Conspiracy Theory (angle chase)

This might not be the best time to share a collaborative, hands on lesson, but I have been working on some resources for a normal Geometry year, and I wanted to share. (Also, I did get to try it out with some kids during our weekly field day last week, and it was a success.)

To run this one, you need both boxes, 6 clues, the hasp, 3 digit lock, 4 digit lock, 5 digit color lock and 5 digit letter lock. The clues take some work to put together, but this one REALLY feels like an actual escape room, with the puzzles complementing the math.

Start by locking the small box (with the hasp and most of the locks) and then locking the small box and most of the clues into the big box with the 4 digit number lock.

The kids start with this clue (4 digit lock, 5323)

This clue is a multi-part angle chase (that I stole and reformatted from here: https://www.transum.org/Maths/Activity/Angle/Chase.asp?Level=2) and after students find the yellow angle (53) and the green angle (23) they can get into the big box and find all the other clues.

5 digit color (purple, orange, green, blue, yellow) Four of the other clues form a bulletin-board border around the first one, and feature colored post-it notes with quick angle calculations. If they put these in order from smallest to largest, they will open the color lock.

3 digit (159) These same four clues have a chunk of unused space in the center, and I used this space to insert a piece of a single problem on transparency paper. (amazon link here: https://tinyurl.com/y2je2m7e)

When you overlap the pieces so that the colored wedges make a circle, the lines and given numbers form a single problem, and the kids will be able to solve for the missing angle.

5 digit letter (THINK) Finally, the back of the very first clue has this decoder ring clue printed on it.

The box also contains a decoder ring with four spinning “dials” that goes with this clue.

When students line up the correct angle chase responses from the clue on each dial (n=50, r=32, s=78, a=28), windows on the back will line up to reveal the word THINK.

This will open the final lock, letting the kids inside the small box (for treats or whatever.) The decoder ring took me a while to get the formatting right on, but if you print those slides 2 sided (short edge), it should print correctly, and then you just need to laminate the pieces and cut out the little windows. Again, lots of prep on these clues, but worth it for an engaging lesson that I will (hopefully) get to use year after year when teaching goes back to normal.

As always, If you have any ideas for other clues that would fit with this content and this theme, hit me up on twitter. I’m always looking for more ideas. Otherwise, below is a ppt and pdf of the clues explained above. Enjoy!

pdf

angle-pdf Download

ppt

angle-slides Download

Plotting Points Battleship

I’m certainly not the first person to use battleship as a way to practice plotting coordinate pairs. There are beaucoup worksheets available with a google search, there are desmos activities etc etc, but I like the idea of using the actual game to make this game more tactile.

Same as the normal rules for battleship, kids place boats and take turns guessing placement of their opponent’s boats. The only difference is instead of guessing “A2” they guess coordinate pairs (-2, 4). It’s great practice on coordinate pairs, and an engaging way to practice such a fundamental skill. I have slowly been accruing copies of this, and someday, I’ll have a full class set.

This version of the game works best and it’s on sale right now: (https://tinyurl.com/y44uwwmk)

If you print the following file onto sticker paper, slap the sticker paper onto the game boards, it works great!

battleship Download

Proportional Poltergeists (Proportions)

Happy Halloween! This one is (probably?) my favorite of the breakout boxes that I have been creating the last couple years. I was playing WAY too much Luigi’s Mansion last fall, but you can think of this as a Ghostbusters box. It takes some work to build, but it was worth it for me and my kids. It was the single favorite lesson for many of my students last year.

To run this one, you need both boxes, the blacklight, the hasp, 4 locks (3 digit, 4 digit, 5 color, 5 arrow) 4 clues and some homemade goodies to go with the clues.

This box is set in a haunted hotel. The kids come in and are greeted by a board with a creepy lady painting (more on that later), and a bunch of keys to the various floors of the hotels:

The kids start with this clue: (4 digit lock 5812)

The prime numbers that the students need are not the floor numbers, but instead the answers to problems on the back of the keys. I printed “Hotel Caroline Floor 4” (floor 5, floor 6 etc.) on sticker paper for one side of the key and a proportion problem for the back (these things are included in the ppt and pdf files at the bottom). I cut up a plastic folder for the key tags, and included keys on key-rings to sell the theme.

The keys for the 5th 8th and 12th floor have proportion problems with prime answers. This lock will open the big box and the kids will find the small box with the hasp, three locks (described below) and the blacklight.

Color Lock: Orange, Black, Purple, Grey, Yellow

For this clue, kids have to figure out which drinks are made with the same proportions as the “house martini”.

