Summer is almost here. I can almost hear the children running home so excited for summer break. That is, until a mere two weeks later and boredom has set in. To get a head start on summer boredom, I scoured the internet looking for simple, no prep Summer STEM activities for middle school students. And I’m sharing my list with you! Not just that, but I am also giving you a quick run down of what the activity involves and some ideas on how to change the activity when you don’t have a classroom. I am actually looking forward to when they announce their boredom this summer so I can try these sneaky summer learning ideas!

*Please note: this post contains affiliate links which help support this site. Read our full disclosure here.*

*This is a guest post from Danielle of Blessedly Busy

Summer STEM Activities to Keep Them Learning

These fun ideas, projects, and STEM challenges are sure to keep your kids busy learning and problem solving over the summer. Plus, they don’t require a lot of prep from you!

Bottle Flipping Math Challenge:

Aside from learning what bottle flipping is (apparently it’s a thing), this activity from Create, Dream Explore requires very little effort on your part.

All you need is a water bottle and a willing participant. Ask them to predict how many tries it will take and then see!

Do it again, and again, and again, as many times as they are willing. Graph your results. This would be really great when they have all their friends over and are driving you crazy

Scaling Up Candy Wrappers:

If you are looking for a ridiculously simple idea that will last for many days, then Fast Times of a Middle School Math Teacher has your number. Plus, you get an excuse to eat candy. You can’t go wrong.

The Million Dollar Project:

From the 4mula Fun website:

Congratulations! You have been given $1,000,000. As a part of this inheritance, you have been given guidelines to follow for how to spend it. Make sure the follow the guidelines to the letter so you don’t hurt Grandma Irene’s feelings.

Who doesn’t dream about what they would do with a million dollars? The set up at 4mula Fun will not only get kids thinking creatively but critically as well.

Graphing Pictures & Characters:

What middle schooler doesn’t need some extra practice with plotting points on the coordinate plane? And even better, they’re find a hidden picture when they finish graphing! Of course, don’t tell them what they’re graphing. Hand them the instructions and say, “I wonder how much of this you will have to graph before you figure out what it is?”

Find a variety of graphs and hidden pictures on this page from Super Teacher Worksheets.

Equation Memory Game:

A simple memory game. All you have to do is print. I’m sure your middle school student can handle cutting everything out This is a great way to easily practice solving linear equations.

(Note, the “addition” equations are free, but there are other memory games available as well!)

Visit Middle School Math Man for the free download.

Play Skunk:

It only takes one time to explain how this game works and you can play it again many times throughout the summer.

Find detailed instructions, along with an online game board here.

Play a Math Card Game:

Heidi from Starts at Eight shares 4 games middle school students can play using just a deck of playing cards. All of the games require two or more players.

Find more fun math card games here.

Dream Vacation:

Use this online webquest for detailed instructions and guidelines. Students create a dream vacation…on a budget.

This might be a helpful boredom buster while you travel to your actual vacation.

What’s for Lunch? Real Life Math Lesson:

Not sure what to feed these hungry kids that are suddenly home? Have them make their own menu plan!

Once they’ve created a menu plan, grab the free printable activity here. This is a great real-life math lesson.

Design a Board Game:

“Research” games before having students design their own. Every time they play a game ask them to analyze it. What parts did they like, or not?

Then introduce the idea of designing their own game. If you would like a bit more instructions, there is a detailed lesson plan at STEM Learning.

Learn to Code:

Finally, if your kids are interested in coding, why not try a subscription to Bitsbox? They’ll learn to code apps using actual javascript. This keeps my kids busy for hours!

Sign up for a subscription to Bitsbox here!

Create Your Own STEM Challenge!

Not sure any of these ideas will work for you? That’s ok! Think outside the box to plan your own ideas based on YOUR kids interests and ages.

>Learn how to plan an engaging STEM lesson HERE | FREE Planning Pages available

>Grab FREE Reflection Pages to use with any STEM activity HERE

What Are Your Plans for Boredom Busting This Summer?

That’s the end of my list. Now it’s your turn!

