Somewhere on the MTBoS someone Mr. Stadel mentioned how his students had never done Tangrams, and needed work on manipulating shapes and areas. So he introduced
Tangram Tuesday. I thought it would be great for my Geometry class, as would help build their visual and spatial reasoning. Yesterday was our inaugural Tangram Tuesday. Only two or three of the kids had ever played with Tangrams. The rest were clueless. They seemed a little unsure at first, but after about 10 minutes when I said I we were going to move on and I was going to show them the solution page, they all moaned and complained. I was very surprised! Some of the kids seemed frustrated, but by the end of the time, they wanted to keep working. I can't wait for next Tangram Tuesday! Here are some of their creations - some of them were solutions to problems I gave and some of them the students made up on their own.
Great job Emily! When they moan and complain about moving on, wanting more time with the tangrams, you know you have a keeper. Here's my initial post you were referring to at the beginning of your post. I can't wait to start up my Tangram Tuesdays soon.
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Thanks for pointing that out, Andrew. I read so much on the MTBoS that I can't keep track of where things come from. BTW, I use your Estimation 180 in my middle school math class, and it's GREAT as an opener. It gets kids started doing something as soon as they come into class, creates a little competition, and improves number sense. I spend minimal time on it right now, but I love that there's room to do lots more with it.
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