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What are iMath activities? iMath is a series of activities designed with the intent to engage students in math by putting a fun twist on their favorite phone apps* - Facebook, iMessage, Instagram, and Tumblr. Each iMath activity covers different skills in a unique way. Students add each activity to their phone/tablet template that can be on display in the classroom. Below is a description of DOODLR, which is meant to model Tumblr. *None of these activities are actual digital apps or affiliated with the app they are modeling.  What is the purpose? Making connections! Sometimes students can best understand concepts when they connect visual graphs, symbols, etc. with words. This activity gives students the opportunity to do just that in a creative and fun way. If your students already love doodle notes, then they for sure will love this activity! Students are able to let their creative side shine in this activity. How do I use this in my classroom? This really can be used at any time, which makes it an amazing activity to have available. I have used it in a station, after an assessment, or when a student has completed all tasks for the day and needs an extra activity to work on. Hey, anytime can be doodle time! Which app does this activity model? Doodlr is meant to represent the Tumblr App. Students are given a sheet to connect symbols and words. Ok, maybe Tumblr isn’t the most popular app among this generation, but doodling is definitely trending right now!!!
How do you do this activity? Step 1 – Students will need one Doodlr sheet and the word bank to help determine terms and phrases associated with each symbol or graph. The word bank sheet can be shared within a group of students. Step 2 – On each sheet, students write words and/or phrases that are associated with symbols or parts of a graph or equation. There is extra room for doodles that help make these connections! Step 3 – Add the sheet to the phone/tablet template and hang the activity on the wall or bulletin board. Presto...students are able to make valid math connections both visually and verbally! Add more iMath activities to show mathematical growth and use for review at the end of the year.
What’s included in each Doodlr activity?
Want to learn about the other iMath Activities? You can! I will be blogging about each activity. The next post will be about Errorgram (Instagram). Check out the other posts on Mathbook and iStep. Click below to go directly to ALL my iMATH activities in my Teachers Pay Teachers store: 
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What are iMath activities? iMath is a series of activities designed with the intent to engage students in math by putting a fun twist on their favorite phone apps* - Facebook, iMessage, Instagram, and Tumblr. Each iMath activity covers different skills in a unique way. Students add each activity to their phone/tablet template that can be on display in the classroom. Below is a description of iSTEP, which is meant to model iMessage. *None of these activities are actual digital apps or affiliated with the app they are modeling.    What is the purpose? COMMUNICATION! Often students can solve a math equation, but have a difficult time verbally explaining what they are doing. This activity addresses this problem. Each student is to “text” with a friend who needs help with a math concept. Their classmate asks how to solve an equation and the student has to explain each step needed in order to get a solution. Then their classmate “texts” back showing the algebra they did to complete the step. I LOVE how these activities have transformed how students think and discuss math in class!!! How do I use this in my classroom? The day before an assessment I set up review stations. Each station has an activity that covers a different concept students will see on the assessment. I use iStep at one station and other stations may include Battle My Math Ship, Name That Function, or an activity from some of my favorite TpT friends: All Things Algebra, Mrs E Teaches Math, Free to Discover, Scaffolded Math and Science, or Math Giraffe. Which app does this activity model? iStep’s design is similar to texting in iMessage, WhatsApp, or any other form of texting app. Let’s face it, texting is one of the most popular ways people communicate with each other in this day and age. So let’s have students do it with math too!   How do you do this activity? Each student will… Step 1 – Need one iStep sheet. Step 2 – Read the question in the first bubble on the left, which is meant to be a text from their classmate. Step 3 – Use the first text bubble on the right to write in words the first step needed to solve the problem. Step 4 – Each student then trades sheets with a classmate. The classmate is to follow the student’s written step and use the second text bubble on the left to show their algebra. Step 5 – Students trade sheets back and forth until the math problem is solved. Step 6 – The last two text bubbles are for students to write a positive message and a closing. Step 7 – Add the sheet to the phone/tablet template and hang the activity on the wall or bulletin board. BOOM...students are able to communicate with each other on how to solve math equations! Add more iMath activities to show mathematical growth and use for review at the end of the year.   What’s included in each iStep activity?