Share in the comments your ideas for Summer STEM Activities or boredom busters. Looking forward to reading the comments!

Danielle is a homeschooling mamma of 5.  She is committed to making life with young children easier and sharing her passion for math.  If you would like to learn more about teaching math to multiple age groups visit Blessedly Busy or follow her on:  Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, or Twitter.

The post Awesome Summer STEM Activities for Middle School appeared first on Math Geek Mama.

*Please Note: This post contains affiliate links which help support the work of this site. Read our full disclosure policy here.*

Combining Technology and Probability

Today I want to share some ways you can use a graphing calculator to analyze data and investigate probability.

Probability can very quickly become overly abstract, causing kids to struggle to make sense of it. Using technology, however, we can help them “see” probability concepts by simulating experiments, or by letting a calculator calculate or graph the results.

This will help students better grasp the difficult abstract principles of probability and statistics, and give them a chance to think through implications on their own.

Probability Experiment with Dice

In this free lesson, students are exploring the chances of rolling a certain number on a single die. You may want to begin by having a discussion about it, asking what number they think will come up most frequently, and how they suggest testing their hypothesis.

Then students can complete the investigation. They will need a 6-sided die to roll 60 times and then record their results in the table.

I like to use giant foam dice like these, but that’s totally optional.

They then use a graphing calculator to find mean, standard deviation, median, quartiles and range for their data. (Hints are given for how to easily do this with a calculator).

They will also use their calculator to graph the data different ways and analyze the results.

Finally, they will use their calculator to simulate rolling a die, and compare those results to their initial data set.

This is such an interesting investigation, and provides lots of opportunities for math discussions! If students are completing this in groups, you can also compare the data of the different groups to the calculator-simulated results.

Probability Lesson Extensions

A great follow-up activity would be to predict probability for each number when rolling two dice. How do the chances of each number change? You could even use this same set of questions to analyze and compare the probabilities of the numbers 1-12.

{Click HERE to go to my shop and grab the FREE Probability Experiment Handout!}

And don’t miss the rest of the Math+Technology Series:

• Integer Multiplication Patterns with a Calculator
• Exploring Systems of Equations with a Graphing Calculator
• Data Analysis Lesson and Project
• Estimating Area of Circles Investigation

Or if you’d like receive this entire series in your inbox (along with a BONUS lesson), sign up right here!

**Psst! This lesson is a sample from my Graphing Calculator Activities: Probability collection. See the complete collection of lessons here.**

The post Fun Probability Experiment with Dice {FREE} appeared first on Math Geek Mama.

*Please Note: This post contains affiliate links which help support the work of this site. Read our full disclosure policy here.*

Using Technology to Aid in Data Analysis

Just because students need to know how to analyze and draw conclusions from sets of data, doesn’t mean they need to do every calculation by hand.

Depending on the data, they can use graphing calculators to plot the information on a graph. This allow them to better visualize what’s happening.

Using a calculator can also be helpful in making calculations and comparisons with the data. This shifts the emphasis to what the data says, rather than on the calculations themselves.

It can also be helpful to use a calculator to find measures of center (mean, median and mode) or compare data from one set to another.

This will give students a clearer picture of what the data is telling them, allowing them to form reasonable conclusions. They can then make better decisions based on the data and their conclusions.

Data Analysis Worksheet and Project

Today’s lesson includes some fascinating data about shoplifting trends and thoughts for kids to consider. They will use the data to answer questions based on the information given.

Students then solve related problems, reviewing skills involving percents and money.

There are a variety of skills necessary to complete this assignment, making it a great opportunity to apply what they know to a real world situation. Plus, they’ll review concepts (especially involving percents) that they may have forgotten.

Finally, this data analysis exploration includes a simple data analysis project, which students could complete for homework. In it, they gather their own sample data and compare it to the data they were given.

I hope this provides a fun and interesting data analysis exploration for your students!

{Click HERE to go to my shop and grab the FREE data analysis lesson!}

**Psst! This lesson is a sample from my ebook, Graphing Calculator Activities: Data Analysis. If you like this lesson, check out the complete resource.

