After a semester of students putting a sticky note (with their name on it) on the board each time they made a perfect score the first time on a quiz, I had a bulletin board with a BUNCH of sticky notes.
One good thing about having student aides? I didn't have to take all of these down myself!!!
So, what's gone up in its place?
The 2016 Challenge. Because, it's...you know...2016. The goal is for students to create the numbers 1-100 using only the digits 2, 0, 1, and 6. Students may add/subtract/multiply/divide, use parentheses, exponents, factorials, square roots, or whatever their little heart desires.
I first learned about the challenge from this tweet:
The 2016 Challenge is underway... pic.twitter.com/9KAklhsTqy— Jeremy Denton (@Jeremy_Denton) January 5, 2016
A comment on that tweet led me to this blog post by Mr. Collins about the 2015 challenge.
I, of course, had to type up my own version to fit on American sized paper. My mom bought me a package of 11" x 17" card stock a while back that I have put to good use in my classroom. I decided that printing the challenge on this larger paper would save my sanity when it came to hang it up.
Here's what the finished product ended up looking like:
Close-Up
Each number has a space to write the equation and a space for the student who found the solution to sign their name.
And, here are the instructions:
So, it's been one day. And, I'm super impressed by the response I've gotten from my kiddos. Let's just say I'm not used to seeing kids huddled around my bulletin boards with their calculators having heated discussions. I could get used to this!
Here's the results thus far:
The first page has been almost all filled in. The other pages still have a while to go. But, that's a good thing. I know the progress will be MUCH slower from now on.
If you have access to 11 x 17 paper, you might be interested in the file I made for this. I've posted it here as an editable Publisher file and a PDF. For the Publisher file, you'll need this free font: HVD Comic Serif Pro.
LOVE LOVE LOVE this bulletin board! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome! It's quickly becoming one of my faves.
DeleteI'm thinking about making this challenge into an independent study day assignment! Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteSo are you still doing any sort of name wall for students who make a perfect score the first time?
No name wall this semester. I am putting stickers on their quizzes, though.
DeleteThe independent study assignment sounds fun!
Thanks Sarah!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome!
DeleteLove this!!! Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, Lydia!
DeleteSarah,
ReplyDeleteDo you have a doc/pdf that you could share with me? I'd love to put this on my board!
Sure! I linked to it at the very bottom of the post. It's sized for 11 x 17 paper, though.
DeleteThank you for doing this...It has been a plan for me to do this for years, but I have never gotten to it...and you made it super easy!!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome! I figure if I'm going to take the time to make a file for myself, I might as well share it. :)
DeleteAre your students having a hard time with some of the larger numbers? I saw on Mr. Collins page that for 2015 they had all but two numbers, but I feel as if having a 5 was probably helpful.
ReplyDeleteAlso did you suggest using trig to your students?
My kids still have 40 numbers to go, and the ones left are mainly larger numbers. Sadly, my kids haven't learned trig yet, so that's not an option for us.
DeleteHow do you go about having them "turn in" answers? I have all grades 9-12, Algebra I - DE online Calculus so I guess I'm just concerned my freshmen won't have time to participate before it gets a lot more difficult.
DeleteI don't have very many students, so I just have them show me their answer and write it on the board. I've seen some other people who have kids write their solutions on slips and turn them in to be checked in an envelope. You could also set up a google form to have students turn answers in to.
DeleteI LOVE you!!!! And my students know it...they ask me if every great activity we do is from math=love. The answer is usually yes. thanks for making me love math more!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Lynne!
DeleteOk I started using this for 2017 and I have a question. When you square a number, does that count as using a two? Or is the exponent different? Another way to look at it, can you cube any value or would that not be allowed because there is no 3 in 2017?
ReplyDeleteI count squaring as using the 2. So, the only way my students can cube a number is to use (2+1) as the exponent.
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