Horse Racing Probability

This week was the start to my seventh graders' probability unit. When I was searching for activities, I knew I needed something EXTRA fun and engaging. Not only is it almost the end of the year, but their poor brains have been tested like crazy lately and they needed a pick-me-up. This horse racing activity was the perfect thing-- especially with the Kentucky Derby so near!

On the first day, we spent the entire class playing the game, making predictions, and collecting our data. Students had to roll a dice twice and find the sum of the numbers. This sum was the winning horse and that horse got to move up a spot. The first horse to reach the finish line was deemed the overall winner of the horse race. Once the students got to that point, they recorded the winner on our class chart. They continued playing until the end of class to get the most data as possible. Students loved playing the game & had fun trying to figure out strategies and I was already hearing which horse they thought was most likely to win. 

On the second day, I wanted to bridge the game and make connections to probability. We started the class by analyzing our class data. I allowed students to tell me what they noticed, wondered, etc. about the graphs. We talked about why #7 happened the most, why #1 wasn't possible, etc. Then, we found the total outcomes and found the probability of each of the 12 horses winning the game. 

Overall, this activity was loads of fun & had so many math connections we were able to make. This is one of those activities I will star and make sure I implement next year somehow! 

Why Relevance Isn't Always the Same as Real-World

Over and over during school, I heard " you want real-world lessons" time and time again. Why? Because students need to directly relate to material to see the value in it and to know the reasoning behind WHY they have to learn what they need to know. While I agree, the problem I have with that as a middle school teacher goes back to growth and development of adolescents. We know that during this time students place a value on themselves. They can be selfish and struggle to see the viewpoints of others or reasonings behind anything other than what's important to them at that very moment (for most-- Snapchat and Instagram are at the top of that list). Keeping that very fact in mind, can a middle-schooler truly see the value in needing to know rates and ratios for comparing laundry detergent costs? Or how much gas it takes to make a round trip from Kentucky to California? Or even the best packaging for popcorn? It's real-world, but is it relevant? My answer is no.

Students want need a teacher who is willing to get to know their interests and what's popular for their students. Relevance is something that can change on a yearly, monthly, weekly, and even daily basis sometimes. Right now my students are all in on the fidget spinner toys roaming around. If I would have connected a lesson to those back in January my kids wouldn't have cared a bit. Did they exist then? Sure. However, they weren't relevant to their lives right at that moment. This goes back to relationships. To know what's relevant with your students, you have to be willing to build relationships with them. Ask questions about what they like. Talk to them about their weekends. It's easy to create relevance once you create relationships. Be willing to build those relationships & the rest becomes easy. 

In my last post, I mentioned the importance of being prepared. For me, the best possible way to do this is to use a planner. All year, I had been using a provided planner from the school. The problem was that it was only a monthly view and I was finding that it would get extremely cluttered and ultimately impossible to read. I decided to take the plunge into a new planner and after some research, I purchased the 365 Happy Planner kit. I am in love OBSESSED with this planner. It's cute and I've found myself feeling so much more organized and as a bonus it makes planning fun because you can turn it into a scrapbook. Or don't....that's your choice, which is the best part!

   

 Along with the planner, I wanted a more cost-effective way to get stickers. I bought the Xyron 1.5 inch Sticker Maker to go along with it and I've never been so excited by an $8 toy. In the image below, every single sticker you see is homemade from a free printable I found with a quick search. All you do is print your image and quickly roll it through the sticker maker, peel off the backing, and your good to go. It's the perfect accompaniment to the planner and you could use it for so many
things outside of your planning life.