5 Ways to Give Your Students Math Practice without the Worksheet

A start to the new school year is a great time to try out some new ideas in class.  Here are 5 ways that you can have your students practice math without the worksheet.

1) Task Cards - I use task cards pretty often in my math classes.  Usually, I use task cards that have QR Codes on them so the students can check their answers themselves.  For some reason, my students love having the individual problems printed on cards instead of a worksheet.  They love that they can use their technology to check their answers.  Another great thing about task cards is that they work for all levels - they aren't too "babyish" for older kids and even much younger ones can get the idea of how to scan the QR Code.

Here is an example of one of my task cards for Geometry - Measuring Angles.

First Day of Math Class - Win one of 5 TPT Gift Cards!

It's going to be the best school year ever!  Time for new students, new ideas, new uses of technology!  My STEM teachers friends and I got together and we are sponsoring 5 $25 gift cards that we are giving away - go all the way to the bottom of this post to check it out :)

But first, I'd like to give you some first day/week of school ideas.  I hate the read the syllabus I'll give you my rules first days.  I like to actually have an idea of something students can DO!  (The only problem I've found with this is that students come to school EXPECTING that teachers will just be reading the syllabus to them that they don't even bring a pencil - so be sure to have some on hand!)

Bulletin Boards for High School Math

A dilemma I face every year...what to put up on my bulletin boards...fun and yet functional :)  I am in awe of elementary teachers - they change their bulletin boards so frequently and they are always so CUTE!

I am ashamed to say that I am lucky if I change my bulletin boards once a year...(I am hanging my head!)

So, it is my new school year resolution to do a better job!  But, it's not just the two bulletin boards I have hanging in my classroom...it's also extra space on my white boards - what could I put up that my students might find interesting to look at?

Ten Tips for the New {Math} Teacher

A new school year is about to begin...a brand new group of teachers is ready to start for the very first time!  It's exciting to finally have your own group of students, but there is also a feeling of anxiety...how am I going to handle these kids all by myself???

Here are ten tips that I came up with for the new teacher...most are tips for every new teacher - but a couple are specifically for new math teachers.

Tarsia Puzzle for Mac - Finally Figured it Out

I have wanted to make Tarsia Puzzles for the longest time, but they seemed like soooo much work to do by hand.  Several months ago I found a website that provided software you could use to make the puzzles - I was excited!  (even better - the software was FREE.)

Algebra One Fun Mazes and Other Activities

Algebra One - where it all begins!  Kids as young as 6th or 7th grade are in this course - they are still little :)  They still are willing to have fun in math class - and hey let's face it - even those of us who have kids in 9th or 10th grade taking Algebra - we need a fun activity every once in awhile.  So what can we do?

Here are two ideas:

1)  Have students practice the skill you are working on within a maze.  They will go back to their earlier childhood and remember the fun they had working mazes - and you can sneak in the practice!

How a Timer Changed my Math Classroom

The content of this post may seem obvious to some of you, but to others that haven't tried using a timer before, I invite you to try it...I bet you will love it.

I often have my class work in groups...sometimes they are working on task cards, sometimes a review sheet, sometimes talking about a couple of problems.  But group work sometimes ends up in a black hole - some groups finish and are really focused, some groups work well together naturally, but other groups end up talking about things other than the math assignment!

One thing that really helped me this year was using a timer to keep things moving along.  You could use any timer, but the kind that really helped me was a digital timer that I could project onto the front board.  (There are many available online for free, but here is the one I used: Online Stopwatch )