Secondary Math FREE Online Resources!

FIVE by FIVE to Bookmark!

Do you sometimes fall down the rabbit hole of the Internet looking for that one "perfect" illustration/exercise/lesson idea to ensure student success??  I know I have on more occasions than I care to count!

My hope is to offer ideas for places to go online for ideas ... to save you time, and to provide strong mathematically engaging lessons!  Check these out ...

ONE: Free Online Interactivities
Why explore these?  Use an interactivity to help students visualize the topic in math.  Use it as a differentiation tool to meet diverse learning needs.  Use it as an introductory exploration tool before teaching the skill of the day.  Use it to spark interest in math.

-- Utah 7 - 12 Student Interactives
-- Math Interactives - Learn Alberta
-- NRich Topics in Secondary Math
-- PhET Interactive Simulations
-- Wolfram Demonstrations Project


TWO:  Free Online Virtual Filing Cabinets
Many teachers have collected favorite activities and ideas together in virtual filing cabinets.  Check out these particular cabinets ... maybe one of these will be a go-to collection!  (There are so many others ... too many to list!)

-- Sam Shah's Virtual Filing Cabinet
-- Mr. Orr's Collection
-- Sandra Miller's Live Binder - so many ideas!
-- KFouss ... Precalculus;   Algebra 2;  Algebra 1
-- Algebra's Friend Virtual Filing Cabinets... Algebra 1;  Algebra 2


THREE:  3-Act Math Tasks
It could be that someone has already designed a 3-act math task perfect for the topic or skill coming up next week ...

-- D. Meyer:  A Collection by Dan Meyer
-- A. Stadel:  Andrew Stadel 3-Act Math Tasks
-- D. Ehlert:  When Math Happens Collection
-- G. Fletchy:  Mostly Elementary Collection
-- Multiple Authors:  Tasks Collected by Kyle Pearce


FOUR:  Ready-Made Sites for Mathematical Thinking
These sites make perfect daily warm-ups to ignite mathematical thinking!

--  Which One Doesn't Belong
--  Estimation 180;  Between Two Numbers
--  Visual Patterns
--  Math Talks;  Fraction Talks
--  Always, Sometimes, Never


FIVE: Collections of Desmos Activities!
Copy to your own Desmos account and modify as needed!

-- Desmos Bank of activities
-- Desmos  File Cabinet
-- Desmos collected activities
-- Engaging Math Desmos Activities
-- Math Cathy's collection of Desmos Activities


When all else fails ... search math blogs for your topic!   You'll be amazed at what is available!!
MTBoS Search Engine

#MTBoSBlaugust: Filing Cabinets and Lists ...

I'm updating my online Filing Cabinets and various lists!

Check out the Algebra 2 Filing Cabinet ...
I'm checking for broken links this week and adding a few ideas from past experiences.

Check out the Algebra 1 Filing Cabinet ...
I'm checking for broken links there as well and will add a few more ideas soon!

I also keep a running list of "super sites" that have been created by math teachers.  These sites make great warm-up activities and more!

On Pinterest, I have a list of good books for math teachers to read!  I use Pinterest because "seeing" the book makes a difference!  Yes, we judge books by their covers!

How do you organize the great resources you use in your classroom?

#70Days Clouds, Colors, and Filing Cabinets!

We had a hard rain last night - always a good thing in Texas - except for the flooding that it brings.  The drought here is severe!

The rain left this morning but the clouds did not.  It's been a gray summer day ... most unusual.  And for much of the day I was not motivated to leave the couch at all!  

I spent the morning surfing Pinterest ... looking at all of the classroom decor and organization tips.  I collected a few ideas here.  After a while I was intrigued enough to run over to Hancock Fabrics to see what I could find.  This fabric was half price, still not cheap enough, but it will be the cover for the back of my desk and the piece that pulls together the blues, greens, yellows, and coral in the classroom.  Think "oasis"!

Besides surfing Pinterest, I worked on my Algebra 2 Virtual Filing Cabinet.  I love the filing cabinets that others have .. you can find a great list on Julie's site here.

My Filing Cabinet is set up to reflect the units of instruction we have in our Texas Algebra 2 curriculum.  There are a couple of typical algebra 2 topics that we don't teach - sequences/series is one of those.  In my cabinet I have mostly the problem solving activities and labs that I want to remember.  We use Kuta software for the typical naked problem practice so I don't put those in the cabinet.

If you have ideas for my filing cabinet I would love to hear from you!

Mission #6: My Response - Yes! and No!

In Mission #6 in the Explore MTBoS series, the question asked caught my attention ... is this too much of a good thing?  My answer ... YES!!! and NO!!!  I find myself caught up in the web called the MTBoS!  

Honestly ... there is a part of me that preferred just hooking up in the MSSunFun and the Made4Math  weekly postings.  Any other ideas I needed I caught through my feedly blog list.

I love reading about the lessons everyone is teaching.  I love the sharing of ideas.  

The Twittering is really a lot ... I can't keep up with that although I do enjoy checking in daily to see what is being discussed.  A couple of times this week I thought about letting that account go ... but then I wanted to tweet to ask for ideas!  It's easier to get responses from tweets than in blogs!  I wish that were not so ...

The weekly "chats" and the Global Math meetings are awesome ... but really ... I have to have time to get other things done!  So I usually choose to catch the recordings ... that way I can listen/read to as much or as little as I need.

So yes ... it is too much of a good thing ... and no ... I need it all!  So I'm learning to let go of keeping up with every idea ... and instead, listening in, asking for help with my specific topics. 

But organizing the ideas ... that's a tough one.  I'm trying two methods ...

During the summer when I had a little more time than I do now, I blogged a "round-up" series where I made note of the cool ideas I was finding online (1, 2, 3, 4, 5).  Just this weekend I went back through those blogs and found one idea I need in my next unit plan.  So finding a way to keep track of all the good ideas is essential!

I have a virtual filing cabinet - multiple drawers - A1, A2, Great math sites!!  I taught Algebra 1 last year; I organized a list of links for that course based on our curriculum.  This year I'm teaching Algebra 2.  As I finish a unit I am going back through to note the links that helped.  I do have a tendency to save too many links ... only because when I teach one or both of these again I may need slightly different materials.  I am a hoarder of ideas!  I like the filing cabinet method the best for organizing.

I hope others will talk about their organizational methods ... love to learn new tricks!

Virtual Filing Cabinet ...

After reading the many ideas that Julie mentioned in her blog - topics for middle and high school teachers to share, I decided to create a Virtual Filing Cabinet of resources that fit our Texas Algebra 1 curriculum.  Eventually I want to tackle more areas of math ... and cross coordinate with the Common Core State Standards (which TX did not adopt).

Please take a moment to check out my Virtual Filing Cabinet.  I would love, love, love for you to share your favorite resources so that I can post those as well!