Don’t miss the rest of this Math+Technology Series:

• Exploring Integer Multiplication with a Graphing Calculator
• Understanding Systems of Equations Using a Calculator
• Fun Probability Exploration with Dice
• Understanding the Area of Circles

**Want to receive this entire series right in your inbox (including a BONUS lesson)? Sign up right here! It’s free!**

The post Analyzing Data Worksheet for Middle and High School appeared first on Math Geek Mama.

*Please Note: This post was sponsored by Candlewick Press, and they provided the books for me to use and compensated me for my time. Read our full disclosure here.*

Why Fairy Tale STEM?

As I mentioned, I love combining math with literature. So when I was thinking about what books to try and how I could group them together, I decided on Fairy Tales.

I enjoy classic Fairy Tale stories, but I especially love fun and unique twists on a classic tale.

So I feel like combining STEM challenges with known stories adds a whole new element of fun and interest.

Plus, a couple of the books I’ll share are not your typical Fairy Tale, but really engaging stories using Fairy Tale characters.

So I hope you will check out this collection of books from Candlewick Press, as well as exploring the classic Fairy Tales a little deeper with the free Fairy Tale STEM download at the end of this post.

Fairy Tale STEM Building Challenges:

First I’m going to share 3 STEM building challenges that we did together based on 3 of the books we read.

Build the 3 Little Pigs’ Houses:

The first story we read together is Fairy Tales for Mr. Barker.

This story tells of Lucy, who tries to read a story to her dog, Mr. Barker. When he doesn’t listen and instead runs off, she follows him and they make their way through several classic Fairy Tale scenes.

At one point, they end up in the 3 Little Pig’s straw house.

So we based this challenge on the 3 Little Pigs. I had my kids work on 3 different challenges: building a house out of straw (plastic or paper straws), sticks (toothpicks and marshmallows) and bricks (LEGO bricks).

We then compared the structures to see what was the strongest, which they could knock over, etc. They especially loved trying to “blow them down.” Ha!

They loved this challenge and loved helping each other come up with ways to make them stand or hold together better. And they decided that the “stick” houses were the least sturdy!

Rescuing Rapunzel:

The next story we read is called The Fairy Tale Handbook. This is a very engaging, interactive book with lots of lift-the-flaps and pop-ups.

The kids have loved going back to this again and again to learn new secrets about Fairy Tale characters or find a new flap they didn’t see before.

One page of the handbook gives a glimpse into the lives of Fairy Tale princesses, including Rapunzel.

Though her hair was long and strong enough for the witch and prince to climb up, we decided to create an alternative for her: a slide!

The challenge is to build a slide out of toilet paper rolls to help Rapunzel escape the tower.

By far the best part of this challenge was testing it out! We found several different dolls to slide down it, as well as some balls and marbles.

We then talked about how to make the slide stronger or faster (by making it steeper).

Build a Bed for Baby Bear:

The next book we read has been my favorite: Goldilocks and Just One Bear.

I won’t spoil the story for you, but I will say it is an adorable twist on the classic Goldilocks story. I also loved the illustrations and the attention to humorous details that I don’t think my kids got, but I enjoyed.

For this challenge, I gathered a variety of materials from the dollar store and let my kids decide what they wanted to use.

The challenge is to build a strong, new bed for baby bear. I set out cupcake liners, paper, card stock, aluminum foil, bubble wrap, tape and scissors and they could use whatever they liked.

After they had each designed a bed, we piled pennies on top of each to see which could hold the most pennies before collapsing or ripping.

They then discussed why some materials held more than others, and how they could make it stronger.

Some changes they made to make them stronger was using multiple cupcake liners for the base, adding more tape to secure it better and turning the cupcake liners upside down.

My youngest placed a handful of liners upside down under the center of her bed to provide more stability and it helped strengthen it quite a bit.

Shapes, Counting and Fractions:

The next book we read was a fun adaptation of Cinderella. My kids loved this one because the illustrations reminded them of a Super Why story.

Design Cinderella’s Castle:

For this story, we pulled out the pattern blocks to review shapes, composing and decomposing shapes as well as counting and skip counting.

