Flashback to Elementary School

Do you remember playing games in elementary school?  Like Heads Up Seven Up and Around the World?

I remember playing Around the World while reviewing the multiplication tables.  I always did really well on the hard ones (like 7 x 8 and 9 x 6) but would blank on the easy ones (like 1 x 5 or 0 x 3).  But it was always fun.

Last year when working on the unit circle values in precalc I was trying to think of some fun ways to review.  What's better than playing a game?  I used Microsoft Ink to make some flash cards with all of the unit circle angles and trig values. The program is great - I was able to flag the cards I wanted to use in the game (like just the first quadrant angles or just the sines or whatever) and it will play them in a random order.

If you don't have a tablet (because I was able to write mine, which was wonderful), there are several different options in making flashcards.  Check out FlashcardExchange and Flashcard Machine!

We played Around the World today in 3rd period (which is always a little wild and crazy) and had a lot of fun.  We'll see how it goes with 1st period on Monday (if they decide to speak out loud!).

A sidenote - A few of my kids in my 3rd period class told me that they haven't "done stuff" in math class since elementary school.  I guess they've just become accustomed to sitting and listening to the teacher and are enjoying actually being active and learning different ways.  Kinda sad, don't you think?