Algebraic Angry Birds

Students in Lindsey Hyman's Algebra I class recently had the chance to extend their thinking about the components of quadratics by creating their own levels for the popular and addictive game Angry Birds. They worked to find the correct quadratic equation for the trajectory of their bird that would allow it to knock out its enemy and miss any obstacles in the way. The students built their levels using Google Drawings and then used gMath in Google Docs to show their understanding of quadratics. Mrs. Hyman also snapped pictures of calculations students performed with pencil and paper to document their thought processes.

Mrs. Hyman says the assignment "had them using the three different forms of quadratics including standard, vertex, and factored form and converting between the forms, which allowed for feedback to check if the students were on the right track. We used Desmos a lot to check if they were on the right track as well." 

Angry birds blank (1) from Jill Thieben

Innovative Inventors

First graders got valuable experience with design thinking and engineering practices with a recent activity. Their teacher challenged them to think of a problem they saw in the world, then design and invent a tool that might solve it.

These students identified many real-world problems that impact the lives of six and seven year-olds, such as shooting baskets, helping with household chores, care of younger siblings, catching bugs, and even scratching hard-to-reach-itches.

After building a prototype of their invention, they wrote about their design process and presented it to the class. In order to share with a wider audience, the Seesaw app was used to record the video of their presentation and compile all the work into a class blog. Parents were able to view all the presentations and add comments to give feedback.


These innovative thinkers had many original and creative solutions to their real-world problems.

Stop Motion Movies

The sixth grade classes have had the opportunity to create stop motion movies.  To learn the program, they first used their creativity to develop a story line using any objects of their choice.  After becoming familiar with the app, they used it to show the parts of the digestive system and how food moves through the system.

The Football Game

The Digestive System