DESMOS FELLOWS
I began using the Desmos graphing calculator with my students at 
Maryknoll in 2012 and was instantly hooked. 🙂 Now, I’m thrilled to be a Desmos Fellow! I spent Veteran’s Day weekend 2016 at Desmos headquarters with a fantastic group of math educators, exploring and learning about Desmos. Great weekend, and I got more Desmos socks. 🙂
- See grade level/courses below to view some of my Desmos creations.
- Read about my experiences with Desmos Classroom Activities, at #Descon16 , and Why I love Desmos on my blog, Patty Papers.
- See trainings & presentations for information about Desmos professional learning opportunities I have facilitated.
- See Desmos CL Bytes for tutorials for incorporating Computation Layer in Desmos Activity Builder.
DESMOS ACTIVITIES
I have been learning more about Desmos Computation Layer (CL) and using it to create Desmos Classroom Activities. Here are a few of my CL creations.
- WANTED Parabolas
- Sliding Parabolas
- Rotations About the Origin
- Uno Proofs
- #MenuMath tasks
- Pig Pen
- ESCAPE ROOM: Understanding Fractions
- Bublé BREAKOUT: Order of Ops Edition
- CAR or GOAT?
- OpenMiddle: Multiplying and Dividing Decimals
- Broken Calculator Challenge!
- View my Desmos Collection for additional activities
- See trainings & presentations for information about Desmos professional learning opportunities I have facilitated.
- View #DesmosLive 10/29/2020 with Dan Meyer where I talked about using Desmos for assessments.
3-ACT MATH TASKS
My own adventure with 3-Act Math Tasks began when I saw Dan Meyer’s TED Talk, Math Class Needs a Makeover. Since then I’ve been using 3-Act Math Tasks to engage students and explore mathematics, and now I support K-12 teachers in this work through professional learning and in-classroom coaching.
- See grade level/courses below to view materials I have created for 3-Act lessons I have taught in my own classroom and as model lessons in other teachers’ classrooms.
- See trainings & presentations for information about 3-Act Math Task professional learning opportunities I have facilitated.
COMPARING QUANTITIES for Grades 5-11
Comparing Quantities (qualitative comparisons) is a classroom routine that make student thinking visible and supports the Standards for Mathematical Practice. It can be used at any grade level and with a wide range of content.
- Read my blog post about Comparing Quantities on Patty Papers.
- See grade level/courses below to view Comparing Quantities for grades 5-11.
SELECTED LESSONS
Grade 1
- 3-Act Math Task: Cookie Monster
Grade 2
- 3-Act Math Task: Whopper Jar
Grade 3
- 3-Act Math Task: Bucky the Badger
Grade 4
- 3-Act Math Task: Paper Cuts
Grade 5
- 3-Act Math Tasks: Soda
- Comparing Quantities: Soda Fractions
Grade 6
- 3-Act Math Tasks: Nana’s Paint Mix-up, Thick As A Brick, Prison Break
- Comparing Quantities: Bag of Marbles, Gumball Ratios, Jim & Jesse, Volume
Grade 7
- 3-Act Math Task: Nana’s Chocolate Milk
- Desmos Activity: Pentaminoes
- Comparing Quantities: Circle vs. Square, Cookies, Percents
Grade 8
- 3-Act Math Tasks: Basketball Shots, 25 Billion Apps
- Desmos Graphing Calculator: Basketball Shots, Coin Counting student activity and solution
- Desmos Classroom Activity: Stacks
- Comparing Quantities: Linear Systems, Maximum Value
- Math Magic
- Growing Shapes: This lesson is based on work by Jo Boaler.
Algebra 1
- 3-Act Math Tasks: Basketball Shots, 25 Billion Apps
- Desmos Graphing Calculator: Coin Counting Student activity and Solution
- Desmos Classroom Activities: The Tortoise & The Hare, Stacks
- Comparing Quantities: Quadratics
- Mathcasts by Patty Stephens via YouTube: Simplifying Expressions
Geometry
- Comparing Quantities: Chords, Overlapping Lines
Algebra 2
- 3-Act Math Task: Charge!
- Desmos Graphing Calculator:
- Bothell population growth
- Frosted Cube Cake – frosted pieces and pieces with no frosting
- Desmos Classroom Activities:
- Comparing Quantities: Polynomials, Rational Expressions
- Mathcasts by Patty Stephens (O’Flynn) via YouTube:
Precalculus and Trigonometry
- Desmos Graphing Calculator:
- Scrambler Task and Desmos model
- Ferris Wheel
- Lighthouse beacon
- Desmos Classroom Activities:
- Conic Section Exploration, an introduction to conic sections with rotated axes
- Ferris Wheel
- Mathcasts by Patty Stephens via YouTube:
- Mathcast Projects by students at Maryknoll High School
AP Calculus
- Mathcasts by Patty Stephens (O’Flynn) via YouTube:
Patty Stephens 