New this Christmas

I have a page of seasonal resources which includes Christmas-themed maths activities. I think it's really important to do mathematics in every maths lesson throughout the year, but if half the class are out at carol service rehearsals or a lesson is cut short by an end of term assembly, then I see no harm in putting on a bit of Christmas background music while students get stuck into some festive algebra. I love a bit of Wham with my equations.

There are some classics on my seasonal resources page, such as Chris Smith's much-loved relay, but also quite a lot of new additions this year. I thought it might be helpful to list a few of these new resources here so you don't miss anything.

Topic Based
Dave (@d_e_humpty) has produced a lovely set of Christmas shape transformation activities which include translations, reflections and rotations.

Grant (@AccessMaths) has been hard at work producing Christmas resources including a Bauble Puzzle and a Higher and Foundation Christmas Tree Algebra Puzzle. 

MyMaths also has a new collection of Christmas resources including Christmas Algebra which might be suitable for Key Stage 2. 

Mr Bayle (@mrbaylemaths) shared a quick Christmas data collection activity where you play Jingle Bell Rock and students keep a tally of the word count for 'Jingle', 'Bell' and 'Rock'. 

Students at @Maths_CCB had a go, and made festive pie charts of the results.

Danielle (@PixiMaths) has helpfully shared a mixed-topic maths quiz that she made for her Year 9s.

Enrichment 
It's nice to veer off-syllabus for a lesson or two. La Salle have a selection of Christmas enrichment resources including How to make an origami Santa and Christmas Colours which relates to the Four Colour Theorem.

Hexaflexagons are a personal favourite of mine. I became addicted last year after watching Vi Harts's outstanding hexaflexagon videos (if you haven't watched these yet, please do!).

I ran a couple of hexaflexagon lessons in the last week of the summer term. I showed the Vi Hart videos then handed out some templates for colouring. The videos got my students suitably excited about making hexaflexagons but some of them spent absolutely ages colouring, and then for the last 15 minutes of the lesson I had 30 hands up wanting help with the folding and flexing! Hard work. Most students ended up leaving the lesson with both a working hexaflexagon and cool mathematical stories to share at home.

Thanks to Jo Tomalin for sharing a festive hexaflexagon design.

Holiday Work

If your Year 11s have mocks in January then you might want to set them some Christmas holiday homework. Mel (@Just_Maths) has created lovely holiday GCSE homeworks for both Foundation and Higher tier. She has also shared a similar holiday homework for Key Stage 2.

Form Time

If you have any extended form time on the last day of term and your school hasn't provided any resources to keep your students entertained, try Mel's (@Just_Maths) excellent Christmas Pub Quiz.

Alternatively, maths teacher Graham Coleman (@colmanweb) has updated his awesome website Guess the Tunes which now includes Guess the Lyrics and Guess the Faces.

Cards and Gifts 

Maths Ed (@MathsEdIdeas) has shared a Christmaths card for schools to distribute to students and families, encouraging shared maths-play over the holidays. Editable files can be downloaded here and printed onto A4 to fold to A5. 

Finally, do check out my post The Top 5 Christmas Presents for Maths Teachers if you still have some Christmas shopping to do.

Enjoy the last week of term! The end is in sight.

Teachers Wine Glass from notonthehighstreet.com