5 digit arrow lock (Up, down, down, up, up)

On this clue, students must compare the ratios of mass/ volume to figure out which items sink. This one took some hints, but most groups figured it out fairly quickly.

3 digit lock: 415

This clue was the coup de grace for this box. Each of the four clues above feature one of the four pac-man ghosts, and I used a razor blade to cut out the ghosts on each clue. I printed out the ghosts on overhead transparency paper (amazon link here) and taped them into the holes in the clues before laminating. This resulted in little ghost “windows” on each of the clues.

The creepy lady painting at the front of the room (by the keys) goes with the ghost windows. You write a bunch of numbers on it in invisible ink and if you set it up so that “14” is behind the orange ghost, “70” is behind the blue ghost, “83” is behind the red ghost and “x” is behind the pink ghost, the proportion solves to give you 415 as a solution. I also included a bunch of decoy numbers and ominous laughter.

The kids loved this wrinkle, and it felt a little more like a “real” escape room than many of the other breakout boxes that I have run in class. Again, this box is more work to assemble that some of the others, but well worth it if it’s something that will fit with your curriculum for a few years.

pdf:

poultergeist-proportions Download

ppt:

poultergeist-proportions.ppt-1 Download

Naming Lines and Angles

naming-activity Download

Who knows if we will be online or in person this fall, but I had this idea a few months back and finally got around to building it. This first one students use angle naming conventions to spell out a dad joke.

This second one works much the same way with line naming conventions. (I think the angle one is better, but both are in the file at the top of this page)

Enjoy!

Circles in Space! (Geometry: Circles)

COVID has given me plenty of time to dick around on my computer, and with that, I have finished a few of the Geometry breakout boxes that have been kicking around in my brain this spring. The first one I wanted to share is designed to serve as a formative assessment for a circles unit in a Geometry class. To run this one, you’ll need the big box, the hasp and four locks (5 digit color, 3 digit number, 4 digit number, 5 digit directional)

To run this box, you will need the following locks set to match the following clues

5 digit color lock (set to Purple Green Orange Brown Blue)

This first clue uses planet imagery to assess sector area. Venus, Earth, Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus all feature a sector with an area greater than 100 square units. Make Uranus jokes at your own peril.

3 Digit number lock (Set to 154)

This clue takes a little bit of work to assemble, but it does a good job of assessing arcs, central and inscribed angles. If you cut out the “hatch” circle on the page to the left, and attach the spinner (right page) with a brad, students can spin this clue to reveal the clues about arc PTN one at a time through the “hatch” cutout. (sorry for the poor photo quality, but you get the idea)

4 Digit Number (Set to 6840)

This clue is an angle chase. Can students use supplementary angles, triangles, arc measurements, central angles, and inscribed shapes to track down the teal and orange angles?

5 digit direction lock (set to up right down right down)

The final clue here should be the easiest one, and it involves lots of the circle ideas that students have (hopefully) mastered around area and circumference. Once they solve the red knob, they follow their answer to the next knob.

If you have any ideas for other clues that would fit with this content and this theme, hit me up on twitter. I’m always looking for more ideas. Otherwise, below is a ppt and pdf of the clues explained above. Enjoy!

(Note: a previous version of this post had a mistake on the spaceman puzzle. Apologies if you downloaded that version!)

Space pdf Download

Space editable slides Download

Triangles on Trial!

Bad boys, bad boys, what cha gonna do? What cha gonna do when they come for you?

Triangles on trial (TOTs) is one of my favorite lessons ever, and it is all the brainchild of my old teaching partner Chris Bakke. We were struggling to make triangle proofs engaging. Necessity mothered this lovely invention, and TOTs was born.

This lesson came midyear, after a few big triangle ideas (congruency markings, sum of angles in a triangle etc) but before we had really jumped into the big ideas around triangle proofs or any of the formal proof writing. We built out a bunch of these TOTs case files. Each case file had security camera footage (featuring the guilty triangle) and below it, a lineup of potential perps.

Each group got a different case file, and had to decide which of the suspect triangles was in the security footage, and which of the triangles were innocent. Then, each group played attorney and presented their case to the class.

Obviously, we played the “bad boys” song from COPS on loop, and obviously we were dressed like judges the whole time. Also, we had the “dun dun” law and order sound effect cued up on our phones and played it over and over and over. Obviously.

