Pi Day 2018

I know there are many math teachers prepping for Pi Day (March 14, 2018), so I wanted to provide some links to resources that might help support your efforts.

One thing I use to do with my students – middle and high school alike – was have everyone bring in ’round’ food – i.e. Moon Pies, Little Debbie Snack, pies, cookies, etc.  We would verify ‘pi’ by using string to measure the circumference, and rulers to measure the diameters of all the items brought in before anyone was allowed to eat. We’d have a contest on who could recite the most digits of pi – that was always a hoot. There was always some history about pi and I would where one of my Pi t-shirts (hey, math teacher – so yes, I have Pi T-shirts!!) – my favorite being the pi symbol made of skittles that said ‘Sweety Pi”.

Below are some links to activities and historical facts about Pi for those of you searching for things to do with students on Pi Day.

1. Did you know Albert Einstein was born on Pi Day? This article provides some history about Pi, such as how it got its name. It wasn’t from the Greeks, surprisingly!! http://time.com/4699479/pi-day-2017-history-origins/
2. The Exploratorium has a bunch of resources, from history, to activities, to the numbers of Pi, and if you live in San Francisco, admission is free on Pi Day – https://www.exploratorium.edu/pi  and the Pi Day event http://sf.funcheap.com/annual-pi-day-exploratorium/
3. There is an actual PiDay website – all things pi for March 14.  Tons of ideas and resources here http://www.piday.org/
4. Did you know some stores and restaurants have Pi Day specials? (Whole Foods, Blaze Pizza) – http://www.wral.com/pi-day-deals-wednesday-march-14/17396508/
5. This link has some history, some activity suggestions https://www.wincalendar.com/Pi-Day
6. Another site with activity ideas and fun facts about Pi – including the Pi song (see below) and a Pi video http://www.chiff.com/home_life/holiday/pi-day.htm
7. If you live in NYC, the Museum of Math has free admission on Pi Day and are serving pie! https://momath.org/about/upcoming-events/
8. If you live in or near Princeton, NJ, the entire town celebrates Pi Day – probably because Einstein lived there. https://princetontourcompany.com/activities/pi-day/
9. NASA’s Pi In the Sky challenges for Pi Day https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7074
10. 25 Ways to celebrate Pi Day https://holidappy.com/holidays/25-Best-Ways-to-Celebrate-Pi-Day-314

There’s a Pi Song?!!!

Enjoy you Pi-day preparations!!!

Advertisements

Creativity of Students – Provide Opportunities for Expression

I was straightening up my office – something I realized I do not do enough. I found a file of student projects from when I was teaching Geometry over 15 years ago. We had done some geometry poems for Valentines day – i.e. write a poem that utilizes mathematics vocabulary (getting that ELA and creativity flowing in my students), and I had clearly saved a few of my favorites.  There were other files of student projects – scale drawings of bedrooms and furniture (so students could ‘rearrange’ their rooms using a scale model), dilation pictures, transformation sketches from Sketchpad, problem-solving portfolios, and designing an aerial view of a city using geometric shapes and properties. As I walked through memory lane, looking at student work from years ago and remembering specific students, it really made me miss those classroom experiences. And what I had forgotten is how incredibly creative and thoughtful students are when given the chance to express themselves – you learn so much about them if you let them, what they know about mathematics, what they think, and what they don’t know if you provide opportunities to approach mathematics creatively.

I’d completely forgotten about the problem-solving portfolios I did with both middle and high school students in all my courses. They were given a choice of problems connected in some way to the math content we were learning or applications of prior knowledge, etc., and they were to choose from several. They had to complete one per unit and put it in their portfolio as examples of their problem-solving and learning/application of mathematics. This was way before the ‘Common Core’, but as I look at my expectations, it was very Common Core like. The idea behind was really very much centered around helping students to persevere and think critically about problems, use problem-solving strategies, and explain their interpretation of a problem, plan out a solution path, justifying their thinking, and showing multiple ways to approach a problem, and analyze their solutions to see if they made sense.  Here are the ‘steps’ they needed to go through and demonstrate in their problem-solving:

1. Restate the problem in your own words, writing out any questions or wondering you have about the problem.
2. Create a solution plan – what do you think about the problem  and why (is it hard, easy, does it seem similar to something you have seen or done before), what math might be needed, what problem-solving approach will you start with and why do you think this might be a good approach? What do you think might be the solution, before you begin?
3. Work through the problem – include everything, especially if you changed your original plan and why. Write down everything that comes to mind and what you did to think through things.
4. What is your solution and why do you think this is a reasonable solution?
5. Analysis of your problem solving – What did you think of the problem after working through it? What did you learn from doing the problem, either about yourself or about math, or both!?