I’ve done this before when my oldest was in Kindergarten, and it was a hit, so I updated the page to go along with this set of Fairy Tale STEM challenges (in the download below).

I suggest laminating this building mat so that your kids can write the totals in dry erase marker and complete it again and again with different designs.

There are lots of other discussions you can have once your kids have built a castle and counted the total of each shape.

For instance, how many blocks did you use altogether? How many rhombuses did you use (large and small)?

How many more squares did you use than triangles? How do you know?

Did you use an even number of blocks or odd?

Plus, if you have older kids, there’s another building mat in the download that focuses on fractions, rather than counting.

So instead of writing they used 6 hexagons, they have to find what fraction of the whole 6 hexagons is.

Mapping Skills and Coordinates:

To finish our unit of Fairy Tale STEM challenges, I introduced mapping skills and finding coordinates with The Once Upon a Time Map Book.

I think this was my kids’ favorite out of our Fairy Tale collection. It’s an oversized book, with beautifully illustrated maps of Fairy Tale lands.

The book itself includes directions on each map to find your way through to either a special location, or to find some hidden treasure using the coordinates.

But I also created a “search and find” page for each map so my kids could have a place to record where items and characters are found. (Answer keys are also included)

These maps create a grid with A-E and 1-5 to list locations within the map. This is a great introduction to the coordinate plane and reading and writing coordinates.

My kids now understand that you have to list a horizontal and vertical direction to pinpoint a square in the map.

I hope this post has given you lots of fun ideas to incorporate math and engineering challenges into your Fairy Tales. And I hope you’re excited to go check out some of these unique books from Candlewick Press!

All of the handouts, as well as a materials list are included in the download. You can grab it free in my shop by clicking the link below!

{Click HERE to go to my shop and grab the FREE Fairy Tale STEM Challenges!}

Want to see more fun and engaging collections from Candlewick Press? Check out these:

• SPARKS for New readers
• Judy Moody and Stink
• Read and Wonder (Science readers)
• Brand New Readers (early readers)
• Candlewick Biographies

If you’re interested in the Fairy Tale books, these collections, or any other Candlewick books, use the code: CANDLEWICK at checkout to save 25%!

Have fun exploring math and Fairy Tales!

The post Fairy Tale STEM: Literature Based Math and Engineering appeared first on Math Geek Mama.

Even if you are not having your daily lessons together, you can still take advantage of the many benefits of working together on family math projects.

This is a guest post from Danielle at Blessedly Busy!

Benefits of Using a Math Project

As a middle school teacher, I used math projects about once a month.  Now that I homeschool, I use them with my children.  Here are the top 5 benefits I have found using math projects with my children.

1. It’s a Great Alternative to Testing

My kids abhor writing.  And they are perfectionists.  Testing is not something we do often.  But it’s nice to see how much they have learned.

I use math projects as a sneaky way to find out what my kids have learned at the end of a unit.

The math project at the end of my free Area and Perimeter Hands-on, Multi-sensory, Multi-age, unit is to build a Lego house with certain restrictions.  If they can complete the project, I know they understand area and perimeter.

2. Everyone Has the Chance to Work Together

One of my favorite things about homeschooling is watching my kids help each other.

With a family math project, everyone is given the same assignment and asked to work to the best of their ability.  Because they are all working on the same assignment, they are able to help each other when one of them gets stuck or challenge each other to improve.

Some of the things I have heard from my little math students include, “How did you figure out how many bricks you needed?” or “How did you do that so fast”, or a personal favorite, “Are you sure that’s your best work?”

3. The Prep Work is Minimal

The whole point of a family math project is to give your kids a chance to solve a big problem together.  So, once you decide what big project you are going to do, the rest is up to them.  It’s their responsibility to find supplies and organize their ideas.  Younger children will be overseen by older children.

If all you have is younger children, then you would pick a project that they could organize without much help.

Once you’ve found your project, your job is to explain the project and let them go.

In my house, I decide how many days we have to work on the problem and what time of day.  My oldest is 9, so we don’t do any really intense projects.  Our projects take about 2-3 days and I allot 1 hour a day to it.

