Menu
Northwest Mathematics Conference October 24-26, 2024 -
Whistler, BC
A collection of resources recommended by BCAMT Executive members to help your mathematics programs reflect the themes in the curriculum.
Competitions (AHSMC, EJHMC, AMC, BCSSMC) are fantastic resources for those teachers looking to enrich learning in their classroom. I include problems like these daily as non-curricular activities to remind students that they are responsible for engaging with unique problems they have not engaged with before and to encourage learners in their mathemagical journey!
Esti- Mysteries are a great routine, providing an engaging experience that promotes wonder, thinking and rich discussion. Ready to go PowerPoints take students through the process of estimating and revising as they are given new clues. The combination of visuals and grade appropriate clues that embed various number concepts (for example, factors, multiples, odd, even etc.) make this a great resource for K-12.
Geogebra is an interactive geometry platform with which students can define points, lines, circles, etc. in multiple ways resulting in dynamic geometry diagrams. These are great for exploring geometric properties or assessing student understanding of geometric concepts. Recently they have added the ability to graph functions and relations in the style of desmos.
While couched in a somewhat dated web template, the content of the Mathematics Assessment Resource Service is rich with progressive and innovative ideas regarding assessment. Of particular interest lies in the TRU link, drawing on five dimensions of powerful classrooms, two of which, agency and equity, are overlooked in our BC curriculum.
Mathigon is a mathematical playground designed with the intention of making mathematics more engaging and interactive. From a vast array of digital manipulatives to a range of activities connecting math to a variety of other areas, there is something to spark mathematical curiosity and connection for everyone.
Menu Math is a collection of lists of unordered lists of constraints that describe a variety of mathematical concepts. Students are asked to create as few objects as possible to match the given constraints, explain why certain constraints either cannot be matched or match well, and justify decisions that are made in the creation process. These tasks are excellent opportunities for students to play and engage with mathematical modeling, one of the K-12 curricular competencies.
Play With Your Math has a small collection of very high quality rich tasks for all grade levels. The problems that they’ve picked “require trying, struggling, failing, adjusting, and trying again until, finally, a discovery is made.” All of their tasks come in gorgeous printable poster or handout versions. Many of my favorite tasks have come from this collection.
The Regina Catholic School District has curated open-ended and rich mathematical tasks for a variety of sources on the web and linked them to the Western and Northern Canadian Protocol Curriculum (WNCP). Users can search by task or by WNCP outcome to find tasks to use in their classrooms.
While new learn-to-code initiatives come and go, Scratch remains one of the most kid-friendly resources for students to explore programming. Scratch’s kid-safe online community is full of inspiring projects which students can remix to make their own. Coding is done with a forgiving block-based interface where commands are dragged onto a canvas. For the middle school math classroom, Scratch provides a great playground to explore Cartesian coordinates, angles, symmetry, and more.
Visual patterns presents the first few figures of linear, quadratic, and other patterns (almost 500 available!) and asks students how many would be in Figure 43, an answer best determined by visualizing a pattern rule. Visual patterns helps to strengthen connections between representations and supports my belief that “Math is visual”
A collection of four items (images, letters, numbers, graphs etc.) invite the observer to decide Which One Doesn’t Belong (WODB). HINT: There are reasons (often multiple) why each image does not belong! I love these tasks because it gets students from K-12 (and beyond!) thinking, justifying, and communicating their mathematical reasoning.
Competitions (AHSMC, EJHMC, AMC, BCSSMC) are fantastic resources for those teachers looking to enrich learning in their classroom. I include problems like these daily as non-curricular activities to remind students that they are responsible for engaging with unique problems they have not engaged with before and to encourage learners in their mathemagical journey!
The Desmos Graphing Calculator is a great tool that allows students to explore ideas. By using tables, graphs and sliders, students can investigate concepts and make connections. To help with the exploration, teachers can provide links to ‘saved graphs’ that may include notes and questions.