In reading through some of these (I’ve posted some samples below from several different portfolios), you can ‘hear’ students personalities coming out, you can immediately see if they might have a misconception about what the problem is asking or an interesting approach to a solution, or identify those who really needed some extra support because their art work was more substantial then their mathematical work! It gives great insight into who might need some extra support or who might warrant some extra challenges. But mostly – the freedom to choose, think on their own and be creative and work through their problems provided students and ability to express their learning in a different way than an answer on a test. I remember at the time I was considered a rather eccentric MS/HS teacher because I did all these ‘strange’ things like keep math portfolios and journals, use manipulatives, used technology (Sketchpad) and projects instead of tests to demonstrate learning. But – in looking back on the past, and looking at what we want from students today in mathematics, with College and Career Ready Standards and Mathematical Practices, I think it’s the right path. Provide students opportunities to think, choose, be creative, find multiple solutions, justify their answers and question their results. It brings out their creativity and they learn to express themselves as mathematicians.

 

Equation App (Pt 2 in series) – Solving Equations – Why Use a Calculator?

Solving equations is a large part of the mathematics curriculum as students move into those upper-level concepts. If we look at the Common Core Standards, students start solving one-step equations for one variable in grade 6, adding on to the complexity as they move into higher mathematics where they have multiple variables and simultaneous equations and complex functions. It is important to help students understand what solving equations really represents – i.e. determining the values of unknown quantities and to help them solve them in a variety of ways (i.e. graphically, using a table, using symbolic manipulation, and yes….using technology such as a graphing calculator). And connecting those unknown quantities to real-world contexts is a big part of this as well. Students should solve in multiple ways and express their solutions in multiple ways so that they really understand the inter-connectedness of the multiple representations (graphs, tables, symbolic) and what all these quantities mean in context.

That said, many teachers are reluctant to use the equation solver that is often part of a graphing calculator because, as I have heard multiple times, it does the work for the students and just gives them the answer. True. But – there are ways to utilize the equation solver so that it supports the learning, not just ‘gives the solution’. The obvious way, and probably the most frequent way, is to have students solve the equation (s) by hand, showing all their inverse operations/work, maybe even sketching a graph of the solutions, and then using the graphing calculator to check their solution. Very valid way for students to both do the work, show their steps, and verify their solutions. But – the reverse is also a great way to try to help students learn HOW to solve equations. Working backwards, so to speak.

By this, I mean, use the equation solver to give students the answer first, and then see if they can figure out how to use symbolic manipulation and inverse operations to reach that outcome. As an example, start with a simple linear equation, such as 2x – 5 = 31. Have students plug this into the equation solver and get the solution of 18. Then, in pairs or small groups, have students look at the original problem and try to figure out how they can manipulate the coefficients and constants using inverse operations to get to that solution of 18. So maybe, plug the 18 in for the x.  What would they have to do to the other numbers in order to isolate that 18?  This forces students to use inverse operations to try to ‘undo’ the problem and end up with 18. In doing so, they are discovering the idea that to isolate a variable, you have to undo all the things that happened to it.  Give them a harder problem. Same process….and let them get to a point where they try to solve using their ‘understanding’ of inverse, and then they use the calculator to ‘check’.  The idea here is students are figuring it out by starting with the solution and working backwards to understand the process for solving equations. And they develop the process themselves versus memorizing it.

Rather than thinking of the calculator as a solution tool, think of it as another way to help students discover where those solutions come from.

Here’s a quick video on using the Equation App (solver) on the CG50. The process is the same on Casio’s other graphing calculators. This is another installment in the app exploration series, started last week with the Physium App.

CG50 – What Are All Those Apps?

