Welcome to Day 12 of the Twelve Days of Mathematics for Christmas:
One of my grandsons’ favorite Christmas songs is the Twelve Days of Christmas. In honor of this song I am creating The Twelve Days of Mathematics for Christmas. There are activities for K-3. Intermediate – MS (grade 4 – grade 7), and Secondary (Grade 8 –Grade 12) and correlated to the number of the day. Check below for the links to the FREE resources for both TES US and TES UK.
The Twelve Days of Mathematics
Day 12: Twelve Drummers Drumming
On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me twelve drummers drumming, eleven pipers piping, ten lords a-leaping, nine ladies dancing, eight maids a-milking, seven swans a-swimming, six geese a-laying, five golden rings, four calling birds, three French hens, two turtledoves and a partridge in a pear tree.
Twelve is the second teen number that beginning mathematicians encounter. Unlike eleven, the number twelve does have a more prominent role in our daily lives. There are usually a dozen eggs in an egg carton at the grocery. There are 12 hours on the face of a clock. In the English Standard Measurement System there are 12 inches in a foot. So today is all about 12. There are four sets of number cards – 1 to 12 – each ready for the 12 Days of Mathematics activities that are suggested!
For the
last day of the 12 Day of Mathematics, intermediate/secondary students will look the abundance of gifts that were given over the course of the 12 days. They will calculate the total number of gifts given in all! And they will think of questions that might be raised when working on their calculations. Finally, using the current price index given by TIME®: http://time.com/4129123/12-days-of-christmas-pnc-price-index/, students will determine the total cost for the gifts.
For the last day of the 12 Day of Mathematics, secondary students will look at abundant numbers – since the 12 Days of Christmas implies an abundance of gifts!
For ba
ckground you can lead a discussion on Perfect Numbers or students can read the article the Mac Tutor Archives has on Perfect Numbers: http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/HistTopics/Perfect_numbers.html .
Wolfram Math World has an interesting article on Abundant Numbers for secondary mathematicians who are ready for a bit more rigor in their investigations and there is a wonderful visual! http://mathworld.wolfra
m.com/AbundantNumber.html
For students who are ready – ask them to think about deficient numbers!
And of course there is always Clock Arithmetic! CSER/Shodor has a discussion and an interactive that students will find interesting!
Clocks and Modular Arithmetic:
http://www.shodor.org/interactivate/discussions/ClocksAndModular/
Clock Arithmetic:http://www.shodor.org/interactivate/activities/ClockArithmetic/
Enjoy! And as usual, be sure to check out all the activities as you may find things suitable for some of your students.
Enjoy the twelfth day of Mathematics and check out my other resources to support you and your students!
Links for TES US:
The 12 Days of Christmas K – 3 Day 12: https://www.tes.com/us/teacher-lessons/twelve-days-of-mathematics-for-christmas-day-12-k3-11182515
The 12 Days of Christmas Intermediate – MS Day 12: https://www.tes.com/us/teacher-lessons/twelve-days-of-mathematics-for-christmas-day-12-int-ms-11182482
The 12 Days of Christmas Secondary Day 12: https://www.tes.com/us/teacher-lessons/twelve-days-of-mathematics-for-christmas-day-12-secondary-11182488
Links for TES UK:
The 12 Days of Christmas K – 3 Day 12: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/twelve-days-of-mathematics-for-christmas-day-12-k3-11182535
The 12 Days of Christmas Intermediate – MS Day 12: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/twelve-days-of-mathematics-for-christmas-day-12-int-ms-11182484
The 12 Days of Christmas Secondary Day 12: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/twelve-days-of-mathematics-for-christmas-day-12-secondary-11182496
