Illustrative Mathematics
Making a Clock
Have a fun time teaching children to read analog clocks with this whole-group math activity. Using large sets of the numerals 1-12 and 0, 5, 10...55, the teacher creates a large clock on either the carpet or the white board, explaining...
Illustrative Mathematics
Hundred Chart Digit Game
Math games, especially in the primary grades, provide great opportunities for developing the number sense of young mathematicians. Working in pairs with a deck of single-digit cards, students take turns drawing two cards and reading the...
Illustrative Mathematics
Make Your Own Puzzle
Puzzling over what geometry instructional activity to teach next? Look no further. This simple activity teaches young mathematicians how shapes can be decomposed into smaller figures, and how smaller figures can be assembled into larger...
Illustrative Mathematics
Overlapping Rectangle
Challenge young mathematicians' ability to compose and decompose shapes with this fun geometry puzzle. The goal is simple, locate all of the rectangles shown in a picture of three overlapping rectangles. Perform this activity as a whole...
Illustrative Mathematics
How Long
It won't take young mathematicians long to learn how to measure length with this fun, hands-on activity. Working in pairs, children use Unifix® or snap cubes to measure and record the lengths of different classroom objects. To extend the...
Illustrative Mathematics
Number of the Day
Daily routines not only help to manage classrooms, they can also provide students with rich opportunities for learning. This activity supports young learners in developing their number sense by counting up the school days on a class 100...
Illustrative Mathematics
$20 Dot Map
Challenge the addition skills of young learners with this open-ended math problem. The task is simple, get from start to finish by connecting a series of three numbers. The trick is that the sum of the numbers must be less than or equal...
Exploratorium
Exploring Pattern Blocks
Here's a great lesson that uses one of the best manipulatives there is: pattern blocks. Elementary schoolers must fill in a variety of shapes using specific amounts of pattern blocks. This forces them to do some spatial mathematical...
Exploratorium
Cut-Fold-Staple
Here is an interesting activity that combines paper folding art and geometry. In it, learners have a stack of index cards that are bound together. They draw a shape on it, and cut out the shape. When they unfold their shape, they have...
Exploratorium
String Shapes
You'd never have guessed it, but simple pieces of string make a fabulous manipulative for the study of geometry! In the fine lesson plan here, young mathematicians use string to make a variety of polygons. Pupils sit in various...
Exploratorium
Rotating String Shapes
Here is a very interesting way of studying triangles and polygons. Pupils work together and use pieces of string to create a variety of shapes. Depending on how many kids are manipulating the string at any one time, the number of...
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Engineer a Dam
To begin the learning about dams, learners read (or are read to, depending on the age group) a passage about how dams work. Next, they work in groups to use the materials provided to build a small scale working dam. After the experience,...
Curriculum Corner
“I Can” Common Core! 1st Grade Math
Any first grader can master the Common Core math standards with this checklist! With each standard rewritten as an affirmative I can statement, children are provide with clear goals to work toward throughout the school year.
Display an...
Center for Innovation in Education
Unifix Cubes
Support young mathematicians with building a strong foundational number-sense using this series of printable Unifix® cube strips. Adaptable to the teaching of a variety of different concepts, from basic counting and cardinality, to...
Illustrative Mathematics
Growing Bean Plants
Plant growth experiments offer rich, cross-curricular learning opportunities that can really excite and engage young learners. In this series, children work in pairs planting, measuring, and comparing the height of bean plants in order...
Illustrative Mathematics
Weather Graph Data
Teaching young mathematicians about collecting and analyzing data allows for a variety of fun and engaging activities. Here, children observe the weather every day for a month, recording their observations in the form of a bar graph....
Illustrative Mathematics
Kiri's Mathematics Match Game
Learning math is so much more fun when it involves playing games. Following the rules of the classic game Memory, young mathematicians flip over two cards at a time as they look for numbers whose sum or difference is equal to the value...
Illustrative Mathematics
Sort and Count II
Capture the engagement of young mathematicians with this hands-on sorting activity. Given a bag of objects, students work independently sorting the items based on their physical attributes, counting to determine the size of each group....
Illustrative Mathematics
Sort and Count
Young mathematicians are on their feet and moving around in this primary grade sorting activity. After giving each child an object or picture card, they then sort themselves into groups, counting to see which has the most or least...
Illustrative Mathematics
Size Shuffle
In the eyes of children the world is a simple place, objects are either big or small. This simple activity aims to expand the comparison language of young mathematicians as they use the words taller and shorter to compare their height...
Illustrative Mathematics
Longer and Heavier? Shorter and Heavier?
For many young children it seems obvious that longer objects are heavier than shorter objects. This assumption is put to the test as the class investigates the relationship between length and weight in a whole-group activity. Using a...
Curated OER
How Heavy
Break out the balances for this primary grade instructional activity on weight measurement. Using common elementary school manipulatives like unifix or snap cubes, young mathematicians determine the weight of four different classroom...
Illustrative Mathematics
Christina's Candies
Help Christina figure out how many chocolate and lemon candies she has with a lesson on decomposing numbers. When presenting this context to the class, the teacher chooses the total number of candies and the number that are chocolate,...
Illustrative Mathematics
Which Weighs More? Which Weighs Less?
Expand the the comparative language of young mathematicians with a hand-on weight measurement activity. Working independently or in pairs, children compare the weight of large wooden blocks to various other classroom objects, recording...