Want to learn about the other iMath Activities? You can! I will be blogging about each activity every week for the next few weeks. The next post will be about Doodlr (Tumblr). Check out the last post on Mathbook. If you’d like to try an iMath activity for FREE, you can find the following in my Resource Library, so sign up here:
Click below to go directly to ALL my iMATH activities in my Teachers Pay Teachers store:  What are iMath activities? iMath is a series of activities designed with the intent to engage students in math by putting a fun twist on their favorite phone apps* - Facebook, iMessage, Instagram, and Tumblr. Each iMath activity covers different skills in a unique way. Students add each activity to their phone/tablet template that can be on display in the classroom. Below is a description of MATHBOOK, which is meant to model Facebook. *None of these activities are actual digital apps or affiliated with the app they are modeling.   What is the purpose? As teachers we all love when students show mastery of a concept! The Mathbook activities give students a chance to demonstrate this mastery in a fun and collaborative way. Each sheet has an “I can” statement that targets a specific learning objective. For example, a Mathbook sheet might state, “I can solve…two-step equations!”. Each student then solves the equation to show they have mastered this specific concept. How do I use this in my classroom? I like to provide students with something to do after they complete a quiz or test, so they don’t just sit there or do something that distracts students that are still completing the assessment. This activity is perfect for them to work on at this time. Which app does this activity model? Mathbook’s design is similar to a Facebook post. Even if a student doesn’t use Facebook, this activity is engaging and fun for everyone! My students really like picking out their icons because it gives the activity a personal touch that most math activities do not offer. Also, receiving feedback from a peer helps create a positive classroom environment.   How do you do this activity? Each student will… Step 1 – Need one phone/tablet template, one Mathbook sheet, and two profile picture icons. Step 2 – Color and glue one of their icons onto the top of the Mathbook sheet and then write their name and the date. Step 3 – Read the “I can” statement and color in an Emoji of their choice. Step 4 – Demonstrate their mastery by solving the equation, identifying parts of the graph, etc. This will depend on the concept that is being targeted. Step 5 – Switch their sheet with another student. Their partner will then check their work, add their own icon, write their name, and write a positive comment. Step 6 – Return the activity to their partner so they can add the Mathbook activity to their phone/tablet template. Voilá!….students now have a cool way to demonstrate their mastery and hang it up for all to see! Add more iMath activities to show mathematical growth and use for review at the end of the year.
What’s included in each Mathbook activity?
Want to learn about the other iMath Activities? You can! I will be blogging about each activity every week for the next three weeks. The next post will be about iStep (iMessage), so stay tuned! If you’d like to try an iMath activity for FREE, you can find the following in my Resource Library, so sign up here:
Click below to go directly to ALL my MATHBOOK activities in my Teachers Pay Teachers store:   You know when you give a quiz and students do well on one objective, but almost all of them completely bomb the other objective? That's when I know I did not effectively teach the second objective. So, back to the drawing board I go. The quiz was on solving exponential and logarithmic equations. Most of the students clearly and easily solved the logarithmic equations. But, WHOA, those exponential equations really threw them for a loop! I had taught the solving exponential equations lesson right before spring break. Normally, I write all of my own lessons, but this time I decided to use a lesson from a textbook (stupid, stupid, stupid!). In this lesson, the textbook had only shown how to solve exponential equations using logarithms as the inverse operation to exponentials. At the time, I didn’t think twice about it. I had already showed them in a previous lesson how to rewrite a logarithmic equation to an exponential equation and vice versa. I assumed they would apply that knowledge too. Ugh…bad assumption. When we did the practice activities the day before the quiz, I also reviewed the property of equality for exponential equations. I think that is when I started to realize that I did not CLEARLY define the three methods to solving exponential equations, which is not like me at all. If you’ve read this post, you’d know I think one of the best ways for students to understand math is to compare and contrast different methods. Anyway, the students seemed to be doing okay in the group activity, so I gave them the quiz the next day. Once I began grading them, I immediately realized they were struggling to solve the exponential equations. They were mixing methods all over the place. That’s when you get that pit in your stomach and think oh man, where did I go wrong with this lesson?! It’s not the textbook’s fault, it’s mine. I so regret not taking a more critical eye to the textbook lesson. Maybe it was me being antsy for spring break or the fact that I had wanted to revamp some of my notes for that unit and I hadn’t had time to do so, so I was wanting an “easy” way out. Whatever the reason, it doesn't matter, I knew I had to fix it with my students. I decided to create a graphic organizer that CLEARLY states each method and the proper steps to solve. I will be using this with my students tomorrow to review solving exponential equations and then giving a mini retake on this objective. I’ll update you all soon on how it goes. I imagine it will be MUCH better!!! In the mean time, I want to share the graphic organizer I created with all of you! Maybe it will prevent you from having an exponential failure like I did. Click on the picture below to download the file. Enjoy! UPDATE: Ummmmm, yeah, went soooooo much better!!!!  |
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