15 minutes of trying to keep the copier from shifting my pages, I was able to get the front and back aligned. 

As stated earlier, geometry at a slower pace. Don't worry, I will have them doing proofs, just in a disguised manner.

My posts for Algebra 1 will go up tomorrow. I just could not stand going without posting. 

A new semester brings on the fun!

I am so excited!  I love, love, love teaching geometry!  Okay I hope you get the picture.  I am jumping up and down with enthusiasm.  It has been a few years since I have taught this subject, but I am thrilled to try out some things I have hoarded over the years and to share them with all of you!  I am going to upload my first day syllabus for this course.  I realized that new teachers are always looking for a first day letter example.  Mostly because who wants to recreate the wheel?  So I am going to share it here along with another template that I love to use.

Geometry Vocabulary

Today we just worked through more word problems, so I figured I would pull out one from the archive. I taught geometry two years ago and decided we needed to cover formulas and definitions for the upcoming final. Each child was provided an 8.5 by 8.5 inch square. Each child was assigned a word that needed an example or picture on white paper and colored paper for an assigned formula. We did vocab speed dating so each child had presented their term to their classmate. The kids seemed to learn a lot and the added perk was that I had a pretty review poster for my classroom. 

Geometry snow day!

Because we don't have school today, I browsed through past projects and thought this one to be appropriate. 

The last lesson for geometry was surface area and volume. The kids wanted a party and we still needed to test...the result were geometry inspired edible snowmen. The kids had to find the volume and surface area of each item. 10% of the test was making the snowman. 

We decided after this first draft we really only needed the sixlets for buttons, the marshmallow head, the zebra cake body, the Reese cup head, straw arms, and dots for the mittens and an oatmeal cookie for the base. Needless to say the kids enjoyed their test. 

Geometry of success

Any time a student makes an A on a test or quiz they get a leaf on the board. The kids are funny when they catch on to the pun. This idea branched from the calculus teacher that used cows in her class.  It amazes me how much high schoolers love rewars like stickers as much as an elementary teacher.