TITLE: Leapin’ Larry’s Rise for Flies

SUBJECT: Pre-algebra

TOPIC: Slope, graphing ordered pairs

INTERACTIVITY: Students will be able to interact with this bulletin board by placing the magnetic dragonflies on points on the coordinate plane. They can measure slope by pulling out the frog’s tongue and attaching it to the back of a dragonfly.

DIRECTIONS FOR USE:

• Instructions:

1. Take a worksheet from the folder on the left side.
2. Place a dragonfly on the board for each of the named coordinates. Position the frog’s tongue so that it latches onto a specific dragonfly.
3. Calculate the slope of the frog’s tongue.
4. Double-check your answer by using the graph on the paper. Draw the line representing the frog’s tongue in the appropriate graph.
5. Repeat this procedure for problems 1 through 4.
6. When you are finished, please move all dragonflies to a new random location on the board so that the next person will have a chance to plot the coordinates.
7. Hand in your completed worksheet

• Bulletin Board Rules:

1. Be gentle with all of the movable items.
2. Ask the teacher if you are having difficulty placing the frog’s tongue on a specific dragonfly.

TIME: Each student should be able to complete the activity in 4-5 minutes

SPECIAL CONSTRUCTION: The background consists of a series of pages created from a single 45x45 inch image and printed using a color laser printer on heavy cardstock paper. The dragonflies are constructed using black foam covered with two pieces of colored felt on the top and bottom. The wings were printed on transparencies and cut out and attached using hot glue. Small eyes were also attached along with a magnet on the base of each dragonfly. The frog was constructed using three layers of foam board cut using a jigsaw to match the outline of a frog. The frog’s tongue is a retractable tape measure that is embedded within the foam board layers. One side of the tongue was colored red using a permanent marker. There is also a piece of Velcro attached to the end of the tongue so that it will stick to the dragonflies. The frog itself is attached to the cardstock background using hot glue. The mouth of the frog is positioned at the following coordinates: (-6,-3).

CREDIT: Students will receive up to 5 points of extra credit for this in-class activity. Each correctly solved slope is worth 1 point.