Esti- Mysteries are a great routine, providing an engaging experience that promotes wonder, thinking and rich discussion. Ready to go PowerPoints take students through the process of estimating and revising as they are given new clues. The combination of visuals and grade appropriate clues that embed various number concepts (for example, factors, multiples, odd, even etc.) make this a great resource for K-12.
Geogebra is an interactive geometry platform with which students can define points, lines, circles, etc. in multiple ways resulting in dynamic geometry diagrams. These are great for exploring geometric properties or assessing student understanding of geometric concepts. Recently they have added the ability to graph functions and relations in the style of desmos.
While couched in a somewhat dated web template, the content of the Mathematics Assessment Resource Service is rich with progressive and innovative ideas regarding assessment. Of particular interest lies in the TRU link, drawing on five dimensions of powerful classrooms, two of which, agency and equity, are overlooked in our BC curriculum.
Mathigon is a mathematical playground designed with the intention of making mathematics more engaging and interactive. From a vast array of digital manipulatives to a range of activities connecting math to a variety of other areas, there is something to spark mathematical curiosity and connection for everyone.
Menu Math is a collection of lists of unordered lists of constraints that describe a variety of mathematical concepts. Students are asked to create as few objects as possible to match the given constraints, explain why certain constraints either cannot be matched or match well, and justify decisions that are made in the creation process. These tasks are excellent opportunities for students to play and engage with mathematical modeling, one of the K-12 curricular competencies.
The University of Cambridge’s (UK) NRICH website was developed to provide mathematical thinking problems, activities and games for students early years to 16+. Although professional development resources are for the UK, all are applicable to teachers around the world. It really is a one-stop resource for mathematical core and curricular competencies.
Play With Your Math has a small collection of very high quality rich tasks for all grade levels. The problems that they’ve picked “require trying, struggling, failing, adjusting, and trying again until, finally, a discovery is made.” All of their tasks come in gorgeous printable poster or handout versions. Many of my favorite tasks have come from this collection.
The Regina Catholic School District has curated open-ended and rich mathematical tasks for a variety of sources on the web and linked them to the Western and Northern Canadian Protocol Curriculum (WNCP). Users can search by task or by WNCP outcome to find tasks to use in their classrooms.
While new learn-to-code initiatives come and go, Scratch remains one of the most kid-friendly resources for students to explore programming. Scratch’s kid-safe online community is full of inspiring projects which students can remix to make their own. Coding is done with a forgiving block-based interface where commands are dragged onto a canvas. For the middle school math classroom, Scratch provides a great playground to explore Cartesian coordinates, angles, symmetry, and more.
Slow Reveal Graphs has a collection of graphs on varying topics with information that is slowly revealed as the class progresses through the downloadable slide deck. The hidden information, along with discussion prompts, helps students from K-12 build a stronger understanding of how to interpret data.
Steve Wyborney’s Splat! Interactive number sense strategy slides are a go-to for so many teachers. They can be used at any grade level to promote reasoning and discourse and to strengthen critical numeracy skills. Download the PPT and easily move through the slides with your students – no prep necessary.
Turner’s Graph of the Week invites students to analyze graphs relevant to current events and students’ real lives and write about the stories that they tell. Whereas many instructional routines address number sense, this resource develops students’ statistical sense.
Visual patterns presents the first few figures of linear, quadratic, and other patterns (almost 500 available!) and asks students how many would be in Figure 43, an answer best determined by visualizing a pattern rule. Visual patterns helps to strengthen connections between representations and supports my belief that “Math is visual”
A collection of four items (images, letters, numbers, graphs etc.) invite the observer to decide Which One Doesn’t Belong (WODB). HINT: There are reasons (often multiple) why each image does not belong! I love these tasks because it gets students from K-12 (and beyond!) thinking, justifying, and communicating their mathematical reasoning.
The BCAMT acknowledges that we are fortunate to be able to learn, live and grow on many First Peoples unceded territories.
The BCAMT is a Provincial Specialist Association of the BC Teachers’ Federation.