Fun in the High School Math Classroom!

Today, my kids are doing one of my absolute favorite activities...an I Love Lucy worksheet. I Love Lucy is my all-time favorite show on the planet. It is SUCH a classic. I have loved it since I was a little girl. I have made it one of my missions in life to have Lucille Ball's legacy live on...in my students. In order to incorporate it into my class, I had to relate it to math in some form, and that is how an I Love Lucy worksheet came to be.

Students answer 8 multiple choice math questions related to our current topic (ours being surface area and volume ratios/changing dimensions). Each correct multiple choice answer ALSO answers a question about a certain episode of the show. See the image below, the I Love Lucy currently being done in my classroom at this very moment:

Now, here is the best part: I don't go over the answers when the students are done. Instead, we watch the episode that goes along with the worksheet and they check the answers based on what happens in the show. After the episode ends, we then go over correct answers and I go over any problems requested. My students are constantly asking for I Love Lucy worksheets, and believe it or not, they actually find a black and white television show funny!

There are a few caveats to this activity, however. I make SURE that each student shows work for each problem, or else they are NOT ALLOWED to watch the episode. I will not accept just circled answers. I also only do I Love Lucy worksheets once a month. It gives my students something to look forward to, but also I don't want to take too much time out of class to be watching something that could be deemed "not math-related" by some.

Click here for the entire worksheet!

Classroom Organization: Binders for unit storage? SOO last year!

Last week was our Spring Break. It was needed more than EVER this year, in my opinion! I went to NYC to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on Broadway. It was a great show, although Wicked will forever be my favorite!

Now, I'm back to the grindstone at school, which is always SO hard the week after a break...I know all teacher-folk will agree!

I am ALWAYS looking for classroom organization tips/tricks/ideas...do you guys use binders to store all of your unit notes, activities, etc? I used to...until I stumbled upon these babies: scrapbook cases!

I LOVE these guys! I used to love the heck out of my binders too, but I would occasionally forget an activity that I had for certain concepts, because some things just don't fit nicely into a binder (task cards, match-ups, etc). And some of those forgotten activities were great ones! These scrapbook cases work perfect for me. I keep all of my answer keys, bellworks, and activities all in one spot. PERFECTION! :)














Michael's had a great sale on the scrapbook cases a couple of weeks ago...3 for $10, so I grabbed some up and ran like a bandit to the checkout line before they realized the incredible deal they were offering!

Organization Tip: Tackling Student Absences!

Hi there!

I'm Michelle, a high school math teacher in Virginia! I have been teaching at my alma mater for 10 years, and I teach Algebra I, Algebra II, and Pre-Cal...but I would say my forte is definitely Geometry.

I've learned a lot of things over the past 10 years, but one of the most important things I have discovered is this: an organized classroom aids in producing successful students. I'm not naive enough to say that's the most important thing, or the only thing. All I'm saying is it helps myself and my students...A LOT!

I would like to share my absolute FAVORITE organization tip. It has saved me countless time AND keeps my students accountable. WIN-WIN!

Do you have trouble with keeping up with work for student absences? I would've said "I do", but since I have implemented this technique, I have had ZERO trouble. And, I mean it! I will warn you, that you have to work each day to implement it...but the end result is worth the while. Not to mention, after a few weeks, it will become second nature to you!

This is my absence station. This semester, as you may notice from the picture, I have Geometry and Pre-Cal classes. Each class has a corresponding calendar (graciously provided in mass quantities by our local Coca-Cola bottler at the beginning of the school year), and a corresponding 3-ring binder. A big one. BIG!

At the beginning of the semester, each binder is empty...with the exception of numbered, tabbed dividers-one for each day of my semester (90 to be exact). You can find them here, if you are interested!

Each day, I fill out a small Post-It note (small enough to fit on one of the days of the calendar) for each class. On DAY 1, the Post-It will say "DAY 1" and list all of the activities/homework that were assigned that day. I place the Post-It on the calendar day that DAY 1 fell on, then here is the BEST part: I put all of the extra notes/worksheets/papers/etc in the binder behind the "1" tabbed divider. I do this after school EVERY DAY, for each class that I teach. It may sound like a pain, but trust me, it will take you hardly any time to do.

 From the first day of class, my students are schooled (ha!) on the process. When they return from an absence, they don't even ask me for their make-up work. They visit the absence station, check the calendar, see everything they missed, then retrieve all of their work from the binder. Bonus: if a student loses a paper, they can visit the absence station as well to pick up an extra!

SO easy, and SO helpful for myself and for my students! Oh and another cool thing! At the end of the semester, you basically have completed for yourself a timeline/lesson planner that you can look back at from year-to-year. Again, a huge time-saver!