Welcome

Welcome to BHNmath, an Ontario Secondary Mathematics resource centre for students, parents and teachers.

Students

A variety of tools to supplement classroom learning, strengthen understanding and enrich mathematical experience.

Parents

Strategies and materials for parents to use while accompanying children on their journey through mathematics.

Teachers

Resources to support teachers in their instruction of the Ontario Secondary Mathematics Curriculum.

Growing in Mathematics Book for Grade 9

The Growing in Mathematics book is a collection of all the Check Your Understanding problems from the Mathematics, Grade 9 (MTH1W) lessons. 

For more options, see Check Your Understanding Resources in the Extras section of the MTH1W home page.

EQAO Practice Tests

Looking for Grade 9 EQAO practice tests? BHNmath offers three of them in both interactive/digital and print formats!

An ongoing video series that explores a variety of careers and the ways in which math plays a role in them. 

Do You Have a Math Question?

Ask questions, receive answers and browse the archive in the Question and Answer Centre!

Subscribe to the Mailing List!

To receive email notices about content updates and other news, please subscribe to the BHNmath mailing list!

Resources for Grades 7 and 8

Visit the Grades 7 and 8 page for a collection of relevant teaching and learning resources!

BHNmath

NEWSLETTER | ISSUE 12 | FEBRUARY 14, 2023

Written by Adam Gesjorskyj

AN EVENTFUL YEAR

To date, the 2022/2023 school year has proven to be one full of exciting opportunities and uplifting successes (and monumental frustrations too, but I won’t get into those here)! Without a doubt, one of the greatest highlights of the past few months has been a visit from Dr. Peter Liljedahl, author of Building Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics. During his invigorating full-day PD session, teachers of a variety of subjects had the opportunity to be students in a thinking classroom environment, experiencing firsthand how effective this pedagogy can be in building engaging and inclusive learning communities. Much like when I see teachers in our schools implementing any of the fourteen thinking classroom strategies, Dr. Liljedahl’s presentation left me feeling motivated and inspired (and, as when I first read the book, a little bit foolish about how I’ve run my classes in the past)!

I’m thrilled to see that the BHNmath resources for the Mathematics, Grade 9 (MTH1W1) course are being used regularly across Ontario at a greater rate than ever! I’ll continue building content to support this course and upload it as soon as it’s ready. My sincere thanks to all who have provided feedback, offered suggestions, and/or expressed gratitude for these materials.

From a new video series on math in careers to preparation materials for the Grade 9 EQAO assessment, there’s a lot happening with BHNmath resource development. Take a look below to see the latest additions and what’s coming soon!

EQAO PRACTICE MATERIALS

By request, I’ve begun creating some preparation materials for the Grade 9 EQAO Assessment of Mathematics. Specifically, I’m currently building a set of practice tests in both interactive/digital and print formats. Similar to the sample test provided by EQAO, each practice test is divided into two stages and consists of 27 questions in total. The breakdown of topics loosely reflects that of an actual EQAO assessment. The plan is to have three to five of these practice tests ready for use by June. The first one is already available in the EQAO Practice Material section of the MTH1W1 page. Please note that although the digital version is responsive to different screen sizes, it should be viewed on a full-size screen (desktop, laptop, etc.) for the most authentic experience. On a personal note, I never thought I’d enjoy creating EQAO prep resources, but I’ve actually been having a blast trying to simulate the look and feel of the real EQAO materials! Here are direct links to the first practice test:

MATH AT WORK VIDEO SERIES

I’m very excited to introduce a new side project of mine called Math at Work! This ongoing video series looks at how math plays a role in a variety of careers. Each video in the series will

  • focus on one career that regularly requires the use of mathematics.
  • feature an interview with a professional in that field.
  • address how math is an important part of the profession.
  • offer advice to students who may be interested in pursuing that career.

All of these videos will be housed in the new Math at Work section of the website. The first two episodes (airline pilot and music producer/engineer) are now ready for viewing. Enjoy! 

