Mini Lesson: Transformations in Geometry

I am excited to share one of my first mini lessons with you!  This is an on going series and I'll be covering reading and math.  In each mini lesson, you'll typically find a link or two to another blogger and free worksheets or references from Teachers Pay Teachers. 

Mini Lesson:  Transformations in Geometry

This mini lesson really would be stretched out over two to three sessions with your tutoring student.  If you only see your student once a week, then this mini lesson may not be for you.  Begin with some manipulative work by making moving pieces on the coordinate plane.  Jen Runde from Runde's Room does a fantastic math journal  about this. 

Practice Slide:

Draw out a shape on some cardstock or a file folder (for durability). Mark the vertices with letters.  I used my dirt cheap graphing board.  I marked all four quadrants.  Now you can practice!  Pull out a deck of playing cards.  Remove the Kings, Queens, Jacks, 10, 9, 8, 7, and 6.  Ace will be the same as one.  Basically, numbers 1-5.  Red will be negative numbers and black will be positive.  Write down the location of the vertices.  Place the shape at the orgin (0,0).

Flip over two cards.  The first one is the x and the second is the y in the order pair (x,y).

Practice sliding until you go through the deck of cards.

Practice Rotation:

Practice rotating the same shape or a different shape.  Make sure the vertices are marked.  Begin out doing 90 degree rotations around vertice A.  Place the shape at any coordinate you choose.  For my picture, I chose (2,5).  Use a pencil to rotate.  Have your student write down the new coordinates.  You can continue practice rotating by 180, 270, and 360.

Practice Reflections:

Use one of your shapes to practice reflections over the x and y axis.  Have student mark down original position on coordinate plane.  I chose (-3, 2) for my picture.  After you flip the shape, have student trace around it with the dry erase marker.  Write down the new position.

Need More Practice?

Krystal Mills over at Lessons from the Middle has an amazing free resource that answers the questions, "When am I ever going to use this?"  In this freebie you'll learn how to animate a shape the student creates.  It comes with a little video to show you a finished product too.

How do you teach transformations?

Plans for Summer Learning

My Plans for Summer Learning:

I thought I would give you a little peek into what we are going to do this summer to keep our brains sharp.  Each day, my boys will need to do two chore sticks, two school sticks, read for 30 minutes, and practice piano.  We'll do these things in the morning and then go out during the afternoon to a park or swimming pool.

If I get complaints about doing a school stick (although I highly doubt I will, but better to be prepared) my boys will then have the option of doing my Playing Cards Math Mats.  These are super easy to print out and gather supplies for.  There are mats for younger grades and older grades. 

Adapt for a Tutoring Student:

The great thing about all of these resources is that I can easily adapt them for a math tutoring student.  They are all very simple and quick to put together.  I would pull out my school sticks and begin a session with the math sticks.  Then I would probably do a Playing Card Math Mat, and finish up with a little worksheet with a more focused topic.

Don't even get me started with a reading student!  So much learning to be done this summer.  We will definitely be avoiding the summer slide around here.  What are your plans for the summer?  If you haven't made plans yet, I have some suggestions I would like to share with you.

Make Summer Plans for Learning:

Last week, I did a guest post for Laura Candler about using School Sticks to keep your child smart this summer.  I shared two weeks of School Sticks for free, but I've also made school sticks for PK-K, 1-2, and 3-6.  I thought you may want to hear about them because they are so much fun!

In each set you will find two weeks worth of free School Sticks on my freebies page, but you can also buy enough for the summer on my blog shop page.  However, I didn't do a whole summers worth for PK-K because they don't need as much.  They really just need time to play, pretend, read, and be with their family.

I've got an entire page dedicated to Summer Helps.  On there you'll find a longer description about my School Sticks, videos about card games, and links to great places for reading lists and websites for learning.  There's a button to take you there on the right side of my blog.

Another great resource for summer learning comes from Teachers Notebook.  They are sponsoring a site where amazing teacher authors are putting some of their best free resources up for you to download and use with your kids.  They are calling it Avoid the Summer Slide.  You can visit the page by clicking the button on the right side of my blog.

Freebies for Tutors

Have you gone and visited Classroom Freebies and Classroom Freebies Too yet?  I have them listed on the side of my blog because they are amazing resources for tutors.  Everything listed there is free and does not require a membership to get the item!  You can search by grade which is super helpful.

Today, I went and visited both sites.  I decided to just hunt under grades 6-8.  I found fun file folder games and task cards from Rachel Lynette, a game based on Monopoly called School-opoly from Heidi Raki, and Maniac Mondays with even more freebies.

