Ilana Cyna

05
Sep
2021

Inspiration from the Twitterverse…my favourite bookmarks from August 2021.

I have finally made it to real time and cleared most of my bookmarks from the last year. Here are my favourites from August 2021.

Susan Carriker shared links to geometry tasks and activities, again sorted by concept.

Transum tweeted that the Boxed in Fractions game can now be played independently.

Richard Perring shared an article that includes Tokyo Olympics statistics. I am thinking about how I could use these leading up to the Beijing Olympics.

Anne Agostinelli shared a Google Doc with “resources to spark mathematical discussions”. I already have most of these links bookmarked, but there are few new ones for me to add to the repertoire.

Howie Hua made a Google Doc adaptation of the Got It! Game.

Sarah Carter tweeted about the Crazy Eights puzzle. I just tried it and got 1-6 easily. It took a few more minutes to get 8, but I will need a little more time for 7!

She also shared this Fitting Shapes puzzle.

Eda Aydemir shared a Bingo game on Polypad.

Nate Madick has organized activities from Brilliant by concept.

https://twitter.com/MadickNate/status/1425196653972135938

Jo Morgan has another blog post full of gems.

https://twitter.com/mathsjem/status/1429360992895520772

This is a good addition to my list of NRICH interactive games. What is the least number of reveals required to solve the board? Also check out the follow up game.

And Jason Murphy put one of the many NRICH puzzles on Polypad.

Professor Smudge posed this challenge:

And for some science….

I like this version of the Periodic Table that shows the history of discovery of each element.

Nikki Wilkinson shared a digital Physical and Chemical Changes lab.

Bethany Saunders shared her States of Matter handout that she uses with one of the PhET Sims.

That is all for now. Have a great week!

Posted by Ilana Cyna
30
Aug
2021

Inspiration from the Twitterverse…my favourite bookmarks from July 2021.

I don’t seem to have as many bookmarks for July…probably because I spent the month reading novels!

Michael Jacobs shared some integer war games on Polypad.

Kareem Carr shared a Crack the Password puzzle. I did these a lot last year. I also had my students make their own and their peers tried to solve them.

Here is another one from World of Engineering.

I liked these thoughts about the Toad and Frog game. Here is an online version if you want to play.

Have some fun with Möbius strips. You can also check out this story from Vi Hart…all created on a Möbius strip.

This Escape from the Castle looks interesting. I may turn it into a digital escape room.

And I also like this puzzle from Cliff Pickover.

Susan Carriker generously shared her links to math tasks and activities, sorted by curriculum concept.

https://twitter.com/gautiersue/status/1421629894153416709

Nicola Whiston tweeted a link to her Knowledge Organizers.

https://twitter.com/whisto_maths/status/1421568455279534084

And for some science….

What happens when you dissolve the metal on the outside of a pop can?

https://twitter.com/UniverCurious/status/1419677354805403648

What an amazing ability to camouflage!

I love these compostable bags.

https://twitter.com/TechAmazing/status/1412498048752750593

Let’s end with some fun.

Posted by Ilana Cyna
29
Aug
2021

Inspiration from the Twitterverse…my favourite bookmarks from June 2021.

I have reached June….getting excited to approach real time.

Leslie Lewis tweeted about ways to use board games in data lessons.

Kimiko Shibata shared collections of game boards in Google Slides.

https://twitter.com/ESL_fairy/status/1400988267382726656

James Tanton presents a Pythagorean Puzzler.

Little Miss Maths asked the MTBoS community for game suggestions. One of the replies talked about the Lobster Game (otherwise known as Enterprise), which Craig Barton reviewed. This led me to another wormhole of exploration on Mr Barton Maths Blog, where he reviewed his favourite games on tes. I think I lost 1-2 hours exploring his tes reviews, but found some fabulous resources.

Need some math jokes and puns?

This probability question from Shuchita Amilah is a good conversation starter.

https://twitter.com/MissAmilahS/status/1404918351890157581

Jo Morgan shared one of Dan Draper’s probability resources.

I like this integer Yohaku puzzle.

David Morse updated his Maths4Everyone website.

This task for measures of central tendency was shared. Click here for more resources from Miss Konstantine.

This looks like an interesting new website to explore.

Traci Jackson tweeted about this puzzle…read the stream to find a Polypad version.

Margie Pearse shared nRICH Math’s Dicey Area game…but as a Google Doc.

DCDSB Math shared some of their problems of the week, created on Polypad.

