e-satis's list is pretty good, but since this is for a math class, I'd add the following suggestions:
First of all, either use Python 3.x or tell them to always use
from __future__ import division
Otherwise, they will get bitten by integer division. It's easy enough to remember when you type 1/2 at the interactive prompt, but you'll get bugs in subtle places like:
def mean(seq):
"""Return the arithmetic mean of a list."""
return sum(seq) / len(seq)
When you teach functions, show them the math module and the built-in sum function. Also show the ability to pass a function to another function, which is useful for writing generic derivative/integral approximations:
def derivative(f, x, delta_x=1e-8):
"""Approximate f'(x)."""
return (f(x + delta_x) - f(x - delta_x)) / (2 * delta_x)
print(derivative(math.sin, 0))