NEW TOOLS FOR TEACHERS

The following three tools, designed to assist teachers in their creation of learning materials, have recently been added to the Tools section of the Teachers homepage. 

THE CIRCLE TOOL
A tool for quickly creating circle diagrams for use in documents, presentations and other learning/teaching materials. A video tutorial is also available.

THE COMPASS TOOL
A tool for easily creating custom compass images. Includes a video tutorial.

THE FUNCTION EVALUATOR
An online tool for repeatedly evaluating functions and quickly creating custom tables of values. No download necessary!

Please note the the Circle Tool and the Compass Tool require GeoGebra Classic 5 to run. This software is already installed on BHNCDSB school computers and will launch automatically after double-clicking the downloaded tool file. If needed elsewhere, GeoGebra Classic 5 can be downloaded free of charge here.

MathUP VIDEO SERIES

To support teachers in the implementation of Rubicon’s MathUP Classroom program, a series of videos outlining the four parts of the MathUP lesson was recently created. Each video focuses on one part of the MathUP lesson structure (Minds On, Action, Consolidation, Your Turn) and is centred around a model lesson in a Grade 4/5 classroom (led by BHNCDSB Mathematics Consultant Allison Lawrence). If you’re currently using MathUP or planning to in the future, be sure to check out these brief but informative videos!

BHNmath ON TWITTER

BHNmath is now on Twitter! If you’d like frequent bite-sized updates regarding the website, new resources, and other BHNmath news, consider following @BHNmath. It’s a good way to stay in the loop! The BHNmath mailing list will continue to be used for less frequent update summaries, larger-scale communication, and other important announcements. 

A DAILY PUZZLE

Looking for a way to kill time and/or avoid other responsibilities? This puzzle is for you! After receiving DragonFjord’s A-Puzzle-A-Day over the winter break, I became mildly obsessed with it and couldn’t help but make a digital version. The instructions are simple: Place the pieces on the board such that only the current month and date are visible. Although I built the digital version just for fun, it might also come in handy when introducing transformations!

More Recently Added Resources

Here are five other resources recently created for BHNmath:

Course: Principles of Mathematics (MPM2D1) / Functions (MCR3U1)
Topic: Parabola as a Locus of Points
Type: Interactive Activity
Target: Students
Location: Enrichment Resources
Notes: An interactive activity to investigate the locus of points description of parabolas.

Course: Advanced Functions (MHF4U1)
Topic: Limits of Secant Slopes
Type: Interactive Applet
Target: Students/Teachers
Location: Rates of Change
Notes: A tool for analyzing instantaneous rate of change (tangent slope) as a limit of secant slopes.

Course: Calculus and Vectors (MCV4U1) / AP Calculus AB and Vectors (MCV4UP)
Topic: Velocity as a Vector (Groundspeed)
Type: Interactive Applet
Target: Teachers/Students
Location: Applications of Vectors
Notes: An applet for calculating/representing an aircraft’s groundspeed using vectors.

Course: Calculus and Vectors (MCV4U1) / AP Calculus AB and Vectors (MCV4UP)
Topic: Velocity as a Vector (Required Heading)
Type: Interactive Applet
Target: Teachers/Students
Location: Applications of Vectors
Notes: An applet for calculating/representing an aircraft’s required heading using vectors.

Course: Mathematics, Grade 9 (MTH1W1)
Topic: Measurement Calculations in Three Dimensions
Type: Interactive Applet
Target: Teachers/Students
Location: How much is that?
Notes: An interactive applet based on a MathUP activity involving composite figures. 

WHAT'S NEXT FOR BHNmath?

  • Building practice tests for the Grade 9 EQAO Assessment of Mathematics
  • Providing support for Grade 7 and Grade 8 mathematics programming
  • Creating new resources for secondary mathematics courses
  • Building resources and providing support on request

Happy New Year!
– Adam