JoAnne Sandford shared a probability activity.

Duane Habecker tweeted about one of his GeoGebra puzzles.

Adrienne Burns tweeted about the game Proof. You can play the digital version here.

And another website to explore.

And a final video that is a little mesmerizing to watch.

Posted by Ilana Cyna
20
Aug
2021

Inspiration from the Twitterverse…my favourite bookmarks from May 2021.

May is here (or was!).

@GiftedTawk asked about a What is This? puzzle. I didn’t even know this was a hashtag! A new Twitter wormhole for me to get lost in….sigh.

I like this virtual Tug of War template created by Esther Park.

Read through this thread to pick up some good ideas for teaching financial literacy. I especially like the addition from Pixi Maths on how she adapted The Game of Life.

This SlidesMania template looks like fun for review games.

Amie showed this problem that her students were tackling. I am thinking how I can turn this into a flow sequence, as per @pgliljedahl’s chapter 10 of #buildingthinkingclassrooms.

https://twitter.com/alcmaths/status/1390368559398785028

I like this prime factor question from Miss Konstantine.

Fawn Nguyen shared an envelope puzzle (although I will need to recreate it with the Canadian loonie!).

And JoAnne Sandford shared Fawn Nguyen’s Chewable Math site for some real life proportional reasoning questions.

DaNel Hogan reminded me of some of the wonderful interactive resources on The Concord Consortium.

David Butler designed some stick figure health data cards. I can think of so many ways to use them in a data unit. David Petro has suggested some possible uses, and has also created a summary doc with all of the data. You can find that here.

A linear functions menu task was shared (created by Amie Albrecht). The original can be found here. I recently had a chance to listen to Nat Banting explain his menu math structure and I am excited to try it out next year.

PixiMaths shared some activities that cross over with science.

I like this logical thinking game from Ms. Messineo.

Kiran Bacche tweeted about the Sliding Rooks math game on DHiMath. There are also many others to explore.

Eric Curts tweeted about four interactive simulations to conceptualize the respective size of items in the universe.

https://twitter.com/ericcurts/status/1389998160928518147

Chris Smith shared this neat data activity.

Em Bell shared this volume ratio puzzle. There are many other puzzles on her website.

And just for fun….go play some Boggle with your students with Jennifer Casa-Todd’s template or check out Matt Coaty’s Desmos Mastermind task.

Posted by Ilana Cyna
17
Aug
2021

Inspiration from the Twitterverse…clearing the spring backlog…April 2021.

As the summer winds down, I long for the beginning of spring again….

Here are my favourite bookmarks from April.

 

Mr. Knowles shared some good sequence activities.

Christian Lawson-Perfect made a WODB tool creator. I can see myself using it in both math and science.

And these WODB questions are a fun idea for the new Ontario Mathematics Curriculum coding requirements.

I like this Would You Rather idea for conversions (but in my world it would be metric conversions!).

Puzzle a Day shared a difficult track puzzle.

Matt Miller shared his page of virtual field trips.

https://twitter.com/jmattmiller/status/1374734157843202048

Tim Brzezinski has more GeoGebra offerings – this time for proportional relationships.

And while thinking about proportional relationships, Jeff Holcomb shared one of his Desmos creations for ratios.

Erkal created a digital version of Martin Gardner’s Red-Faced Cube. If you get too frustrated, you can find the answer on this page.

https://twitter.com/AzizErkalSelman/status/1380925092822183937

Allison Krasnow was excited about finding a Meet the Mathematician website where you can watch video interviews of mathematicians from different backgrounds.

Victor Minkov asked about resources for metric conversions, especially with square and cube units. Read the thread to get some good ideas for using 2D shapes and 3D figures to help with this concept.

Transum tweeted about the Groups of Four puzzle.

Click below to read about Nat Banting’s Bucket of Zero integer model.

https://twitter.com/NatBanting/status/1383425435338346498

And finally, Will M Dunn tweeted about the Pirates and the Diamond problem and Traci Jackson tweeted about the Tax Man problem, both of which can be found on @pgliljedahl’s website (just a few of the many great resources that can be found there).

Posted by Ilana Cyna
12
Aug
2021

Inspiration from the Twitterverse…still clearing the backlog…March 2021

Getting closer to real time….

Fawn Nguyen showed a visual pattern with a negative slope. You can also find it on her amazing Visual Patterns website.