If I experience resistance,  I set a timer.  Knowing that math will end in 15 minutes helps my kids focus, even when they don’t want to.

Now that the planning is done, my job is to encourage their discussion and keep them on task.

4. It’s a Chance to Make Math Real

The best projects are real life applications of math concepts.

I will give you one example of a big family math project that uses multiple math concepts.

Math project:  Host a dinner party for under $20

Math concepts:  Money, addition and subtraction, comparing prices and a whole bunch of other things depending on how they solve the project

Some questions they might need to address:

•     How many people should we invite?
•     How many foods (dishes) should we prepare?
•     What is the cost of each dish?
•     Do we have enough money?

5. You Can Connect to Other Subjects

One of the best parts of using a family project is the ability to add other subjects.  In the example above, students could also:

•     Handwrite the invitations
•     Memorize and recite poetry for entertainment
•     Make place setting cards
•     Decorate the house
•     Clean the house!

What Do You Think?

Are you ready to try a family math project?  What’s standing in your way?

Danielle is a homeschooling mamma of 5.  She is committed to making life with young children easier and sharing her passion for math.  If you would like to learn more about teaching math to multiple age groups visit Blessedly Busy or follow her on:  Facebook,  Instagram,  Pinterest,  or Twitter.

The post 5 Benefits of Family Math Projects appeared first on Math Geek Mama.

What’s Included in Algebra Essentials:

This resource bundle covers a variety of topics that tend to trip kids up when solving more difficult Algebra problems. This includes:

• Integer operations
• Absolute value
• Absolute value equations and inequalities
• Exponents and exponent properties
• Order of Operations
• The distributive property
• Algebra vocabulary
• Expressions
• Linear equations

Inquiry based lessons:

Many of the lessons in this bundle are inquiry based lessons. This means that rather than telling students rules or properties and showing examples and then asking them to copy you, students work through investigations applying what they already know in order to learn something new.

The goal with these lessons is that students discover and observe Algebra properties by working through problems.

After introducing concepts in this way, the teacher can then discuss the concepts further and ask probing questions to check for understanding.

Then, students can begin to apply what they’ve learned to solving problems and practicing their skills.

It has been my experience that introducing concepts in this way provides a richer learning experience for students and a more solid understanding. And this deep understanding is essential if they are to succeed in higher level math.

Want to learn more about inquiry based learning? Check out this article from Math Giraffe, and feel free to sign up for a free sample of this resource bundle below to take a look at some of the inquiry based lessons I’ve created.

Challenge Mazes: More fun than a worksheet!

After introducing concepts, it will still be essential that your kids practice these skills. So also included are challenge mazes!

This idea is not new to me (I first saw these), but I thought it was so much more fun than a simple worksheet, I created my own to go along with the topics included in this bundle.

Extensive final project:

And finally, this bundle includes a super fun cumulative project.

This project is designed to encourage problem solving and real world application.

The objective is for students to design their own amusement park that is profitable, with the calculations to prove it.

Through this project, students will learn about costs, revenue and profit, as well as applying their knowledge of linear equations to real life.

The structure of the project:

• Student planning pages which they can use to make choices about what to include in their park and work out calculations
• Final park report where they explain the details of their park and show that it would be a profitable business venture
• Discussion questions which allow students the chance to dig deeper into the math they’ve done, analyze graphs and explain the meaning of the equations used in the project

Also included are teaching tips for you, a project overview page for your students, and sample grading rubrics which you can use or tweak to meet your needs.

And of course, I’ve also included an answer key for the discussion questions to help you as you grade and then discuss the projects together as a class.

Because I think this will be so fun and motivating for your students, I don’t want anyone to miss out.

So if you are interested in the project (but not the rest of the bundle) you can purchase this separately. Just click the graphic below.

{Purchase the Amusement Park Project!}

Though the math involved in this project is not especially difficult, the object is for students to see the big picture, learn a little about business, and come to a deeper understanding of linear equations by seeing them in a real world context.

You can use this in a Pre-Algebra class as an end of the year project if you have completed a study of linear equations. Or it would be great to use in an Algebra 1 class to help motivate kids and see math in real life.

