Hello CONNECTors!

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Greetings from the North Shore of Lake Superior! The snow is falling here and the season of sickness has officially begun. I am on day 2 of being home sick so writing about subplans seemed like the perfect fit for this Math Bits article. Ideally, I am able to have a subplan that covers the content we are studying, but honestly, it’s always good to have a few back up/emergency plans. My favorite is planning a Logic Puzzle Day. At the start of the school year, I make 3-4 sets of puzzles and pull them out whenever I need a last minute subplan or need to fill time before/after assemblies. Here’s how I set them up:

STEP ONE: Choose a puzzle. There are so many puzzles out there! Some of my favorites are:

  • Find the Factor: a new twist on reviewing multiplication facts
  • Futoshiki: similar to sudoku, but with inequalities
  • KenKen: think sudoku, but with the added restriction of using arithmetic

STEP TWO: Make copies of the different levels of puzzles. For each puzzle I like to have at least 5 levels. Most of the websites linked above have the puzzles organized by difficulty. I then put each level in its own envelope and tape the answer key to the front. This makes is easy for the sub to check students’ work.

STEP THREE: Store the puzzles together and save for a rainy day! I like to put mine in these clear folders seen below, but it would also work to just rubberband them together.

Megan Rubbelke, CONNECT Committee