Christmas Gifts for Maths Teachers

I've been browsing the internet for maths related stocking fillers. I thought it might be helpful to share what I've found, to save time for anyone else looking for mathsy gifts. 

Posters and Prints

There are some lovely mathematical posters on Etsy but most have to be downloaded digitally. A teacher looking for classroom or corridor displays might pay to download posters then print them at school. But if you're giving them as gifts then you might want a more professional finish in which case perhaps the files could be uploaded to somewhere like Photobox for printing. Some of these posters are nice enough that they could even be framed and put up at home. There are dozens of examples - here's a selection:

Famous Mathematicians Posters from McMurrayCreative on Etsy

Fibonacci Prints (can be delivered framed) from WallBuddy on Etsy

Math Bulletin Board from MapleandHen on Etsy

Funny Maths Class Posters from GardenistaShop on Etsy

Mathematician Quotes from TeachBird on Etsy

Famous Mathematician Posters from NumberOneResources on Etsy

Maths Pun Posters from BanddersArt on Etsy 

Notebooks and Pads

I love notebooks! There are plenty of mathematical notebooks to choose from and I think they make a lovely gift.

Maths Hardcover Notebook from Atoms to Astronauts

Personalised Notebook from Not On The High Street

Purr-pendicular Notepad from flamingimp on Etsy

Personalised Maths Notebook from GooseandMoosePrints on Etsy

Personalised Maths Notebook from Zazzle

Maths teacher notepad from Zazzle

Maths teacher post-its from Zazzle

Coasters

I think a mathsy coaster makes a really nice gift for a teacher's classroom desk.

Maths Coasters from 13DaisyChains on Etsy

Slate Pi Coaster from LasersAreUs on Etsy

Squared Square Coasters from Maths Gear

Personalised Maths Coaster from KelhamTreaures on Etsy

Gift Coasters from Onix9Creation on Etsy

There are also some really cute coasters and other gifts on chemisttree.com but be warned - they ship from the US so the shopping cost is more than the cost of the coasters.

Stickers and Badges

Stickers and badges make nice stocking fillers for maths teachers. Here are a few examples.

Maths Pun Stickers from ZNLabels in Etsy

Sheet of vinyl stickers from DestinationVinylLtd on Etsy

Custom Maths Stickers from School Stickers

Maths Reward Stickers from Maths Gear

Maths Badges from MegaShedArts on Etsy

Maths Pins from MayzeeWork on Etsy

Miscellaneous

There are loads more gifts I could have included in this post - endless mugs, t shirts and brilliant books for example - but I need to keep it to a manageable length! So here are just a few gift ideas that you might not have seen before.

Pi Jigsaw Puzzle from Amazon
(read the review about how it was used on Pi Day!)

Jewellery and Cufflinks from Maths Gear

The Proof is in the Pudding Bowls from Present Indicative

Maths Pencils from Not On The High Street

Maths Socks from Ties Planet

Maths Pencil Case from 13DaisyChains on Etsy

Pi Hoodie from CorporateTogs on Etsy

Pythagoras Cookie Cutter from Bakerlogy on Etsy

A Compendium of Mathematical Methods by Jo Morgan :)

If you're shopping for a maths lover then check out Maths Gear and Present Indicative - both websites are packed full of excellent maths gifts.

Note that I haven't checked the quality of any of the gifts listed in this post so please don't blame me if they turn out to be rubbish (apart from my book! That is quite good...). Also, please don't think I have taken money to promote any of these items - everything featured here is just stuff I've randomly found.

Maths teachers - if you like what you see here, send this post to your loved ones! 

5 Maths Gems #183

Welcome to my 183^rd gems post. This is where I share some of the latest news, ideas and resources for maths teachers.

1. Factor Trees
I love the recent MathsPad updates. They've added a factor trees tool which is available to non-subscribers. There are multiple methods for finding prime factors - factor trees are a popular choice. This tool is great for demonstrating the process - you can enter pairs of factors, then decide whether each is a prime number or not. 

Another fantastic addition to MathsPad is a Describing Transformations Tool. This one is only for subscribers (most of my readers are probably subscribers, given how often I write about how good MathsPad is!). This tool can be used to demonstrate reflections, rotations, translations and enlargements (including fractional and negative). 

The team at MathsPad has also continued to expand their large collection of excellent curriculum booklets. Further Trigonometry is the first booklet published from their Year 11 Higher curriculum.

2. Is It Plausible?
I like @AMercerMaths's "Is it plausible?" discussion activity - an extract is shown below. Students often don't have a good sense of how big things are. 