Plus, how fun is it to dream about designing and planning your very own amusement park!

Here’s an overview of what’s included in this bundle:

Ready to purchase the entire bundle? Simply click the graphic below to get all the lessons, challenge mazes, amusement park project and answer keys!

{Purchase the complete Algebra Essentials Bundle!}

I hope you find these resources to be a great addition to your Algebra curriculum, and a fun and easy way to encourage deeper mathematical thinking and problem solving in your students!

Want to try a FREE sample of this resource bundle? No problem! Enter your name and email below and a sample pdf will be sent straight to your inbox.

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Math stories are such a fun way to engage kids in math learning, as well as help them see math in the world around them. Stories can make math come alive and get kids excited! One of my favorite (and highly engaging) stories is Math Curse by Jon Sciezka. This hilarious tale can be enjoyed by kids of all ages. To help you incorporate this into your math curriculum, I’ve created this Math Curse Activity Pack!

*Please Note: This post includes affiliate links which support the work of this site. Read our full disclosure here.*

Explore Math in Real Life with Math Curse:

This is such a fun book, and I love reading it with upper elementary kids all the way through middle school! (And actually, I have used it with 9th graders as well!)

To encourage and help you incorporate great books into math class, I am putting together lessons, activities and projects to go along with some of my favorite books. Today I’m sharing extension lessons to use along with the book “Math Curse.”

Math Curse by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith

Math Curse is the story of one student who is under a math curse when his teacher says,

“You know, you can think of almost everything as a math problem.”

From then on, he sees math in everything he does!

Included in the Math Curse Activity Pack:

I wanted this to be used with as many kids as possible, so there are a couple different things included in this packet. For younger kids, there is a page with some of the math problems encountered in the story for students to solve (as well as an answer key).

There is also a worksheet that walks students through writing their own story problem. This is a simple way to help kids create their own “math curse” problem.

If you have older students, you can take it a step further and help them write their own math curse story. A student guide and rubric is included, as well as some teaching tips with ideas for how to use this project.

It also includes a story plan that students can use to jot down their ideas and come up with an outline for their story!

{Click HERE to go to my shop and download the Math Curse Activity Pack}

I hope you find these resources helpful, and you enjoy reading Math Curse, and exploring math in the world around us!

The post Math Curse Extension Activities! {FREE!} appeared first on Math Geek Mama.

One of the best ways to really learn something so that it sticks with you is to teach it to someone else.  Giving students a project that gets them thinking through a mathematical process and allows them to express their creative side is always a win-win! The following example involves solving quadratic equations.  A skill in Algebra that, while important, can very easily become boring and meaningless.  And while I believe it is always helpful for students to have multiple options and methods to use for solving problems, I have seen that it can become easy for them to confuse and mix together different strategies.

This project attempts to help students look at multiple approaches to solving quadratic equations, helping them to study for a test, better understand what all the pieces are and how they fit together, as well as internalize the information by learning it well enough to explain to someone else.

I used the R.A.F.T approach, which stands for Role, Audience, Format, Topic. This is a quick and helpful way to bring focus to a project on virtually any topic.  This specific project uses the role of Mathematician (the student), an audience of Algebra students, a “How To” book as the format and (obviously) quadratic equations as the topic of interest.  The object, then, of your students is to design a clear and concise “how to” book of explanations for solving quadratic equations. Even though I usually only taught 2 or 3 methods for solving during our classroom instruction, I required students to include 4 or 5 methods in their booklet. This required them to do some research on their own, and compare other methods to what they already knew.

Included in the download below are some tips for using this in your class, an explanation handout for your students and a sample grading rubric.  If you prefer different requirements, feel free to use your own rubric, or you can use the one I have included.

And remember, the R.A.F.T. model is easily adapted to use with other topics or formats, so if you would like your students to explore some other math topic in greater depth, simply create your own! Or, give them a few different formats to choose from (just be sure to give clear guidelines for your expectations for each).

Click the link below to access the quadratic equations project guide!

Quadratic Equations Project

Happy teaching!

~Math Geek Mama

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