I’ll admit that I’ve never been one of those teachers who decks out their classroom for every holiday. I’m not against it, but I struggle to find the time. I will say that I don’t like activities that are too ‘cutesy’ for my middle school students, but thought transformations might be a good topic to try a middle school Christmas math activity that would produce a little classroom decor.
This is part of my mission to try some new things with transformations this year. You can read about some of my other ideas here.
Here’s what I came up with:
I came up with eight possible ornament designs that require students to translate, rotate, reflect, or dilate some figures to produce the design. Students graph these on a blank ornament, then color and cut.
I’m thinking I could possibly create a blank tree out of butcher paper for my wall, then students can hang up their ornaments when they’re finished. Or maybe put a hole punch through the loop and hang them from the ceiling?
Either way, I recommend printing the ornaments on cardstock so they hold up a little better. You can grab my favorite cardstock here.
Interested in trying this in your own class? You can find this resource here.
Looking for more transformations resources?
You can check out all of my transformations resources here!
