I am a big fan of 3 Act Tasks. 3 Act tasks are what I call the ULTIMATE math lesson. Seriously. The students are instantly engaged as they watch the first act video/picture. They are connecting with the visual. ALL students can participate just by noticing and wondering. It’s an INCLUSIVE lesson where everyone has something to say. Everyone feels successful and they can problem solve. Students usually know what they need to do before the problem solving begins. There can be so many layers to the lesson —that it’s crazy good not to try!!!
Today I tried a new 3 Act task with my students called Tower of Coins. My students have been working on all the skills associated with decimals. We have been adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing. Many times, the kids get so hung up on algorithms that they lose focus on what all of this means.
A little notice
A little wonder
I originally had the idea of them just practicing their dividing of decimals. Students needed to find out how many coins were in each stack. 
But then more happened (in a good way). Students came up with many more questions that could be answered. The problem solving became multi-layered which was incredible. They not only had to find the answer to one question…but to 3 questions. All of them inquiry based from the students.
Overall a good day of math. If you have yet to try a 3 Act task….try it. It’s really the ultimate math lesson.
Until next time,
Kristen