Some more TOTs are below in a ppt file, if you want to start up your own congruency courtroom in class.

ppt file: TOTS

Medieval Math Mayhem! (Data and Frequency Tables)

In the last week, I just finished putting the finishing touches on a breakout box that I am planning on running later this spring, when I finish teaching data and 2 way-frequency tables. It takes all the excitement of a night at a “Midieval Times” and adds in a bunch of 8th/9th grade math ideas around data analysis. I’m planning on using it as a formative assessment for 2 way frequency tables and my mini-data unit. To run this one, you will need both breakout boxes, the hasp, the blacklight and four locks (3-digit number, 4 digit number, 5 digit color, 5 digit directional)

To run this box, the locks will need to be set to match up with the following clues:

5 digit color (Set to Red Black Green Blue Green)

Each joust will ask students to compare a basic statistic from one of the provided data sets (…so if the median from the red data set is larger than the minimum value in the blue data set, the red knight would win the first joust). I am planning on providing a few data sets to each group, so they will have to trade them between groups to get all the information that they will need. One of the seven data sets are shown below (but all are included in the materials at the bottom of this page)

4 digit number lock (set to 2368)

Students will need to use the provided information to complete a 2 way frequency table…

…And then use the information that they generate in the table to calculate some percentages. Arrows 2,3,6 and 8 do not match a target question.

5 digit directional lock (Set to Down, Up, Down, Right, Left)

This clue is essentially a series of missing value multiple choice questions, but I teach a lesson on missing value/mean problems, and I’m hoping they can find some creative shortcuts on the other ones too.

3 digit number lock (Set to 7,8,9)

Dad joke time. For the final clue, I wrote the eye-roller “Why was six afraid of seven” in invisible ink on the blank space on this clue, and students must solve the other clues and earn the blacklight before they can get into the final box.

SETUP (Side by side boxes)

Students will start with all the clues and both boxes, separate and locked
The small box will have the blacklight in it and be locked with the hasp, the 4 digit number lock, the 5 digit color lock, and the 5 digit directional lock. Opening this box will allow students to solve the joke clue.
I am planning on locking a li’l prize into the big box and locking it with the 3 digit lock.

PDF: Midieval slides

PPT: Midieval Slides

8-bit Arcade Escape! (Algebra 1 Semester 2 Review)

I wanted to share another breakout EDU box that I put together last year. I used the old Nintendo/Capcom art that is burned into 80% of the synapses of my brain, and mixed in some Algebra 1 concepts. I used this one as a semester 2 review box last year, and it can be used as an assessment for function notation, factoring, systems of inequalities, and some equation solving review too. To run this one, you’re going to need both boxes, the hasp, and five locks (padlock, 3-digit number, 4 digit number, 5 digit color, 5 digit alpha).

SNES pic

To run this box, the locks should be set to go with the following clues:

Padlock (key hidden). For this one, kids will find that “Call” and “3103” are true statements given the functions on the clue. This number dials the front desk at our school, and I worked it out with our administrative assistant to tell each group where their key was hidden. This clue will take a little work to modify for your setting, but making new retro speech bubbles is really easy with THIS website.

SNES 1

4 digit number lock (Set to 7855)

SNES 2

3 digit number lock (set to 837)

SNES 4

5 digit alpha (Set to GTOSH)

Each equation (when solved) will send students to a new “top tube” and they collect the letters in “GHOST” in a modified order.

SNES 5

5 digit color (Set to Blue Green Orange Red Yellow)

Each equation (when solved) will give students a wavelength for a different color of light. The QR code sends students to the Wikipedia article for visible light.

SNES 3

SETUP (From the inside out)

I put some candy in the small Breakout EDU box and locked it with the hasp, the 3 digit, the four digit, the color lock, and the alpha lock.
I put the small locked box into the big box with the lava clue, the ghost clue, and the inequalities clue.
I locked the big box with the padlock and started students with the street fighter clue (again, I hid the key and got help from our front desk with this one). I also gave them the underwater clue so they could get started on it (it takes the longest to solve).

PDF: Arcade Slides

PPT: Arcade Slides

Escape from the Big Top (Fractions)

Last year as a part of my grad program, I came across BreakoutEDU escape room style boxes. Students solve clues (tied to the curriculum) to unlock a series of combination locks. They’re crazy engaging, and I’ve been building a few that I’m gonna put up here on my blog. There are some great puzzles on the Breakout EDU platform, but they’re behind a paywall, so I wanted to share a few of the ones I have been working on.

