Are you looking for fun high school math activities that are self-checking that you can use in your classroom? Do you want a particular activity that will keep your students engaged and on task the entire class period?
Well teacher friend I got you!
Enter the question stack! What exactly is a question stack? As one of my students would describe it, it’s like a scavenger hunt in your seat!
I originally got this idea from my favorite math blog www.mathequalslove.net and I instantly fell in love.
I’m all about keeping students engaged in my math classroom! I share all of my top secrets here:
I also shared more about question stacks in my post Ideas to Motivate Students in the Secondary Mathematics Classroom
High School Math Activity
Whether your students are in middle school or high school, this 10 question “scavenger hunt in your seat” is exactly what you can use for a quick fun engaging activity.
Students can work together in pairs, small groups, or individually. This makes an excellent activity for a math center as well.
So what exactly is a Question Stack?
I feel like question stacks are the underdog of fun high school math activities or fun math activities for middle school.
Not many teachers know about them and using this template
You can put together a quick question stack for your class using PowerPoint and Equation Editor.
You can also use a good old sharpie! I hand-wrote my activities for years and none of my students minded.
You can take a worksheet, pick 10 questions from it and turn it into a question stack! You will essentially trick students into an engaging activity where they won’t want to stop working!
Math Activity for Middle School
Questions Stacks – What is a question stack?
What is a Question Stack? Students can work individually or in groups of 2-4. I usually only use groups of 2-3 students.
Each group will receive a question stack set of 10 cards shuffled. Students will flip cards over so that all of the answers are facing up.
They will pick 1 card and flip the card over to reveal a question. Then they will find their answer on the other cards and once they find their answer they will place the answer on top of the question and then a new question/problem will be revealed.
Students are finished when all questions are answered. The last question’s answer will be on the very bottom of the stack.
This activity is self-checking because if students answer all the questions correctly, each card will match an answer and there will be 0 cards remaining.
My students love these and I let them use individual whiteboards to solve their problems. Students love using dry erase markers with whiteboards!
⭐Teachers Note: Make sure you shuffle the cards after you cut them out before you put them in their stack.
I usually make each set on a different color of card stock or paper and then laminate them, then I cut them out! I found this is the easiest way to keep them organized because if the cards get mixed up then you know which ones belong together because they are color-coordinated!
Astrobrights Paper is my absolute favorite to print my question stacks on and then laminate!
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Fun High School Math Activities
I have several of these question stacks over in my Teachers Pay Teachers Store! I am slowly adding more because I love them so much!
Dividing Radical Expressions with Variables
Simplifying Rational Expressions
These are just one of the few fun high school math activities that I do in my classroom!
Looking for even more inspiration when it comes to motivating your students in the classroom?
Do you want even more ideas on fun high school math activities to use in your classroom? Check out my friend Donna’s post here: https://www.obviouslymathsgreat.com/solving-algebraic-equations/
Talk to you soon! I would love to know if you try a question stack in your classroom! Reply back and let me know.
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