This post originally appeared on the blog Math in the Middle.
With the beginning of our geometry units in 6th grade math, it has been all about angles and triangles this past week! Thanks to some creative (and cheap!) angle ideas I found on social media, I was able to incorporate some new things in my classroom this year as we start geometry! First off, this fun idea to reinforce a basic understanding of angles! With some leftover fun tape from Office Depot, a little cardstock to write the angles, and about ten minutes, I made this fun entryway into the classroom. I can’t take credit for the idea, but am happy to share it! It definitely caught the students’ attention and had them thinking about different angles!
The second fun idea I found (again… can’t take credit for this one) I was able to use with my math intervention groups recently. After we had learned about different angle relationships (vertical angles, supplementary angles, and complementary angles), I covered our front dry-erase table with table at various angles. I then went through and measured the minimum number of angles they would need to be able to find all of the missing angles without a protractor. This turned out to be a great problem-solving challenge and really promoted teamwork and working together. I could also see this working out great as a math center during math workshop.
UPDATE: I recently added a full set of Angle Relationships Task Cards to my TpT store! It currently includes over 70 challenging angle problems and 4 different levels of difficulty!
With the start of geometry, I was also able to try out one of my newest units of Math Task Cards: Triangles, Quadrilaterals, and Transformations. I now have two sets of task cards up in my store. The first is a set of Math Task Cards, which are a little more basic problems. Then, for students that finish these quickly, I have them try the Math Enrichment Task Cards. Having these more challenging task cards makes it easy to push my higher students and keep them challenged! Here are a couple shots of the prep and final product of some of these task cards. I always print out six cards for each topic, which is what I need for my math workshop front table group. If I have time I corner round the corners and laminate to help them last!
Geometry has also allowed me to finally get to what is probably my favorite Challenge of the Week problem! I recently updated this freebie with five more questions that could be used, so be sure to re-download it if you have already grabbed this one from my store in the past!
So that’s what we have been up to in 6th grade math recently. I’d love to hear what you have all been working on in your classrooms! And how about some humor to get everyone on their way? Who knew that One Direction is now a swear word?
Middle School Math Man: Alex is a 6th and 8th grade math teacher, currently in his sixth year teaching in Wisconsin. He incorporates hands-on math activities into his math workshop classroom structure. He enjoys coaching high school baseball, as well as playing baseball on a local team during the summer. You can find many of his engaging math resources in his TpT store! You can also sign up for the Middle School Math Man’s weekly newsletter by clicking here.