The first one I wanted to share is one that I built this fall to use at the end of our fractions unit in 6th grade pre-algebra (but I also used it as a review activity with my 8th graders before break). It assesses fraction ideas as well as a multi-step integer problem. I used a carnival as a theme, and designed four clues to go with it.

To run this one, you’re going to need four locks; set to go with the following clues:

5 digit alpha (set to BCEHI)

big top 1

3 digit number (set to 334)

big top 3

5 digit color (set to red green orange blue yellow)

big top 2

4 digit number (set to 1945)

big top 4

The last clue isn’t math per se, but more of a little riddle. It goes with a small set of tarot cards from the classic Waite Tarot card deck (here). I used the magician, the empress, the hermit, death, the hierophant, the fool and the emperor.

The clues allow you to select four of the cards, and the roman numerals on the cards reveal the last combination.

SETUP (from the inside out)

I filled the little BreakoutEDU box with baggies of circus animal cookies as a prize and locked the little box using the color lock, 3 digit number and 4 digit number locks.
I put the little box into the big box with the balloon clue, the “minerva” clue and the fortune teller clue.
I locked everything into the big box using the 5 letter alpha lock, and groups started the breakout with the box, the clown clue and the weird tarot cards. (The tarot cards were a fun red herring without the context of the clue)

PDF: Carnival slides

PPT: Carnival Slides

Algebra 1 Catan!

Alright, I wanted to make a quick post about a math review game that I have been stewing over for most of this semester. This year, I have been pushing myself to find more and more board game applications for my Algebra 1 and pre-algebra classes. A few months back I found a Catan dice game at a local game store, and brought it for a weekend trip.

It’s a fun little game, and the rules are significantly simpler than the original Catan board game. Some of the rules are as follows:

All the game boards look the same and each player/team gets one (below is the original board (left), and the larger one that we used in class)

Players use resources to buy roads, settlements, cities and soldiers (soldiers have replaced development cards in the dice game)

Settlements are one point, cities are two. Longest road and Biggest army are both worth 2 (all similar to original game). First to ten points wins.

I began to scheme a classroom application, and yesterday, I got to try my Frankenstein creation for the first time. I used the “red” player sheets from the dice game (shown above, blown up to 200% on our color copier and laminated) and most of the game mechanics from the dice game, with one big deviation: the kids had to EARN the resources with math (instead of just rolling dice) to build stuff.

I split the class into five teams, and each team received a game board and a deck of 25 custom question cards from the semester. Each question card has a value in the bottom corner, so if students correctly answer the question, they earn the resource indicated in the bottom corner of the card, (and/or a randomized resource from rolling one of the dice from the dice game).

The question cards were the part of this game that took a while to construct, but I am getting good with my PowerPoint formatting, and I am more than happy to share the ones that I built so you can use/modify for your own classroom. They are included at the bottom of this post. (I think. I’ve never tried to attach a ppt file before).

Students would solve math problems, trade correct solutions in for resource cards, and then cash those resources in for roads, settlements, cities and soldiers. It was nerdy, it was chaos, it was wildly engaging, and the kids loved it.

Things you would need to run this with your own class:

Unfettered access to a color printer and a laminator (which, for some reason, our principal gives me)

Dice game: https://catanshop.com/catan-dice-game-clamshell-edition

Resource cards: https://catanshop.com/catan-replacement-game-cards

In all, it cost me about 35 bucks, and about 8 hours of prep, but it is now a resource that I will have for every Algebra 1 class going forward, and it will be easy to modify for other math classes.

Some stray things:

Catan sells replacement cards, and I used the resource cards from that set as currency for the game. (I bought two packs to be sure I had enough)
Just as in the original game, teams could trade anything. Question cards, resource cards, any combination.
This go around, I sorted the kids by tribes, where one team got all of the “brick” question cards one team got all of the “ore” question cards and so on. This was fun (and I made them wear headbands showing their tribe) but it gave an unfair advantage to the brick and wood teams who could build roads and settlements way faster. I think for next time, I will either add a 2-1 port, or give each group a question deck with cards that give them different resources.
I just finished the semester 2 cards, so if you want em, hit me up on twitter.
I loved this game, and am absolutely planning on running it again in the spring, but there was a large demand on the teacher. Between checking answers, handing out resource cards, and marking off things teams had purchased on their game-boards for five teams, there wasn’t a dull moment. I might look to assign a “banker” to hand out and collect resource cards next time.

Here are the slides that I used to introduce the game and the (edit-able) slides I printed to make my question cards. The PDF has just the cards, if that’s how you rock. Enjoy!

Catan Resources

Catan Cards