I quickly hopped over to Classroom Freebies Too because there are different authors over there and checked out the same group to see what I can find.  I am loving the Area Matching game from the Enlightened Elephant.  Then I found this lovely set of posters about Mean, Median, and Mode from HoJo.  These posters would be an awesome item to have on hand.  I am thinking a whole set of definitions in a binder would be a sweet addition to a tutors shelf of resources.  To top if off, I found a super fun activity to wrap up a measurement study with from Making it as a Middle School Teacher.  All you need is her worksheet and a tape measure. 

Any time you are in a rush to get some items together for tutoring, think about Classroom Freebies and Classroom Freebies Too.  Always free and super fun!

Guest Post at Corkboard Connections

Hey Everyone! Today, I have the honor of guest blogging over at Corkboard Connections for the very talented Laura Candler. She has some of the most amazing resources and freebies galore over there. My topic will surely help you this summer keep your child's mind sharp. You don't want to miss it!

LEGO Math Ideas Part 5

If you missed my fantastic DIY and introduction to LEGO Math Ideas, read more about it here.

Geometry

LEGO bricks are a tangible way to introduce volume.  Common Core Standard 5.MD wants students to find the volume of a shape using V=l X w X h.

Pull out your LEGO bricks and begin with a 1 by 1.  Write down the formula for finding volume.  Ask your student if they know the volume of this brick, using a 1 by 1 as our measurement.  V=1 X 1 X 1.  It's one.

Use different LEGO bricks of varying heights and thickness and practice finding it's volume.  What happens if you use a very skinny LEGO piece where it's height is about 1/3 the size?  Talk about using .33 in the formula.  Note how the number changes.

Let student build a shape and then find it's volume.  They most likely would need to build it and then label how many chunks they can break it into and find the volume of those pieces, then finish by adding all of those volumes together.

Update!  Here are the direct links to all 5 parts of this series:

LEGO 1      LEGO 2     LEGO 3     LEGO 4     LEGO 5

I hope you've enjoyed some of my LEGO Math Ideas.  If you have any other great ideas and would like to share them with me, please do so in the comments area!  I would love to hear what other ways you can use LEGO bricks.

Disclaimer:  All rights reserved by LEGO and company.  LEGO has in no way endorsed or approved these five posts.  LEGO is not affiliated with The Tutor House.  Please visit http://www.lego.com/.

LEGO Math Ideas Part 4

If you missed my fantastic DIY and introduction to LEGO Math Ideas, read more about it here.

Patterns

There are so many ways you can use these bricks to make a pattern.  Start out using a 1 by 1 and then add a 1 by 2 next to it, then a 1 by 3 and so forth.  When you've run out of room on the LEGO plate, ask the child if they notice any patterns happening.

This is working with Common Core Standard 4.0A.  Students need to generate and analyze patterns.  When you are working with the LEGO bricks, have the student identify the given rule "adding two each time".   

Make a color pattern using AB patterns to begin with and then getting more complex.  You could add in color and numerical pattern.  Like red 2 by 2 then a green 2 by 2, red 2 by 6, green 2 by 6.

Do you see my pattern?

Have your student make their own pattern and see if you can figure out what pattern they are making.

Update!  Here are the direct links to all 5 parts of this series:

LEGO 1      LEGO 2     LEGO 3     LEGO 4     LEGO 5

LEGO Math Ideas Part 3

If you missed my fantastic DIY and introduction to LEGO Math Ideas, read more about it here.

Fractions

The studs on a LEGO brick lend themselves to fractions.  Students are now expected to use partitioning to model fractions.  Common Core Standard 3.NF states that students must understand part and whole a/b where a is a part and b is the whole.  You can use a LEGO brick to introduce partitioning.

Pull out some LEGO bricks that you would like to use.  You know your students and their abilities by now.  Using a 1 by 4, have a student fold a piece of paper into four equal parts.  Talk about the studs on the brick and how it can represent one part of the brick. Tell the student the the 1 by 4 represents a whole number.  Now use some 1 by1's or 1 by 2's to make another length of the same distance of the 1 by 4.  The different colors on this length represent the fraction one half or two fourths. 

Write the parts (fractions) on the stips
Color them using same color as Lego

Practice coloring in different fractions on the paper and pointing them out on the brick itself.  It's helpful if you write the fraction directly on the paper in each partitioned section.  Then add the fraction together.  The blue part is one fourth plus one fourth which equals two fourths OR one half.

You can also stack LEGO bricks and ask the student to break them into halves, thirds, fourths, eighths, etc.

On a dry erase board, write down a fraction and ask the student to use the LEGO bricks to represent that fraction.  The student then can break the towers.

Update!  Here are the direct links to all 5 parts of this series:

LEGO 1      LEGO 2     LEGO 3     LEGO 4     LEGO 5

LEGO Math Ideas Part 2

If you missed my fantastic DIY and introduction to LEGO Math Ideas, read more about it here.

LEGO bricks are so much fun!  There are several ways to play with them and integrate them into a math lesson.  My freebie LEGO Ratio's also shows you how simple it can be to teach or practice doing ratio's with these little plastic bits.

These toys easily translate into math work for students.  In fact, LEGO has an entire site dedicated to educators.  There are all kinds of kits to look at too!  Little Brick School House has an amazing site full of math ideas for LEGO too.

You don't have to use the LEGO tote that I created.  It just makes working with the LEGO bricks more fun and interesting.  It will feel like you are building (super fun) and learning about math at the same time. 

Multiplication

Use LEGO bricks to teach multiplication!  Common Core Standard 3.0A talks about interpreting products using area models.  With LEGO bricks this is fun and easy to introduce.

Start out by introducing your student to some LEGO terminology.  Explain that the knobs on top are called "studs".  Pull out a 1 by 1 or a 1 by 2 and tell them it's name.  Ask them if they know what 1 times 2 is.  Why would LEGO name this piece a 1 by 2?  Could they have called it a 2 by 1?  Play a little game you could call, Name the Brick.  The student would then tell the name and also tell you how many studs it has.

Pull out the other LEGO pieces and see if the student can name them.  1 by 4, 1 by 6, 1 by 8, etc.  After they do that, ask them the product of each piece.  "What's one times four?"

Now move into putting pieces side by side.  If you place a 1 by 4 next to another 1 by 4, how many studs would you have?  The student can count them or multiply them.  Encourage them to use their words to describe what's happening.  Practice doing this with other sizes as well.  Do the Name the Brick game again.

Keep adding similar pieces and make a bigger number.  Ask them if they notice any numerical patterns. 

As students get comfortable with this kind of thinking, start making area models on paper to connect the Lego into a format their teacher is requiring them to know.

Update!  Here are the direct links to all 5 parts of this series:

LEGO 1      LEGO 2     LEGO 3     LEGO 4     LEGO 5

LEGO Math Ideas Part 1

My family adores LEGO bricks and most of my students enjoy them too.  They can be a powerful learning tool as well.  This is going to be a 5 part post about using LEGO bricks to teach math concepts.

This first post will be a DIY of how to make a travel size container of LEGO pieces to keep your tutoring space tidy and easy to take with you.  I was inspired by Grace over at Finley and Oliver.  She made a travel size tote for her kids Lego pieces.

The version I came up with is slightly different.  Instead of finding an amazing sliding top box like she did, I visited my favorite store-Target!

I  found a small plastic box with flip tabs on the sides.  About $2.99.

Next, I went and got Command double sided refills.  I wanted the ability to take off the LEGO plates if I didn't want to use them this way anymore.

Then I rummaged through my boys LEGO collection looking for the right pieces.  If you don't have LEGO pieces laying around, spend some time at second hand stores or visit garage sales.  I usually have success in those places.  If you have the means to buy what you want, you can go directly to the LEGO shop and buy just the right pieces.

Take the Command refill strips and peel off the backing.  Place it on the plastic lid.  Use several to keep the height of the LEGO plate even.  Then attach the Lego plate.
 

The Results!

You'll need the following pieces to teach math lessons:

Flat LEGO Plates-find a size that fits on the lid

1 by 1
1 by 2
1 by 4
1 by 6
1 by 8
1 by 10



If possible try to get the same measurements in 2 wide.  Not sure what I mean?  Look at this picture below.  Any other pieces that you think will help your lessons.

The knobs on a LEGO brick are called a stud.  This is a 2 X 3 brick.  It's two studs wide and three studs long.

It's also fun to include a few LEGO Mini-figures and unconventional pieces and allow your student a few minutes to create something with the LEGO pieces.

All of my posts will cover basic math operations and I will include Common Core Standards with each idea. 

Update!  Here are the direct links to all 5 parts of this series:

LEGO 1      LEGO 2     LEGO 3     LEGO 4     LEGO 5

Summer Bucket List

I love summer! I can't wait for my boys to get out of school. I think I am counting down the days and watching the clock more closely than they are! There are so many things I want to do this summer, but I tried to keep my bucket list short. After looking at everyone's summer bucket list, there were for sure things I wanted to add. But I've got to keep it simple.

