Headbands (Hedbandz) for the classroom

...on a Friday!
 
It's kind of funny to me that "Hedbandz" ever became a game that people pay for since I remember playing it years ago with a Post-it stuck to each player's forehead.  I suppose the lack of set-up time and ability to reuse the cards gives it some worth.

If you're not familiar with the game, each player has a mystery card that they're trying to guess by asking the other players yes/no questions.  You win by guessing your card correctly with the least number of questions. 

If you look around the internet, there are plenty of teachers who are using this game in their classrooms.  Mary,  Jennifer, and Sam have high school math versions.  For the past couple of months, ever since we played the real version at youth group, I've been looking for something to inexpensively replicate the reusable headbands.  I knew I could use strips of construction paper, but they would have to be replaced each time we played the game.  I thought about stretchy elastic headbands but thought they might be really uncomfortable.  I almost got cheap sunglasses and put Velcro dots on the bridges but decided I didn't want to have to Velcro each set of cards, nor did I want to invest $30 for this game.  I kept cruising Dollar Tree for ideas.  Yesterday, I happened upon 3 packs of foam visors. 

This has to be the simplest #Made4Math ever.  Take a visor, add a paper clip and a card, and you're good to go!  $10 for a class set is within my budget.  Totally dorky?  Yes, and I think that's probably part of the charm.  If the students wear them like visors are supposed the be worn, the taller students are going to have to tilt their heads down so the shorter students can see the cards.  Better is to wear the visors upside down (think "tiara") and the cards will be almost vertical. Similar visors are on Amazon here. 

A silly mock-up, but you get the idea.

I know I'll use this for several topics in math and in French.  Two sets of cards are in the document below, one for graphing linear equations and one for vocabulary related to functions and equations. 



How could you use this game with your students?

Mathematically yours,
Miss B

A bargain "toolbox" design

Since at least 2012, I've seen "teacher toolboxes" floating around Pinterest.  Just doing a Google image search for that term yields a plethora of redesigned Lowe's drawer units.  I liked them but I felt they wouldn't quite work with my style.  Honestly, I'm lucky if my pen makes it back into a pencil cup immediately after use and I doubted that I'd be able to keep putting pencils and pens back in drawers.  I also don't keep all of my supplies in the same place.  Some live on my desk, some live on the cart where my document camera sits, and others are used infrequently enough that they stay in cabinets.

Just a few of the toolboxes on the Internet

Since I'm moving to a new classroom in the fall and I'm considering gaining classroom space by exiling my desk to the attached closet (which is a huge room), I thought a small toolbox could be useful.  My binder clips and paper clips are perpetually mixed up and I can't always find the size I need. 

I picked up a few mini two-drawer units from Dollar Tree.  That store has so many good teaching items at such a reasonable price.  The inside dimensions of these drawers are about 3" wide, 4" deep, and 1 1/2" tall.  They're not going to hold writing utensils, but that suits my needs just fine. 

I used a few small dots of hot glue to attach the drawer units together.  When you do this, I would suggest removing the drawers (bend the frame ever so slightly).  Put the glue on the bottom of one unit, then place that unit on top of the next unit.  This will keep you from putting glue where it could interfere with the movement of the drawer.

Next, I cut labels to size to fit each drawer.  If you want to make your own, they should be 1 5/8" tall and 3 1/2" wide.  If you want the sizing already done, feel free to download my file below and edit it to list the items you need, picking a font and color that you like.  Use cardstock and the labels will fit nicely in the front of each drawer.  There's sort of a little lip in front that holds the paper upright, so adhesive would be optional.  You could use a little double-sided tape, glue dots, or the like to hold the paper in place if you're afraid it will shift, but mine are loose so I can change out the contents quickly if I decide to. 

Here's the finished product (in a poor photo, sorry)!  Total cost: $3 plus tax.  Time to link up to #made4math!

I have designs on adding a few more drawers if I can find more at another Dollar Tree.   I brainstormed all my ideas in the file below.  The font is "KG What the Teacher Wants" and can be downloaded free for personal use. 


Have you made any organizational changes for next year?

Mathematically yours,
Miss B

Notebook Check

It's time to start checking the contents of students' Interactive Notebooks.  My plan is to check them roughly every three weeks beginning this week.  I have just shy of 80 students, so I'm planning to check 20 notebooks Monday through Thursday during a normal notebook check week and to get any stragglers on Friday.

I shared a rubric during the summer that I'm using with my classes.  Today, I guided my students through their notebooks and pointed out the portions that needed to be complete prior to my checking the notebooks.  Several students realized they had a few portions to complete or improve before their first grade. Tomorrow, we're going to all mock grade our notebooks before I collect any.  I want the students to grade their notebook and then see if my grade matches theirs. 

One expectation that I have for my students is that if they do not earn full credit for completeness on a notebook check, they must catch up prior to the next notebook check.  In other words, if they didn't have pages complete for notebook check #1, those pages will roll over into notebook check #2.  Double jeopardy?  Perhaps.  However, I feel like it's the best way to truly hold students accountable for staying on top of everything. 

To help with this notebook check process, I posted this sign in the classroom.  The reverse side says "next week" so I can post it prior to the notebook check also.  The main thing here is to include the page numbers so students have direction as to what they need to look over prior to notebook checks. 

This is my #Made4Math Monday entry.  I think it's been three or four weeks since I've posted one, so I'm happy to have something to share, however small.  Want the file?  Here it is ready to print. 

