Fun Math--Puzzles and Problem Solving Club

Each session, we will begin with a brief Math game to warm up.  Each session will focus on a puzzle or interesting problem.  These puzzles are sometimes visual in nature, sometimes numeric, and sometimes logic based and are all highly engaging. I have alternated visual puzzles requiring toothpicks and a printed puzzle one week with numeric/logical puzzles and games the next week.

 After making sure all students understand the challenge, ample time will be given for students to work on their own to solve the puzzle.  We will come together to discuss solutions, challenges, strategies, and further questions that arise periodically throughout the class.  Students will get to share their own thinking by showing their models or drawing on their whiteboard.  Depending on the progress of the class, we may have time for extension puzzles or more than one puzzle in some classes. 

 I believe in providing the opportunity for students to discover their own solutions and methods for solving challenging problems.  I prefer to encourage students to share and collaborate when stuck, rather than me blurting out an answer.  I try to guide rather than show--I want the students to take ownership of the problems and their own thinking.  

Week of February 1--Tower Challenge--using three pieces of copy paper and tape only, how tall a free-standing tower can you make?

Week of February 7--Toothpick Puzzle--Pick Out Four--How can you remove four toothpicks from the arrangement to leave different combinations of shapes remaining?  This week: Puzzle 1-4.  ***Please be sure your child has toothpicks and has printed the sheet off of the classroom page before class.*****

Week of February 14--Valentine's Day Math Puzzles

Week of February 21--Toothpick Puzzle--Pick Out Four--How can you remove four toothpicks from the arrangement to leave different combinations of shapes remaining?  This week: Puzzle 5-8.  ***Please be sure your child has toothpicks and has printed the sheet off of the classroom page before class.*****




Week of September 6–Toothpick Teasers--after arranging your toothpicks as I will show you, follow the instructions in each puzzle to make exactly three congruent squares.   ***Please be sure your child has toothpicks and has printed the sheet off of the classroom page before class.*****

Week of September 13--Four Fours--a numeric puzzle where students try to use four fours with any operation to get all the number 0-20.

Week of September 20–Toothpick Puzzlers--How can you make different numbers on squares from an arrangement of 12 toothpicks by moving or removing some of the toothpicks?  ***Please be sure your child has toothpicks and has printed the sheet off of the classroom page before class.*****

Week of September 27--Prime Climb--a board game that uses dice rolls to allow children to move their game pieces on a swirling board with numbers 1-101.  This game allows for rich discussion of factors, flexible problem solving, multiple pathways of thinking, and chance and strategy!

Week of October 4--Square Pickings--how can you use the eight sticks of different lengths to form exactly three squares?  ***Please be sure your child has toothpicks and has printed the sheet off of the classroom page before class.*****

Week of October 11--Nine Colors--You have 27 small cubes, 3 each of nine colors.  Can yo use all the small cubes to make a 3 by 3 by 3 cube so that each face of the bigger cube contains one of each color.  ****Please be sure your child has 27 small cubes, 3 each of nine different colors.*****

Week of October 18--Penny Collection--students will consider a collection of pennies with the certain numeric constraints and will figure out how many pennies there must be.  Students may use real pennies or draw or use number theory to figure out the answer.

Week of October 25–Flipping Fish--How can you make the toothpick fish face a different direction by moving the fewest number of toothpicks?  ***Please be sure your child has toothpicks and has printed the sheet off of the classroom page before class.*****

Week of November 1--36 Fences--students will consider what the biggest fence is that can be made with 36 pieces of fencing.  *****Students may find rulers, grid paper, snap cubes, or other building material like LEGO to be helpful.*****

Week of November 8-–Square Toothpick Challenge--How can you change the number of squares by moving or removing a given number of toothpicks from the original arrangement?  ***Please be sure your child has toothpicks and has printed the sheet off of the classroom page before class.*****

Week of November 15--Square Toothpick Challenge, Puzzles 5-10 (Continued from last week)

Week of November 22--Crackers--students will use "coded"cards similar to the ones that you may  imagine coming in a Cracker Jack box and will give each other clues to try to guess a number.  This activity will be rich with the opportunity for finding and discussing patterns.  ****PLease be sure your child has the printed cards that will be posted on the classroom page.*****

Week of January 6--Penning a Half-Dozen--How can you create six equal-sized shapes using 12 toothpicks without cutting or overlapping the toothpicks?  ***Please be sure your child has toothpicks and has printed the sheet off of the classroom page before class.*****

Depending on how long each puzzle takes, we may have time for additional puzzles or other games.