Geometry Fun & Math-a-Thon

Have no fear, I'm baaaaaack! Go ahead, admit it! You missed me! You know you did. ;) 

We are down to the final 2 and a half days of school where I teach. It's amazing how quickly the school year goes by. Normally, I would be ecstatic that the year is over; however, this is going to be a bittersweet year-end for me. I will not be returning to the district where I currently teach because I am taking a position somewhere else. I am very excited at the new possibilities and opportunities, but I am going to miss the friends and co-workers I've been with over the last 5 years. 

Alas, I digress... the title, after all, is about geometry and our Math-a-Thon! So let's get this road on the show!

If you're looking for a highly-engaging geometry lessons, then grab yourselves some toothpicks and marshmallows to make geometric solids! The marshmallows served as our vertices and the toothpicks were used to make our edges. We, then, talked about how we need edges & vertices to make our faces for geometric solids. I turned them loose to create their solids and then we did a quick compare & contrasting activity. It was a lot of fun and so easy!

The next thing I wanted to share with you tonight is a cause that is very near & dear to our district - St. Jude's Math-a-Thon! St. Jude's yearly Math-a-Thon raises money to help families pay for cancer treatments and also raises awareness for cancer research. Students collect pledges and work through fun, yet challenging math activities. I coordinated this year's event and to get the kids energized about participating, I offered a little contest - the classes with the highest participation got to put a pie in my face! Here are a couple pics of the kids' victory pies!

 It was a lot of fun and I hope my next district will participate as well! Have you done Math-a-Thon, or do you have any other geometry activities you've done with your students? I'd love to hear your comments! Have a great night!