One Teacher's Adventures

Are you looking for a way to help your middle school students understand probability? These hands-on math stations are a great way to help students understand the difference between theoretical and experimental probability.  In these stations, students use common materials to complete simple tests in order to calculate probability of a specific event. My students loved these stations so much that they asked if we could spend an extra day with them to see whether the experimental probability would change.  These allowed for rich classroom discussions on the difference between theory and practice, and some students were able to show extension of the topics by suggesting further tests and trials - including testing 50 times instead of 20, with a hypothesis that the experimental probability would more closely match the theoretical probability with more trials.  My probability stations come with 8 different station cards, teacher notes, and almost all materials needed to run t...

This activity is a great low floor, high ceiling hands-on math activity that takes zero prep and had all of my kids fully engaged.  My 6th graders this year love to use their hands and build. So, to help them better understand ratios, I decided to bring out the manipulatives.  First, I asked my students to find one or two partners, then in their groups select a collection of items from our manipulatives bins. I had tangrams, pattern blocks, beads, unifix cubes, cuisinaire rods, and place value blocks, but this could work with any manipulatives that you may have in your classroom. When they had their items, I asked them to find as many ratios they could to describe relationships between their items.  For the collection above, they might find the following ratios. triangles to hexagons = 7:3 unifix cubes to beads = 5:20 green triangles to triangles = 4:7 yellow to red = 9:3 I gave my students about 15 minutes to find and record as many ratio relationships as they could, in ...

I love to add games into my Middle School math lessons. So much learning happens when students play games, not just because the content of the games relates to curriculum, but because when they are playing, they are engaged in the material and are applying theory in a context that makes sense. Here are 10 of my favourite games to play during my math blocks. 1. Cribbage Cribbage is a great game for mental math skills, addition, and strategy. Materials: Cribbage Board, Deck of Cards Objective: Be the first to score 121 points Number of Players: 2-3 How to Play Play Online 2. Achi Achi is a simple game, but takes concentration and strategy. Materials: Achi Board, 4 pieces for each player Objective: be the first player to get three pieces in a row Number of Players: 2 How to Play Download a printable Achi Board 3. Make 100 This game is great to practice basic operations. My students really love it, especially the end when everyone is hovering around 100 and they need to add, then subtract...