As many of you know, I post quick videos in the blog to show different things about the Casio calculators or math or teaching. Many of these are posted on my YouTube Channel. I will occasionally get comments from viewers asking questions, and I do my best to answer them. If I can’t answer the question, I find someone who can, or research until I do have a response. Just the other day, when I was asked “how do you use the constants on the CG-50 calculator”, I was not quite sure what was being asked, since I tend to use the calculator from a mathematics teaching perspective, and hadn’t explored using constants (from a science perspective) and wasn’t even sure what was meant by the ‘constants’ in this particular question (as it could mean the constants in a given equation).  Turns out the viewer was asking about the Physium Menu/App on the calculator, and how to get the constants from these tables and values into calculations. This is something I have honestly never used because I am not a science teacher and therefore rarely, if ever, have need for this app. But – it got me curious and seeking out an answer (which I did find and explore so I could give a reasonable answer).

In my ignorance, I realized that there are many apps on the CG50 (and other Casio graphing calculators) that I have never really explored, not just the Physium App. Mostly I focus on the most-used menu items – Run Matrix (to do calculations), Graph (to work with functions and graphs), Table (functions using table representations), Equation (solving equations), and Picture Plot. But there are a lot of other menu items that I need to explore and learn to utilize since they all are useful for different contexts and applications. This is now a goal of mine – to try to learn and explore the basics of the other menu items (apps) of the CG50 (and other) graphing calculator, starting with the Physium Menu/app. Here’s what I have discovered:

The Physium application has the following capabilities (so science teachers, take note!!)

Periodic Table of Elements

• You can display the periodic table of elements
• The table shows the elements atomic number, atomic symbol, atomic weight and other info
• Elements can be searched for by element name, atomic symbol, atomic number or atomic weight

Fundamental Physical Constants

• You can display fundamental physical constants, grouped by category to make it easier
• You can edit the physical constants and save them as required
• You can store physical constants in the Alpha memory and use these saved constants in calculations in the RUN-MAT menu/application

Now, I am still not a science teacher, so this would not be a menu item I will use often, but I wanted to do a quick video of what I discovered in my own exploration.  And – there is a link to the how-to guide for the Physium Menu/App for those of you interested in exploring more. If you have a CG10 or other graphing calculator from Casio and don’t have the Physium menu/app, you can download it here.

 

Elevators and Number Sense

Number sense should develop early, and what simpler way to do it then to start with elevators?

Elevator, Vicenza, Italy

Why elevators you ask? Well, I just returned from 2 weeks in Italy. Partly for work: training elementary math teachers in Vicenza, Italy on College & Career Ready Standards for UT Dana Center International Fellows and Department of Defense Education Activities; and partly for leisure: touring Venice, Cinque Terre, Florence, Tuscany and Rome with my husband, sister, and brother-in-law. The first thing I noticed was the elevators have negative numbers to indicate those floors below ground zero (i.e. what we usually call floor 1 or Lobby in the U.S.)   It’s not the first time I’ve noticed this – in England, in Paris, in Germany – all these other countries indicate on their elevators the ground floor to be 0, the floors above ground 0 are 1, 2, 3…. and the floors below ground zero are -1, -2, -3….

This way of numbering elevators makes sense. Much more sense than Floor 1, or Lobby and then Basement, Basement2 (or LL1, LL2) – which is our typical way of indicating the ground floor (1) and the floors below ground level (Basements/Lower Levels). If you were a young child living in these countries and taking the lifts (or elevators), you are regularly exposed to integer numbers – with a contextual connection that the ground floor of a building is ground 0, and the floors below the ground are negative numbers, and the floors above the ground are positive numbers. It may not even be explicitly explained to young children, though they would be using the terms ‘negative 1’ or ‘negative 2’ to go down below the ground floor. They will have this repeated exposure so when they are ‘officially’ taught about negative numbers in school, they have an immediate connection to prior knowledge about the numbers in an lift/elevator and can make a real-world connection. Negative numbers won’t be new or hard to understand because it’s just the numbers in the elevator. Or – the numbers of the temperature, because let’s not forget, these countries also use the Celsius temperature scale, where freezing is 0, and anything above 0 degrees is above freezing and getting warmer (positive) and anything below 0 degrees is getting colder (negative). The further from 0 in either direction, the warmer or colder you are – again, real-world connection and a contextual understanding of integers.

Number sense. Number lines. Integers. Real-world connections. Just from elevators and temperature scales.

