Santa is 7. A turkey is 11. What is the value of a Christmas cracker?
After a long-term, it’s that time of year again when students begin to ask “Can we do something Christmassy this lesson?”
With the final autumn term assessments out of the way, it might be time to plan a Christmas-themed lesson - but what to do? In my classroom, took the opportunity to explore Fractals.
The Koch snowflake is a good starting place. Can students see how it is created? Given the rule, can they create their own? Can they make up their own rules to create different patterns and snowflakes? This fractal list contains a range of ideas and resources to continue the investigation, including a link to the mesmerising XoaS software.
Fractals can provide a twist on the usual Christmas tree. Thanks to Think Maths, your class can build a festive fractal tree, complete with Koch star on top. To access the teaching resources, click here.
Image credit: Think Maths
In addition to exploring fractals you may also consider investigating some of the following classic Christmas-themed maths questions:
- How many gifts are given on the twelfth day of Christmas?
- How fast will Santa have to travel to visit every house in the UK?
- How much does a typical household spend at Christmas?
These, and more, can be found in our 12 resources of Christmaths collection, which includes teaching materials from Bowland Maths, Pfeg, NCETM and many, many others.
Merry Christmas!