Mathematically yours,
Miss B

Guess Who- Linear Functions

I was hopping around the MTBoS this afternoon and I happened to reread a post by Sarah from several months ago in which she listed some thrift store/garage sale finds she was planning to use in her classroom. Among those finds was a Guess Who? board game which reminded me that I had purchased the same thing a long time ago and hadn't yet remade it into a math game.  

Guess Who? was a staple in my house when I was a child and I can remember toting it to many a babysitting gig, too.  It was perfect as a two-player game since I was an only child and just had to find one other person to play. I always wanted to be Maria because she looked the most like me, even with the funny green beret, and I learned a lot about probability by calculating the best questions to ask in order to eliminate about half of the people at a time.  

Sorry for doubling up on Made4Math this week, but I couldn't bear to wait for next Monday to write my post after making this beauty!  

Here's what my $3 at Goodwill and several hours of my evening got me:

Truth be told, the red one's not done yet.  :)

The family that owned this game before me must have been a tiny bit compulsive. ;) They had glued the character cards to the yellow flippers. I pried each one loose and then slid my card in along with the character card. The back of the flippers show the question mark design of the Guess Who cards and I was able to use cheap paper instead of thick card stock.

If you want to make your own set on another topic, just measure the cards and make a table with cells that size. I found these cards were 1 1/8" wide and 1 3/8" tall, but be sure to check if you have a different model of the game. The one I had as a kid had much larger cards.  Before I had this game board, I made a paper version using file folders for linear inequalities in my first year of teaching and it has been a classroom staple.  I made it all by hand, so I might not be able to blog it for a while.

I'm sharing the files I made below. Included are directions for how your students could play this game even without the game board. After all, this is cute, but who is going to buy a class set, right? I figure I'll make this one cute, draw a couple of kids names to play with this set, and let the rest of the kids play the modified way.  Now that I know I can modify them, I'll pick up another set or two if I see them at Goodwill again because I'd like to make one for quadratic functions for my Algebra class.  





This game ties in nicely to a couple of 8th grade standards:

• CCSS.Math.Content.8.F.A.2 Compare properties of two functions each represented in a different way (algebraically, graphically, numerically in tables, or by verbal descriptions). For example, given a linear function represented by a table of values and a linear function represented by an algebraic expression, determine which function has the greater rate of change.
• CCSS.Math.Content.8.F.B.4 Construct a function to model a linear relationship between two quantities. Determine the rate of change  and initial value of the function from a description of a relationship or from two (x, y) values, including reading these from a table or from a graph. Interpret the rate of change and initial value of a linear function in terms of the situation it models, and in terms of its graph or a table of values.

How have you repurposed games in your classroom?

Mathematically yours, 

Miss B

Problem of the Week: Absences

I'm not sure this will become a regular feature, but I've now written two posts that explain how I want to deal with an issue of classroom management.  I sort of like the title "Problem of the Week" but I suspect these won't be weekly, even if I do feature this regularly.  Let me know what problems you'd like me to tackle.  :)

This post will focus on how to handle make-up work for absent students.  Currently, I have a hanging file organizer for each class that contains handouts for students who were absent.  Read more about them here.  I like this system and it's made it much less likely that I need to sort through files to find papers for children.

Why does this system need to change?  Well, I realized that it works well if the make up work is all on handouts.  But what if the missing work was from a textbook, used manipulatives, was a game, etc?  It's near impossible to put those items in the pocket.  I realized a little "while you were out" form would greatly improve my communication with students who had been absent.

I'm not a paper work fan.  I do know, however, that there are always a few helpful students who want some extra responsibility.  I'll let those students fill out the forms based on our daily agenda (always posted on the chalkboard) and collect the day's handouts for the absent students.  At the end of class, they can place the papers and form in the class file.  I hope this will foster a spirit of helpfulness in my class.

Here they are as an editable Word doc.  It's this week's #Made4Math!


No cute fonts or anything today- my school-issued laptop died yesterday morning and  I suspect it needs a new hard drive again (this happened in December, too).  For now, I'm making do with my 6-year-old dinosaur of a PC until at least tomorrow and realizing how unaccustomed to PC I've grown in the past 5 years since I started working in a district that only uses Mac. The timing on my poor computer's demise couldn't have been much worse since teachers report back to school on Tuesday and I know our tech office is probably being bombarded with requests from all directions.  Say a prayer that the tech guys will be able to resurrect my computer and its files once again.

Mathematically yours,
Miss B

Factoring Polynomials Tarsia

It's time for Made 4 Math Monday!  I have a Polynomial Factoring Tarsia/Puzzle to share today.  This mixes all of the forms of factoring that my students have been working on in the past two weeks.  I've seen lots of Tarsia examples on Pinterest but the free software is only PC compatible and I typically use a Mac.  My PC is a bit of a dinosaur, so I haven't even tried out the software yet, so I went old school on this! 

Answer Key: You'll need to check that the pieces are in the correct rotation so that the sides actually match.  The 16 pieces form an equilateral triangle.
Row 1:            N
Row 2:        A G  C
Row 3:     J  K I   B D
Row 4: O E L  F  P H  M

My other Made4Math item this week is new tubs for each table in my classroom.  We christened them today and so far, so good.  I even had a bunch of comments from my 5th period class: "Wow, you bought us new tubs!"  "Those look really good!"  It's nice to be noticed.  The materials all fit nicely when I filled them up this morning and kids didn't need much time at all to get and replace the things we used today.  I seriously hope this is my last venture into reorganizing supplies this year since we're halfway in and on the third system!