Battleship anyone? Adam Gesjorskyj shared a version created on GeoGebra.

Gareth Evans shared a few activities for laws of exponents.

Allison Krasnow tweeted about online versions of Genius Square (I must admit, I have not yet played…but I will). The Mathigon version is especially eye appealing. I added the instructions in for my students.

Amanda Austin tweeted about some new additions to her resource site, draustinmaths.com. There are so many great resources on her site.

Margie Pearse shared this resource loaded Google Doc.

John Golden shared a huge list of Desmos collections.

Ben Sinclair shared a new unit to his Knowledge Booklet Google Drive folder.

March’s science links include this levitating bird (I will ask my students to figure out what is going on) and a new podcast to try out.

And for fun, Tech Burrito showed these adorable paper folding critters and Alex Bellos shared a fun illusion.

Posted by Ilana Cyna
09
Aug
2021

Inspiration from the Twitterverse (clearing the backlog)…February 2021.

On to clearing bookmarks from another month….

@ATM Mathematics tweeted about Algeburble, a collection of pre-algebra tasks. This reminded me about Algebradabra, a collection of algebra tasks which I like. You can read about those tasks here.

Paul Anderson shared some new lessons on conceptual thinking on his blog. If you haven’t checked out his Bozeman Science videos, you can find them here.

Dr. Alec Couros shared a game. Make sure you have some time to waste before clicking….

Phil Rhodes shared more updates of his self-marking Google Sheets.

Jo Morgan added another post to her fabulous Resourceaholic blog. She writes about the wonderful resources that she has come across in her Gems posts, but there are a plethora of resources to be found on her blog. She has also written a great book titled, “A Compendium of Mathematical Methods”.

https://twitter.com/mathsjem/status/1358364359974662145

John Golden shared a version of the Shut the Box game that he created on Geogebra.

Tim Brzezinski tweeted about moveable protractors and rulers for Desmos.

https://twitter.com/TimBrzezinski/status/1360241727001538566

Tick Tock Maths shared a completing the square activity, but be sure to check out the other resources on the blog.

Dan Shuster tweeted about the some of the high school Open Middle problems that he transferred to Google Slides. He shared a link to all of the Open Middle problems he has transferred, thus far.

Jennifer White created a Desmos activity using Jarrett Lerner’s fabulous activity sheets. Go through the thread to find the Desmos link.

DCDSB Math shared their problems of the week. There are some good puzzles and problems they share on their feed if you have some time to scroll through.

Dr. Tom Gernon tweeted about Joshua Tauberer’s Iceberger website where you can draw an iceberg. Then read Vincent Pantaloni’s drawing challenges.

https://twitter.com/TMGernon/status/1363150664206057472

https://twitter.com/panlepan/status/1363623399994580992

Then there is the great Sarah Carter….so generous…so much to share. Go read her blog. Enough said.

And of course, to end with some science….Interesting Engineering shared a neat video with laminar flow in action and @WeirdPhysics showed the effect of pressure on fluids.

https://twitter.com/IntEngineering/status/1358181174812827648

https://twitter.com/WElRDPHYSICS/status/1360195873494425602

Posted by Ilana Cyna
07
Aug
2021

Inspiration from the Twitterverse (clearing the backlog)…a new year…January 2021.

And so began 2021.

Chris Bolognese tweeted about ideas for playful debates in class. Go through the thread for some fun ideas. I pulled about one hundred topics off of this list and am now thinking of ideas for how I could use this in my homeroom/advisory class.

Susan Carriker showed this open middle GeoGebra activity that challenges students to find as many ways as possible to create a linear function.

https://twitter.com/gautiersue/status/1350243951408766977

Cathy Yenca shared a great collection of Desmos Check-In Activities (there are a few puzzles and games mixed in, as well).

Joyful Mathematics shared some Nim games created on Google Jamboard. The link can be found as a link on the website.

Chris McGrane shared newly developed curriculum booklets which can be found on the Starting Points blog.

Tim Brzezinski shared a list of Open Middle problems created on GeoGebra.

A few fun optical illusions were shared by Abakcus and Evan Kirstel.

https://twitter.com/abakcus/status/1354173562299539464

https://twitter.com/EvanKirstel/status/1353903839766847490

Amber Cook shared a Google Doc list of Anti-Racist Math Education resources.

NRICH Maths shared case studies of real world case studies where mathematics is integral.

Dr Julie Kallio shared OK Go’s website where they have created lesson plans to go along with their music videos. If you have not checked out any of their videos yet, do yourself a favour and go watch.