This repeated exposure, informal as it may be, is developing an intuitive understanding of numbers and their real-world meaning. And when students are then exposed to number lines and positive and negative numbers more formally, in a school setting, they already get what that means because it is familiar to them. They can apply what they already know to ‘mathematics’. The formalization makes sense, and connections make sense, and understanding is that much deeper.  This is different in the U.S., where students often struggle with the idea of ‘negative’ numbers and number lines and the distance from zero because we are teaching them something new.  We don’t have a real-world exposure to negative numbers because we use LL or B1 to represent lower than 0, our ground floor is never called 0, it’s 1 or Lobby or G (ground). Our temperature doesn’t have 0 as the freezing mark – it has 32 degrees Farenheit. Think how much easier it would be to connect negative numbers (those numbers smaller than zero) to negative floors or negative temperatures. Freezing makes sense at 0. Negative temperatures are colder than freezing. Positive temperatures are warmer than freezing. 32 degrees – not quite the same one-to-one connection to a number line, is it?

Anyway – my point is that something as simple as changing the numbers on an elevator to integer representations would go a long way in helping young children develop number sense early on so that by the time they get to school, they already have a natural understanding of positive and negative numbers. Early on they would be exposed to the idea of 0 being the ground level, positive numbers mean higher floors or farther away from ground zero, and negative numbers mean lower floors, below the ground, and the further you go below ground, the more negative you get, the farther away from zero you are. Number lines would then be ‘recognizable’ because there’s a contextual connection. (If we could change our temperature scale to Celsius that would be great too, though that one is a lot harder to do).

Relabel elevator buttons to reflect numbers on a number line – a simple change that could go a long way in developing informal number sense in children.

 

 

Access & Equity in the Classroom – A Teachers Role (Equity, Equality, and Access to Quality Education -Part 3)

This is the 3rd installment in my 3-part series on equity, equality and access to quality education. Here are links to Part-1 and Part-2, where I first define these terms and then I talk about funding issues that impact access and equity. As noted in Part 2, funding is a huge component of why schools and districts don’t provide equitable access to support student needs, and why low-economic areas tend to have inequitable education experiences and poor access to the supports and resources needed to help all students learn and achieve, based on their individual needs.

As a teacher, school funding is out of our hands for the most part (except for the personal funds we all spend to make sure the students in our classroom have resources and support). Parents and community leaders need to take a really close look at the money teachers spend out of their own pockets to address some of the inequities within their own classroom and school – it’s not right, it’s not fair and there needs to be more push-back on education policy and more support from local businesses, community advocates, and state and local school boards to ensure that schools that need funding and resources are getting those in an equitable fashion (remember, not equal, but equitable – all schools do not need the same). Teachers will spend their own money, even when they have very little, because they care about their students and what happens in their classroom, but they shouldn’t have to.

But, I digress.

What I want to talk about in this post is what teachers can do in their classrooms to address equity and access to quality education. Teachers, even without adequate funding, resources and support, are the most able to provide equity and access for the students in their classroom because that is where the learning happens. And it’s the learning, it’s the teaching strategies, it’s those interactions and learning experiences that can provide equity and access for all students. Let’s remind ourselves about what equity and access means – it means each student getting what THEY need to learn, meaning they have access to rich learning experiences and teaching that provides them with the support they need to understand the content, to think, to make connections, to apply that learning, and to achieve to their potential. To learn, despite their gender, their race, their socio-economic status, or their disabilities.

I can only speak from what I know, so I am going to take a mathematical approach to equity and access in the math classroom, but even if you are not a math teacher, these ideas and processes work in your classrooms as well, with the only difference being in the content.

NCTM (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics) has a position for what it means to have equity and access in the math classroom, so I am including it here (this links to the full article):

Creating, supporting, and sustaining a culture of access and equity require being responsive to students’ backgrounds, experiences, cultural perspectives, traditions, and knowledge when designing and implementing a mathematics program and assessing its effectiveness. Acknowledging and addressing factors that contribute to differential outcomes among groups of students are critical to ensuring that all students routinely have opportunities to experience high-quality mathematics instruction, learn challenging mathematics content, and receive the support necessary to be successful. Addressing equity and access includes both ensuring that all students attain mathematics proficiency and increasing the numbers of students from all racial, ethnic, linguistic, gender, and socioeconomic groups who attain the highest levels of mathematics achievement.

