Prealgebra Photo Scavenger Hunt!

Math Phrases + ColorNote Phone App + Email + Printer

= Scavenger Hunt = Active Learning!

The math phrases sliced and ready to be picked!

I walked into my Prealgebra class the other day and asked, "How about doing something different today?!" There was a collective moan. "You get to leave the claaaaassroooooom!" Then there was a collective cheer.

Earlier that morning, I brainstormed about the math concepts that my Prealgebra students should know (or they were welcome to Google any unknown terms). I then entered the math phrases into my phone's ColorNote app using the Checklist function. Using the "share" feature of the app, I emailed the list to my school email account, enlarged the font, then within minutes I was cutting them into strips. I asked my students to group themselves into 3-4 per group as long as at least one person had a phone that could take and send pictures. Students chose five strips per group, left to find their math concepts somewhere on campus "in the real world" and take a picture of them. What a fun way to support active and collaborative learning! I then added one other free technological feature: I shared my Google number with the class so they could text me their pictures if they could. Within 10 minutes, I was receiving pictures. Awesome!

"Sphere" toys at our college bookstore

3 "rectangle" windows of our bookstore

Example of "percent increase" at Student Services

I later found out from our department chair that this activity covered most if not all of the five benchmarks of effective educational practice in community colleges based on CCSSE findings. The five benchmarks are:

• Active and Collaborative Learning
• Student Effort
• Academic Challenge
• Student-Faculty Interaction
• Support for Learners

Quick, fun, educational, different. I hope you'll try it if you're a teacher! 

Free Math Practice out of New York!

I'm not sure if I shared this yet, but here are a couple links to some free math help. There are some Prealgebra items and a bunch of Algebra items. Apparently (and New Yorkers, please tell me if I'm wrong), but there is a state test that students must take. The Oswego City School District of New York provides these free lessons and practice problems.

Click here for link to Prealgebra/Basic Math material

Click here for link to Algebra material (Algebra II/Intermediate Algebra/College Algebra/Trigonometry)

Click here for the main page for Regents Exam Practice (all subjects)

Hope this helps! Thanks, Oswego!

Upcyled Juice Lids Teach Integer Operations

Juice lids help teach signed numbers operations!

Click to enlarge: Red (dark) lids = negative, silver lids = positive

I've used the "chip method" to teach adding signed integers (the whole numbers and "negative whole" numbers) and to teach prime factorization, but I've never used them to teach multiplying and dividing integers. Until today. Thanks to my beautiful ride to school today, this method popped in my head on the drive. I hope my Elementary Algebra students found this helpful!

Note: These are the metal lids from the top of frozen juice concentrate.  

Click here for tips on another  good lid source!

The example above shows that every pair of reds (negatives) when multiplied will equal a silver (positive). In the numerator:

(-3)(-2) = (red)(red) = silver

and in the denominator:

(-1)(-3) = (red)(red)  = silver

Then

silver/silver = silver (positive)

For those students (like me) who need manipulatives, who are better when they can touch something that can be so abstract, I think the magnet lids are the way to go! Again, this is why I collect all sorts of lids and caps... imagine the possibilities in ANY math classroom or home.