Andrew Busch asked the MTBoS community for any Math Assessment Project lessons that had been put into Desmos, and of course Fawn Nguyen responded by sharing her list. Read the thread to find her Desmos link.

And to end with some science, yet again, Ward’s science shared some fun Periodic Table activities.

Posted by Ilana Cyna
04
Aug
2021

Inspiration from the Twitterverse (clearing the backlog)…October, November, and December 2020!

Continuing the journey of clearing my bookmarks, I am now on to October, November, and December of 2020 (apparently I did not bookmark as much near the end of the year!).

To start off, @sdemichele shared a digital 4 corners template. I was hoping not to need it this year, but with the in-class distancing requirements just announced in Ontario, perhaps this will come in handy after all.

Henri Picciotto shared some virtual manipulatives that he created. If you haven’t checked out his website, then take a few minutes to explore. Scroll down to the Selected Start Pages to start your journey.

@christa_krohn reminded everyone that there is a problem-based lesson search engine on Robert Kaplinsky’s amazing site. Enter a topic in the search bar and it will search through a number of other amazing websites for tasks that fit your needs.

@JDHamkins shares the Gold Coin Game as discussed in his book, Proof and the Art of Mathematics. It looks good for my first week activities this year.

@dhabecker shows everyone how to personalize a whiteboard template in Geogebra.

In this video linked above, he refers to a previous video where he showed how to take an existing whiteboard template and turn it into a class activity. You can watch that video here:

@PuzzleADayBlog shares some math rebus puzzles from mathjokes4mathyfolks. Scroll through the thread to find the answers.

Sara VanDerWerf updated her blog with links to various digital versions of her amazing 5×5 game. Do yourself a favour and check them out.

Dan Finkel reminded me to go take a look the Puzzle Calendar section on the Mathigon website….go check them out, and then you can get lost in all of their other resources!

Kristen Fouss tweeted about Julie Reulbach’s One Sheets for review. A friend of mine does something similar. I think it is time for me to try it out.

And to end with a little bit of science, I love this video from @tedgioia about how sound can create order out of chaos, and Wonder of Science shows a great video of the Mimosa pudica plant that closes its leaves to defend against predators.

Posted by Ilana Cyna
30
Jul
2021

Inspiration from the Twitterverse (clearing the backlog)…first up…September 2020!

One of my goals this summer was to try to clear some of my Twitter bookmarks, which go back to September 2020 (I am eagerly awaiting Twitter to come out with folders for better organization!). As I try to clear some of these bookmarks, I will share some of the ones that I found most interesting, beginning with those from September.

The first entry is from @Errs5, and he shared an open middle fraction division problem.

It looks like a good challenge, and so I have added it to my open middle saved problems. I am trying to build up my own open middle stack resource that aligns to my curriculum.

Then came a post from @wonderofscience on Theo Jansen’s Strandbeests. I had seen these years ago, but I am still mesmerized every time I watch the video.

His ‘beests” are created using plastic tubing and are energized through the wind. You can check out his website here.

I had saved a few tweets from Henk Reuling. I like this online matching applet, but be sure to check out all of his applets and activities (most open in English).

I had also bookmarked this post from @mathslinks, about Wheel of Names, a random generator. You can enter the names of each student in the class for random picking, and as a bonus…you can save your classes! I used it quite often last year and the students seemed to like it, as well.

@MrNiksMathClass posted an interesting unit rate problem regarding the cost of paper towel.

@howie_hua posted about the less known strategy of dividing across fractions (gasp!).

If you want more of his awesomeness, check out his Tik Tok Math videos.

Shelby Strong (@Sneffleupagus) posted a link to a short movie titled, “A Boy and his Atom”. This is an IBM created stop motion movie made from…atoms. Her idea to tie it to scientific notation is great (but I will admit, something I forgot about when teaching it last year…better luck next year!).

@benjamindickman reminded me about the great Play with Your Math games and puzzles and shared an online version of Space Race created by the designer of Play with Your Math, @joeykelly89

If you need a hit of math jokes, then check this @GiftedTawk stream.

@amyjhuckaby reminded me about Joseph’s Machines. I have shown some of his Rube Goldberg machines in my science class.

And for a somber end to this post, @ProfMarkMaslin tells the world that there are more Lego mini-people than real humans in this world….all made of single use plastic.

Posted by Ilana Cyna