This means that all students should be engaged in real-world learning, problem-solving experiences, and applications of the content. These types of learning experiences are not just for those ‘advanced’ students. This means providing opportunities for students to engage in collaborative learning, where they are communicating their thoughts and ideas with others, where they are taught and allowed multiple approaches and multiple solutions, where they have supports (i.e. questioning by the teacher, partnering with others, hands-on materials, technology/visuals, etc.) that might help them make connections or get to that next ‘aha’ moment.  Lower-performing students shouldn’t be relegated to doing drill & kill worksheets and ‘remedial’ math classes where the focus is on test-taking strategies and memorization, but rather should be exposed to the same challenging problem-based, inquiry approaches as the high performing students, but with different supports to help address their needs (so scaffolded questions, or suggestions on strategies, or working with a partner, etc.).

A large part of this equity and access means teachers need to BELIEVE that ALL students can achieve and learn, with the difference being that some need more supports than others. I can’t tell you how many times I hear, “well, my lower-level students can’t do that” or “my students won’t talk or show me different approaches” or “my students will just wait for the ‘smart’ ones to do all the work’ or “my students have a hard time reading so we don’t do word problems” or “my students will just give up or just ask me to show them the answer”. I could go on, but I think you get the point (and have perhaps made those same comments yourself). It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy if you think this way, try something once and it ‘fails’, and therefore you don’t do it again – and then you and the students believe they can’t learn, or they can’t talk, or they can’t solve problems, etc. This is where inequity becomes a huge issue in classrooms – because we then resort to teaching students the ‘one way’ to do things (i.e. often the ‘way that’s on the test), and those students who need a different approach or who can’t memorize, can’t ‘perform’ or ‘achieve’ because they are NOT getting what they need to learn, and the cycle continues. To promote equity and access within your own class, you need to do some planning, some hard work up front, and be consistent – but it can change how you teach and how students learn so that all your students are getting what THEY need to learn. As a teacher, this is your responsibility within your own classroom.

Here are some suggestions:

1. Starting day one, begin creating a classroom culture that promotes communication, collaboration, and respect. Students need to ‘learn’ how to talk with each other and listen to each other – so practice getting them in and out of groups, sharing ideas (start with non-academic sharing first, like ‘what’s the best movie you saw this summer and why”), working with partners and presenting their thoughts. Practice respectful listening. Practice and model appropriate responses when someone might make a mistake (mistakes should be accepted as part of the learning). There are several places to go to help you learn some collaborative teaching strategies – this is a nice list of articles with good tips.
2. Learn to ask questions instead of giving answers or telling students they are right/wrong or yes/no. Simple questioning skills force students to start thinking, communicating, making connections, asking their own questions. Again, many resources out there to support questioning skills and provide some sample questions (“Why” is always a good one, or “Can you explain?”). Here’s one resource.
3. Set high expectations and be consistent with those from day one. Expect students to not only show their work, but to explain their thinking (write out in words or draw pictures or explain verbally). Model this when you teach or show things to students (think-out-loud is a great way to model this type of behavior in mathematics class). Consistency is important!
4. Provide problem-solving strategies from the beginning so that students realize that they have multiple ways to approach an unknown problem or situation. These are great strategies to incorporate in those first couple weeks of school and then to reference as they come up the rest of the year. And yes – even elementary students need problem solving skills.  (Notice & Wonder should become a habit of mind for all students, no matter the age because it provides that ‘think time’ and that ability to try and connect to prior knowledge and use what you know). The Math Forum is a wonderful resource for learning about the strategies and for getting problems to use in class.
5. Expect and allow for multiple ways to approach math problems. As long as students can justify what they did and it is mathematically sound reasoning/thinking, it should be okay. This is probably the single most important piece to equity in the math classroom – allowing students to solve problems multiple ways, using the strategies and methods that work for them, and allowing for multiple solutions/solution pathways. This is the hardest thing for teachers i think because we ‘know’ the ‘right’ way – but the right way is not the only way, and some students may never get the ‘right’ way, but they have a way and it gets them there and that should be okay AS LONG AS THEY EXPLAIN THEIR THINKING (see #3). To make this work, see #4.
6. Provide interesting learning experiences that promote thinking, multiple pathways to a solution, even multiple solutions. You will not get students working and communicating if you give them a worksheet with 30 process/skill based problems. You need to find interesting, relevant, problem-solving experiences that engage all students, that allow all students, no matter their ‘ability level’, a way to start thinking about solving. These types of problems should require previous math content knowledge and/or applications of new math content, require some analysis…..so think rich tasks.  There are many resources for interesting problems out there – content-related too – (Math Forum, Mathalicious, YummyMath, Illuminations, links to other resources)
7. Less lecture, more inquiry, student-based learning. Hands-on, visualizations, student questioning, student explanation. This does not mean you need to have a different activity for every student – that would be exhausting. You need to find learning experiences that address your content that allow all students a way to ‘enter’ the learning from whatever level they are at.

