Pythagorean Theorem - A New Intro!

I've never started Pythagorean with an investigation like this before and so far I'm loving it!!

I got the awesome idea from Christa Lemily at BetterLesson.com. Here's her wonderful stuff.

I've always talked about the two leg lengths squared and we've even gotten blocks out before, but I've never had students determine if it's a right triangle on the first day using this method. We haven't named what we're doing as the "Pythagorean theorem" yet, but we're using it and it's converse.

We did this on the same day that students were finishing a retest opportunity so I had kiddos in all different places. I posted on the board that once they completed their retest they needed to go to bit.ly/righttriangle. From there they scrolled through the pictures and were self-guided.

Here's a fun desk picture from yesterday!! :)

Starting our pythagorean investigation today! Fun, fun stuff!!! #mtbos #mathchat @gowjhswildcats pic.twitter.com/VbKRImtQmY
— Jessie Hester (@MrsHestersMath) March 10, 2014

UPDATE:

Part 2 is here.