Become a TPT Follower to Receive...

a giveaway offer tomorrow! You have a couple hours to do so, I'll be send it out. If you miss this one, don't fret. I'll do it periodically :-) (EDIT: Apparently TPT holds the mail for a couple days :-) It's coming sometime, I promise!)

I will be given to a cool person

Click the "Follow Me" at this link: Click Me!!! Click Me!!!

Equation Boot Camp -- Differentiated Equation Solving Practice Assignments

Drill Sergeant Voice Optional!

Although this isn't a math project, Equation Boot Camp reinforces one of the most important math skills of all -- solving equations. Some basics just can't be replaced!

At times, I was frustrated teaching more challenging equations when it was obvious many in the class needed extra help on easier stuff. I developed this idea of an Equation Boot Camp to reinforce those skills, but allowing others to accelerate on their own!

Typically I teach Solving Equations in October and I used this in the Spring as remediation and enrichment. In my class, I also assign grades based on mastery so if students demonstrates this skill, then I improve their scores from the beginning of the year.

Students will take a Pre-Assessment and will be assigned a level. Each level is thematically tied with a rank in the Army. So while the Levels of the algebra get more challenging, they achieve a higher rank in the army.

After students master a level, they are signed off and promoted to the next level. Students intrinsically strive to get up a level and are innately curious about the next one.

There are 9 main levels of problems, thus 9 practice assignments included. For each level 2 mastery tests are included for a total of 18. Over 200 problems included overall!

When I do this I devote 3-5 days in class of small group practice, targeted instruction, and mastery testing. It's Boot Camp after all! You could just as easily use these assignments for homework or classwork without the Boot Camp experience.

An answer guide is included for all practice assignments and mastery tests. The total page count on the file is 28.

Unlike the majority of the items in my store, this is not a math project.

TPT Sitewide Sale Starts Tuesday!

In the spirit of Teachers Appreciation Week, the Mothership TPT is putting on a sitewide sale which I am so-totally-participating-in. You will need to use the Promo Code TAD13. While the site sale is only a two-day sale, I have put all of my stuff in the 21st Century Math Projects Store on sale for an extra two days. 

If you are not already a "Follower" over on the site, become one! I will start doing some free giveaways for followers and I'm pegging the first one for the May 18th where I will giveaway a copy of my new Person Puzzle eBook!

So... yeah... don't buy anything the next two days, but you can load your cart up!

Person Puzzles Go CRAZY!

Find Person Puzzles Here!

While they are not math projects, a collection of Person Puzzles was my own personal project!

Person Puzzles are designed to highlight individuals with diverse backgrounds who have made significant contributions to our world. In my experience, our students are underexposed and unaware of many significant (historical or current) figures and this is an easy way a math teacher can throw some interdisciplinary content without sacrificing their math!

Students enjoy the person puzzles because they innately like figuring out these types of mysteries and enjoy learning about someone interesting and different! I typically use Person Puzzles as timed warm-ups which allows me to share a little about the person's background before my daily lesson. I can also drop some college readiness info like majors, degrees and careers!

While some have a hard time admitting it, American curriculum is pretty much completely westernized. Much of the world (outside of Europe) is ignored. Even the little that is shared about other cultures is usually from an orientalist, stereotyped point-of-view.

Defeat orientalism and integrate content with a Person Puzzle! You can find the entire eBook (20% off buying them all separately right here: Click me)

Order of Operations -- Cesar Chavez
Distribution -- Aung San Suu Kyi
Combining Like Terms -- W.E.B. Du Bois
Equations One-Step -- David Robinson
Equations Two-Step -- Jane Goodall
Equations (Variables on Both Sides) -- John Herrington
Solving Equations with Fractions -- Harvey Milk
Solving Equations with Decimals -- Bethany Hamilton
Solving Multi-Step Equations -- Bernard Kouchner
Domain and Range with Functions -- Helen Keller
Calculating Slope -- Fauja Singh
Rewriting Equations in Slope Intercept Form -- Babe Didrikson Zaharias
Point and Slope -- Andrei Sakharov
Linear Equations with Two Points -- Eleanor Roosevelt
Absolute Value Equations -- Jim Henson
Solving Inequalities -- William Kamkwamba
Compound Inequalities -- Tawakel Karman
Systems of Equations (Substitution) -- Maya Angelou
Systems of Equations (Elimination) -- Nelson Mandela
Systems of Equations (Mixed Up) -- Roberto Clemente
Adding & Subtracting Polynomials -- Eva Peron
Multiplying Monomials -- Irena Sendler
Diving Monomials & Negative Exponents -- Wangari Maathai
Multiplying Binomials (FOIL) -- Pat Tillman
Factoring with GCF -- Jaime Escalante
Factoring by Grouping -- Septima Poinsette Clark
Factoring -- Mother Teresa
Factoring with ax^2 -- Muhammad Yunus
Quadratic Formula -- Grace Hopper
Simplifying Radical Expressions -- Somaly Mam
Multiplying Radicals -- Malala Yousafzai
Solving Equations with Radicals -- Stephen Hawking

Design a Zoo -- Updating Mishap -- Please Go Redownload

If you purchased Design a Zoo within the last couple weeks, please go redownload the file. I just realized that the file posted on the site was missing a couple critical pages. If you purchased it before then, it should be fine, but I would redownload to make sure.

There were a couple "horizontal" pages, that I forget to put in on my common core update, but you need them!

If you are unsure how to re-download, here are some instructions:

To do this…

You can download the updates by clicking on your My Purchases Tab.  There is a pull down bar and you can select "Recently Revised". Right below the Download Button “Newly Revised Re-Download"  will be blinking.  You will be able to download it again for free with the updates by clicking on the words “newly revised re-download".

I believe this classifies as my first product recall. If any students or teachers suffered injury as a result of any malfunction, I will check my Homeowner's Insurance.

Sorry!

~21cmp

Make Sure you Redownload Updated Files!

Hello Math Friends!

I want to send you a note to let you know literally EVERY file in my store has been updated. Everything has been aligned to the Common Core Standards. Lots of tables have been adjusted. Files have been improved. Lots of nips and tucks have been made. Be sure to revisit TPT to download new files to replace your old ones.

To do this…

You can download the updates by clicking on your My Purchases Tab.  There is a pull down bar and you can select "Recently Revised". Right below the Download Button “Newly Revised Re-Download"  will be blinking.  You will be able to download it again for free with the updates by clicking on the words “newly revised re-download".

I like to tinker and tweak so thing may get updated every once in a while.

Thank you so much for supporting my work and I hope the projects have been helpful!

Click here to go fast! http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/My-Purchases

Cool Website Spotlight -- New Global Citizens

To conclude my series of cool websites with an emphasis on global connections, I end with one that encourages students to put their knowledge to use and take action on an issue. New Global Citizens.

http://www.newglobalcitizens.org/

New Global Citizens is a United States based non-profit that aims to give middle school and high school students a global perspective and provide avenues to take action on an issue. They believe that through empowering students to become agents of change that they are in fact equipping a New Global Citizen. New Global Citizens serves as a middleman to facilitate global partnership with service agencies on the ground around the world. As opposed to seeking out a direct partnership with an international organization (which is difficult) that line of communication is open and ready for a classroom to engage in the work. For instance, New Global Citizens have a partnership with the Nyaka AIDS Orphan Project which serves children in Uganda. Teachers and student leaders, would “lead a team” to educate others about the issue, increase global awareness and raise money for a cause that helps others around the world. 

How would I use this in my math classroom? I suppose whenever fundraising occurs money and accounting are not far behind. Asking students to keep cost and revenue records lends to systems of equations and projecting future costs or revenue connects with modeling, patterns and regression. Whenever money is involved, math is not far behind.