Thanks to all the ladies for coming up with such a fun link up. A nice change of pace to say the least! Thanks Hadar, April, and Teri!

1) Redo my office. These book holders must be part of the plan. DIY and picture courtesy of I Heart Organizing. 

2)  Repaint our interior doors. Blah-so much work! Picture and DIY courtesy of Jack Pauhl. 

3)  Take my boys on an adventure once a week! Some where in the state of Idaho (and with in a days reach!) 

4)  Swim!  Sometimes it doesn't warm up enough to swim in Idaho until late June.  Then you have at least two months of swimming.  We've got to get it in this summer.

5)  Do at least 10 Steve Spangler science experiments with my boys. 

 6)  NAP Blog Play. Enjoy Summer.

Playing Cards Math Mats

I adore using playing cards for math purposes.  While I am tutoring, they are quick and easy to pull out.  Heidi Raki of Raki's Resources and I teamed up to make over 26 playing mats.  You can use them in tutoring, math centers, or individual work.

The best part is they are FREE!  We covered primary grades and intermediate grades, this allows you to get a little taste of all of them.  I know I'll be making more of these for 6th grade math, prealgebra, and algebra.  Possibly even geometry-that one would be a little more tricky.

Drag and drop this freebie to the shopping bag and check out!

Playing Card Math Mats

$0.00

If you would like to see my video about this awesome freebie.  Check it out and you'll see an intermediate grade sheet.  Multiplying fractions by a whole number.

End of Year Pre-Algebra

There have been a few times that a student will be getting ready for their pre-algebra final and get no help from their teachers as to what will be on that test. A few years ago, I ended up making my own multiple choice test for an overview of pre-algebra. I thought I would share with you.

It has topics in it like ratios, proportions, fractions, probability, stem and leaf plots, area and perimeter, and much more. There are 39 multiple choice tests. In the choices, I would do one correct answer and then some of the other answers I would solve it with common mistakes students make like forgetting to change the sign of the inequality when it's multiplied by a negative.

Get a free copy of my overview of pre-alebra by clicking on the image of it below. It will open in Google Docs and you can save it from there. If you find any errors, please let me know. I've checked it through, but there are times when a calculation gets past me.

As I tutor my student through this test, we talk about strategies to get through the test quicker. I teach them to look over all the answers and estimate what they think the answer would be. They can then cross out which ones they know it couldn't be. I train them to solve the problems backwards if they are unsure where to start. For example, the student could take the answers and plug them into the equation to see if they work.

These are just a few of the ideas I have for teaching test prep for a multiple choice test. What ideas do you have?

Teachers Pay Teachers Teacher Appreciation Sale

I am so thankful for teachers!  We are on the edge of a radical change in how we teach and collaborate one with another.  I am thankful that Teachers Pay Teachers is part of that!  They are throwing a huge promotion where they tack on 10% off extra of what I did.  You can get any of my products at 28% off their total price.
This includes my lovely Brain Tower!  It's only going to be $13.40 when you buy it through my sister store Kids Cog Works over at Teachers Pay Teachers.  Shipping is still free!  Everything else in my store over there is on sale too.  Go check it out!  You need the PROMO CODE at checkout to get these special deals.

Teacher Appreciation Jackpot

Teacher Appreciation Jackpot has ended.  Thank you for coming by and if you missed it, chances are-those products are on sale this week.  My Middle Grades Math Bundle is on sale at 28% off of 5.00.  That's a great deal.  Don't forget you have to enter the code TAD12 to get this deal at Teachers Pay Teachers.

I will leave the link up down here below for a few more days and then I will be removing it.  These are talented bloggers who you should consider following.
I gave away my newest product called Middle Grades Math Bundle.  I put together three file folder games with graphics that are middle schooler approved!  It also comes with two integer game cards to play with.  The best thing about these file folder games is you can put any set of cards you want with them.  I have several free ones in my shops with plans to add much  more.  Click on the image below to take you to Teachers pay Teachers and add it to your cart.  Enjoy!

Middle Grades Math Bundle

I hosted this amazing event with two ladies that I really admire.  Go check out their blogs and tell them hello!  They bring fantastic ideas each week to their blogs.

PK-2  April McNair at A Modern Teacher
3-6  Laura Candler at Corkboard Connections

These are the bloggers who participated in this giveaway.  Go check out their TpT stores and see if they are having a sale-betcha they are.  Thanks again!