Reflecting Ordered Pairs Across the Axes: A Hands On Activity Using Mirrors

It has been a while since I have written a blog entry. (Snow days and state testing has backed a lot of my lesson planning up). I am very excited to write about a recent lesson that I completed with my students that involved reflecting across the x and y-axis.

In this lesson, students discovered the mathematical patterns behind reflecting ordered pairs and collections of ordered pairs across the x-axis and y-axis. The students used mirrors to help them see what was happening. It was a lot of fun watching them discover this and it was rewarding to even see my lower ability classes coming up with some amazing observations. (View the video to see this lesson in action.)

Students started out with a short video showing them how to use the mirrors to reflect across each axis.

 

 

 

Here are some glimpses of some of the notes sheets that were featured in the above video.

 

A similar lesson to this would not be difficult to create, however if you like what you see on this blog, the lesson is available at my TpT site and can be viewed here. Thank you for taking time to view this lesson, it was very fun to teach and the students got a very good understanding of it.



 

 

Using the Math Practice Flipbook to Write about Math Tasks

My students completed their Math Practice Flipbooks yesterday. Here are some images of them creating their flipbooks.





 

They used them today as a resource for writing the reasoning behind the math tasks they will be working on. I created a easy level task for students to begin using this resource and the kids did so well I decided to put this on my blog :o). I will also be putting some examples once I have finished grading them. The Flipbook Template and the math task below can be downloaded at http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Common-Core-Math-Practices-Flipbook

The students did a really nice job with this activity and came up with some really great answers. Here are some images of them working on this math task.

The students were able to use their Math Practice Flipbooks to help them write the reasoning behind these math tasks.

Megalodon Investigation: Work Samples

Student Work Samples: Megalodon Investigation

Even though this is a 6th Grade Unit, I had some time between State Testing and the students going on Spring Break, so I decided to try this investgation out with my 7th graders. They really did a good job so I decided to display a few of my Top Notch Groups' work with you. You can find this investigation in my Common Core Ratios and Proportions Unit or you can download just the Megalodon Investigation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 



Common Core Ratios Flipbook Was a Success

The Common Core Flipbook really worked to help demonstrate the concept of ratios. Here is a sample of one that as created today. It can be glued or stapled right in the students math notebooks or onto a cardstock piece of paper and hole punched to be kept in a math binder if this is what you have your students use for notes. I forsee this being an excellent resource for my students as we get closer to beginning our Ratio Unit.
You can find it here:
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Common-Core-Concept-of-Ratios-Flipbook