TLJ Consulting Group, LLC

  • About Us
    • Contact
    • Sitemap
  • Mathematical Moments Blog
    • Mathematical Moments
      • Elementary
      • Secondary
      • Free Activity
    • Writing and Literacy
      • Elementary
      • Secondary
    • Odds & Ends
    • For Parents
  • Professional Learning
    • Courses
      • Course Catalog
    • Customized On-Site
    • Blended
    • TLJ Professional Learning & Resource Center
  • Resources
    • Q-Pyramids & Overlays: Tools for Effective Questioning
    • Resources for Questioning
    • In the News
    • Websites and Apps
    • The Mathematician’s Notebook: Chronicling a Student’s Journey
      • MNB Components
    • Gifted
    • Homeschool
    • Math Market – Resources by Grade Band
      • All Products
      • Strategy Saturdays Series, 2017-2018 Focus: Using Manipulatives in the Classroom
      • Free Resources
      • K-2 Resources
      • 3-5 Resources
      • 6-8 Resources
      • 9-12 Resources
        • Modular Mathematics – High School
      • My Account
      • Logout
  • Homeschool
    • Excursions through the SEASONS
    • Putting the A in STEAM
    • Excursions in STEAM 2017 – 2018
    • Excursions in TIME 2018 – 2019
  • Algebra I Employment Standards – 2021-2022
  • Math Market

The 12 Days of Mathematics for Christmas: Day 4

December 5, 2016 by Tammy Jones

Welcome to Day 4 of the Twelve Days of Mathematics for Christmas: 

These activities were inspired by one of my grandsons’ favorite Christmas songs: the Twelve Days of 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 D4Days of Mathematics

Day 4: Four Calling Birds

On the fourth day of Christmas my true love gave to me four calling birds, three French hens, two turtledoves and a partridge in a pear tree.
pic link

 

We move to the number 4. Beginning mathematicians and younger mathematicians will

 

be communicating about the number four through several activities that include writing, problem solving, and creating problems. There is something for everyone no matter what their challenges.

This next activity is fit for mathematicians of all ages!

Intermediate and middle school students will enjoy a coloring activity that is pure mathematics! The four color theorem will be investigated first by predicting how many colors they think it will take to color the Christmas package (top view is used to facilitate the investigation.)

MTlogo2

One of my favorite websites: The MacTutor Archives of Mathematics has a wonderful article on the Four Color Theorem. Check it out here: http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/HistTopics/The_four_colour_theorem.html

Another of my favorite websites – NRich – has an extensive piece on the theorem as well.

http://nrich.maths.org/6291 The Four Colour Theorem  nrich

There are also a couple of fun adaptations on this famous theorem which can be found at The Math Forum with Marvin Gardner’s April Fool’s Map: all_top_left_2

http://mathforum.org/wagon/fall97/p840.html Problem of the Week 840

5colormap

 

 

 

 

and the Treebeard’s Stumper Christmas Tree map found at:https://www.rain.org/~mkummel/stumpers/15dec0tbicon0a.html  15dec00a

For the secondary students there is an investigation focused around quartics. The investigation is open enough that just transformations on basic graphs can be examined or, as desired, symmetry, inflection points, and nature and number of zeros. See the facilitation notes for suggestions. The screenshots were taken using the TI84 CCE SmartView emulator. It is suggested that students use a graphing utility as a tool of investigation. Whether it is a calculator such as the TI-84 family of the TI-Nspire or Geometer’s Sketchpad or Desmos, all wil benefit students if used as a tool of investigation for this activity.

Enjoy the fourth day of Mathematics and check back tomorrow for Day 5!

Links for TES US:

The 12 Days of Christmas K – 3 Day 4: https://www.tes.com/us/teacher-lessons/twelve-days-of-mathematics-for-christmas-day-4-k3-11177374

The 12 Days of Christmas Intermediate – MS Day 4: https://www.tes.com/us/teacher-lessons/twelve-days-of-mathematics-for-christmas-day-4-int-ms-11177369

The 12 Days of Christmas Secondary Day 4: https://www.tes.com/us/teacher-lessons/twelve-days-of-mathematics-for-christmas-day-4-secondary-11177379

Links for TES UK:

The 12 Days of Christmas K – 3 Day 4: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/twelve-days-of-mathematics-for-christmas-day-4-k3-11177378

The 12 Days of Christmas Intermediate – MS Day 4: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/twelve-days-of-mathematics-for-christmas-day-4-int-ms-11177373

The 12 Days of Christmas Secondary Day 4: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/twelve-days-of-mathematics-for-christmas-day-4-secondary-11177382

Tweet

Filed Under: Elementary, Mathematical Moments, Secondary

Mathematical Moments

The Top 5 Reasons for Using Manipulatives in the Classroom

Have you ever asked or said or heard a fellow educator ask or say… “Exactly what constitutes a manipulative?” “I have some of these manipulatives in my closet, but do not have a clue how to use them!” “How do I find the time to use manipluatives in the classroom when I have so much […]

Happy National National Chocolate Day: October 28thChocolate Day!

National Chocolate Day: October 28th My grandmother always said, “God was in a good mood the day He created chocolate!” I grew up thinking that chocolate was a basic food group! And, I admit, chocolate is one of my weaknesses. What does National Chocolate Day have to do with mathematics!   Well – where’s the math? […]

Functional Fluency

I just returned from NCTM Boston. What a great week! I got to catch up with a lot of old friends and made several new ones as well. My co-author, Leslie Texas, and I did a session on one of our strategies from our book series What’s My Move: A Kinesthetic Multisensory Approach to Graphing […]

Algebra I Employment Standards – 2022-2023

State Approved Hybrid Training Sponsored by the Tennessee Department of Education The State of Tennessee has provided various paths for qualified middle school teachers to teach Algebra I/Integrated Math I for high school credit. The various paths are described at https://www.tn.gov/education/licensing/educator-licensure/licensed-educators.html.  The purpose of the trainings offered here is to provide the pedagogical and content […]

Putting the “A” in STEAM

Are you looking for a summer workshop for your K-12 students? In July, I will be hosting an art/writing workshop for students K-12. We will be focusing on Putting the “A” in STEAM.  This 6-day enrichment workshop will focus around the arts and humanities. Students will create and begin to use a combined art journal […]

NCTM, San Francisco

My colleagues and I really enjoyed your presentation at NCTM.  We have already convinced our principal to pre-order us copies of your new book, but we would also like 4 class sets of the pyramids. 

Many presentations talked about problem solving and the benefits of giving students higher level thinking problems, but yours was the only one that really told us how to teach it and scaffold it for students, rather than just modeling what problem-solving looks likes.  Thanks.

Julie Jacewicz
Beaverton, OR

What our clients are saying…

TLJ created classroom resources on TLJ:

TLJ created classroom resources on:

TLJ created classroom resources on:

Copyright © 2023 · Outreach Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in