Teaching one way and expecting the ‘same’ approach for all students, no matter the level, will always leave some students behind and others stagnating.Our teaching should always be focused on the standards and content, with the way we structure the learning and the way we allow students to demonstrate their understandings providing the differentiation that will let all students achieve – those who are ‘behind’ learning to catch up and those stagnating able to move ahead and explore. The more students can connect with, engage in, and explain mathematics using what they know  and building on this knowledge, with the teacher guiding them to deeper understanding through questioning, modeling, and supports as needed, the more equitable the learning becomes.

Solar Eclipse 2017 – Resources and Links to View (and Use in Math/Science class….)

I think by now most American’s are aware that there is a full solar eclipse coming on August 21. I have friends traveling to different parts of the country (Wyoming, South Carolina) just so they can see the complete eclipse instead of just a partial. It’s big deal. There has been a lot of talk about how to view the eclipse safely – yes people, you can damage your eyes and/or go blind if you look at the eclipse without some type of protective eye wear unless it is in complete totality (i.e. the sun is completely covered by the moon). If there is even a sliver of sun showing, eye damage is possible, so why risk it? Apparently there is a shortage of eclipse glasses – and regular sun glasses don’t cut it. Later in this post I will provide a way to make a device to see the eclipse without looking directly at it for those of you who did not jump on the eclipse glass ordering craze!

This is a rare occurrence and there are many sites and resources out there to help collect data, track the eclipse, watch it live streamed. I’ve compiled a list of sites and resources that provide lots of options that you can use personally or use with students. Lot of math and science questions and connections that can be made!

1. Space.Com – lots of links here to where to see the eclipse, how to track it, how to livestream, safety, etc.
2. State-by-State Map – also Space.Com but the slide show focuses on time and where to see the eclipse by state
3. NASA.gov Also shows where, when and how, with some great visuals and suggestions for safety
4. Eclipse2017.org A great resource – click on the different links to prepare, find maps, discussions on what an eclipse is, etc.
5. Science Space Institute – they have an app that will allow you to explore real-time images of the solar eclipse
6. Astronomy Magazine – 25 facts about the solar eclipse – (good resource to use with students!)
7. TimeandDate.com – very cool map that if you click on it (path of eclipse) it will show date, time, location
8. USA Today – lots of resources here, with an important one – the FAKE eclipse glasses that have gone on the market – beware!
9. The Washington Post – some fun facts about the sun, moon, eclipse – great for students
10. Sky & Telescope – lots of links to where, when, education resources all connected to the eclipse
11. Eclipsophile – interesting facts about each state in the path of totality – great math/science stuff here!

As you can see, there is a plethora of information on the solar eclipse out there to explore, much of which for you teachers out there, can become some really interesting math and science exploration and discussion.

Let’s end with some links to making your own SAFE eclipse viewer, because again, you do NOT want to look directly at the eclipse, especially partial, with the naked eye. Indirect viewing (or watch it livestream via some of the links above). Here are a few different links that show different ways to create your own eclipse viewers, and I have included a video at the end as well.

1. NASA – using things from around your house (well, only if you have binoculars)
2. National Geographic – uses stiff pieces of white cardboard. This is designed for use with students.
3. TimeandDate.com – pinhole box (so need a box, duct tape, scissors, white paper…)
4. Wikihow.com – this involves carboard and a camera (those of you wanting to take pictures)
5. USA Today – this involves a cereal box, aluminum foil, scissors, white paper – simplified pinhole box
6. Exploratorium – this has several methods, and even has the same scientist from the NASA as one option
7. Youtube – lots of videos on youtube on how to make an eclipse viewer.  I liked this one because it was simple and efficient.

Below is a video on making your own eclipse viewer. I chose this one because it was simple and uses items easily found around the house: