Technology and Resources we will use throughout the year!
During our last unit, students categorized different triangles and calculated supplementary angles. Everyone in 6th grade knew what a triangle was, but they probably see triangles much more often than they realize. In photography (and theater… and art…) triangles are used ALL of the time. Straight lines are visually boring. If you have ever been in a musical theater chorus or play, you have probably heard your director scream, “You’re in a line!”. Which is fine for “A Chorus Line”… but not great for most plays and musicals.
Every student has had their photo taken and probably had a family photo taken at some point in their lives. I pulled some of my photos from the past 2 years and had students look at them. Really look at them. And see if they could find the triangles. I did this on the Smart board, but you could post them in Google Classroom as well.
Second, after receiving feedback on some of the photos, I asked the students what they thought the most important part of a a portrait is. Eventually one student says “the eyes.” From there, we could make many MORE triangles and using the eyes as our vertices create many important triangles that lay the foundation for much of portrait photography.
I have included the originals and drew triangles on the second set. I used my tablet to save time which is why the lines are not perfectly straight…. but you and the students will get the idea!
Here is the Link to Folder of All Photographs
I didn’t draw triangles on the one below because it is pretty obvious 🙂
Link to Folder of All Photographs
Note: All photographs are subject to copyright.
Happy Pi Day!!! So this was my FIRST Pi day with students as in past years we were usually on Spring Break. But I can tell you it was EPIC!! I hope this will inspire you to plan your own Pi Day!
If you want to get kids excited, you need engagement. I ran Pi Day two different ways at two different schools. Here are all of the details and resources!
Two Months before Pi Day, the math teacher and I announced our first annual “Pi Bee”. The person to memorize and recite the most digits of Pi accurately would win a prize.
One Month before Pi Day, I asked local pizza places for donations for the big event. Mod Pizza in Wentzville donated $25 in gift cards for the winners.
I confirmed where we could hold the pi day in the school building and the time.
Two weeks before Pi day, I collected Pie Face games from parents and staff. I purchased a white crazy scientist wig and lab coat from Amazon. I plan to use them in my STEM Camp this summer as well, so I think it was a worthwhile investment. The wig was surprisingly good for the price however it is on the small side. The coat is a normal fit – so if you are normally a medium then get that size.
I also had parents sign up to bring in whipped cream, plates and gummy bears. We had extra gummy bears and will use them throughout the year. I asked a couple of parents to help set up as well. This was a big help at the beginning and end of the event.
I asked the art teacher if I could borrow a class set of markers or colored pencils.
I purchased and collected and copied additional materials for Pi Day. I had decorations and activities from last year. This year I added on a few more stations.
I printed and laminated Pi Day Decorations in preparation for the big day. These are my favorite – and FREE!
I collected string, rulers, cans, tubes, yogurt cups and anything else round for Pi Investigation Station. I would advise NOT using paper with circles drawn on them. It is very difficult and cumbersome. It is simpler to keep your toilet paper tubes!
I asked any staff members free during first hour to come and join the pi day fun. They would also get their faces full of pie 🙂
Activities I used included:
Pi Day Art Poster – this station has the students coloring different posters which will form one large poster.
Pi Bee Certificate and Stations – This set included a pi bee certificate which I gave to each of the winners. I work at two different schools, so I had two 1st place winners. There are activities I used as well.
Pi Day Word Station – I included various word searches that I found online.
More Pi Day Actvities for Stations:
No Prep Pi Day Activities: Includes another word search
Graphing and Coloring: includes a bar graph activity and art activity
Poster: Free poster
Pi Day Extensions:
For my gifted education class, I used a Pi Day breakout where the students had to solve puzzles and use pi to figure out the locks. All of the materials are in the shared folder here.
The Day is Here!!!
Pi Day finally had arrived! Here is how our day went so you can have your own pi day too!
That was it! We all had a blast – now go start planning for Pi Day!
I am so blessed that we teach ratios in the Fall! Halloween and the day after Halloween are a cheap and easy way to obtain candy to turn into ratios and proportions. Towards the end of our unit, students were given an assignment in Google classroom. The only trees harmed in the activity were the ones that were under the skittles to use as “plates”.
Skittles Lesson: Students will write the colors as a proportional relationship and solve proportions using multiple strategies including cross products.
Skittles Lab Activity – Original
Copy of Skittles Lab – Adapted
As our “Fun Friday,” students logged into Google Classroom and I previewed the activity. It includes creating a pie chart. You need to go to “insert”, “Chart” and then “pie.” The students would not see the “Create in Sheets” in the lower lefthand corner, so I showed them a few times on the Smartboard.