3. Area Backwards

@drpas1001 shared a resource 'Area 51' where students work backwards in area questions. I've added this to my resource library.

4. Enlargement

Thank you to @giftedHKO for sharing a nice enlargement resource with lots of practice on a single page.

5. Transum

It's been a while since I've given Transum a shout out - new teachers might not know how much useful stuff is on there. I like the self-marking exercises - my daughter is in Year 8 and if she needs a bit more practice on a topic then I suggest she completes a Transum task, like this indices exercise.

I also use some of the tasks in lessons, for example when introducing identities to Year 11 recently, we completed this sorting activity on the board. 

@Transum recently tweeted about a new activity for recognising graphs. 

The huge collection of activities on this website continues to grow. If you've not visited before, it's definitely worth exploring.

 

Upcoming Conferences

Nothing much happens in the winter months but there will be conferences for maths teachers in the Spring term. Complete Maths will hold a conference on a Saturday in March (date and location yet to be announced) and there will be a joint Conference of Mathematics Subject Associations, 'Future Proofing the Curriculum' on 14th - 16th April 2025. 

Update

I'm very fortunate to get a two week October half term. I've had a lot of school work to catch up on over half term so I haven't had time to do much on my blog, except a few updates to my resource libraries (I've added Dr Austin's new A level resources). 

When we return to school next week we have Maths House Week which is an annual event at my school (every department has to run a House Week). For this I have to deliver the same assembly five times (I've written two and I need to choose one to deliver. One assembly is on primes - following the recent discovery of a new prime number - and the other is about Ramanujan). We will also run a number of activities including a treasure hunt and a puzzle competition. I blogged about these activities last year in Gems 176. 

I'm still seeking someone to join my team in January or February - this could be a temporary role (covering maternity leave) or permanent role - we're really flexible (but ideally the candidate will have experience of teaching mechanics at A level). Please get in touch if you want to chat about this. 

Finally, thank you to @aap03102 who featured the lovely game Do Not Find the Fox in a recent newsletter. 

#5 Maths Gems 182

Welcome to my 182^nd gems post. This is where I share some of the latest news, ideas and resources for maths teachers.

1.Bad Graphs

It's fun (and important) to share examples of misleading graphs with students. @ticktockmaths has shared a gallery of bad graphs which will be very helpful. I love the example below: at first glance it seems very clear and the scale seems fine, but when you think about what it's trying to show you realise how misleading it is.

Do check out the rest of ticktockmaths.co.uk - the lessons on there are really nice. Recent additions include one on Mixed Numbers and Improper Fractions and one on Writing Expressions. 

2. Algebraic Fractions

@japleen_kaur1 shared these lovely algebraic fractions questions made by her colleague.

Answers are here. Thank you for sharing these Japleen! I love the creativity. 

3. Fractions Vocabulary

@Scott_Math83 shared three simple questions which highlight the challenges students face when working with fractions and percentages. A subtle change in wording totally changes each question. 

4. Multiples

I love tasks which encourage deeper thinking about factors, multiples and primes. Thank you to @studymaths for sharing this:

Check out @studymaths' feed for lots more excellent tasks.

5. Dr Austin

@draustinmaths continues to share great new A level resources for both pure maths and mechanics. Recent examples include a task on set notation and one on graphical inequalities and regions. Thanks Amanda!

Update
On Friday I was at the Harris October Conference with my lovely colleagues. 

If you want to join my brilliant team, we have a vacancy for a January start. Contact me if you want to chat about the role - but note that the closing date for applications is Monday 14th October so you will have to act quickly!

After a quick stop at post-conference drinks in London, I got the train up to Sheffield for pre-#mathsconf36 drinks. Two sets of drinks on the same day in two different cities was a bit much for me - I'm too old for this and I was beyond exhausted!

 

On Saturday I attended #mathsconf36 which was excellent. It was the best conference I have been to in a long time, and it has rekindled my love for mathsconfs! I went to fantastic workshops led by Rob Eastaway, Sam Blatherwick and Craig Latimir. I really enjoyed these workshops. I ran a session myself called 'Every Mark Matters' where I shared examples of where students lose marks at GCSE. The idea is that we show these examples to our students to help them better understand what's expected. If you attended the conference, my slides will be emailed out next week by the team at Complete Mathematics.

If you've not been to a mathsconf in a while, or you've never been before, then I strongly encourage you to attend the next one. It will be in March - date and venue tbc.

Finally, this week I did the classic paper folding integration activity with my Year 13 class. The idea came from @sxpmaths many years ago and it's always my favourite A level lesson of the year!