North Carolina State University
Construction
Engineering design projects serve as great opportunities for collaborative problem solving. In this case, students work in small groups designing, building, and eventually testing a structure that meets a teacher-specified objective. It...
Curated OER
Terrific Tessellations
Students construct tesselations that fosters their ability to create, transform, and critique their own piece of work. This allows them to become aware of repeated patterns in math, and connect these patterns to artwork.
Curated OER
Supplementary, Complementary, and Vertical Angles
By using circles that they cut out and label themselves, learners literally "get a grip" on the angles they identify: supplementary, complementary, and vertical. They solve missing measurements based on properties of supplementary,...
Illustrative Mathematics
Mile High
What is the meaning of sea level? This resource helps your class understand the meaning of elevations above, below, and at sea level. Provides for good discussion on using positive and negative numbers to represent quantities in the real...
Alabama Learning Exchange
Polygons-Changing Area Versus Changing Perimeter
Investigate the area and perimeter of polygons in this geometry activity. Young geometers use grid paper to draw a quadrilateral and calculate its area and perimeter. They also read The Greedy Triangle to identify the changing shape of...
Curated OER
Mirror, Mirror
Geometry young scholars use hinged mirrors to discover that the regular polygons are composed of triangles tessellating around a center point. They sketch triangles on paper models of the regular polygons having 3 to 10 sides and compute...
Curated OER
The True Value of Sweets
Measure your pupil's learning in a instructional activity designed to explore decimals by weighing different candies on a scale and recording the weight. Small groups then compare and order the decimal weights on a number line to show...
Pennsylvania Department of Education
Build What I've Created
n this geometric instructional activity, students define and identify two dimensional shapes based on their attributes. They complete worksheets based on the geometric concepts.
Curated OER
Marshmallow Figures
Students enjoy making 3-D figures while learning about rectangular prisms, pyramids, vertices, edges, and faces. After a lecture/demo, students use marshmallows, toothpicks and a worksheet imbedded in this lesson to create 3 dimensional...
Curated OER
Problem Solving: Surface Area or Volume
Strengthen young geometric muscles with this exercise in finding surface area and volume. Six problems provide practice at determining the surface area and volume of two solid figures shown in cubic units, deciding which to find given a...
Curated OER
Rounding Decimals, from Hundredths Place to Whole Numbers
An efficient and straightforward decimals learning exercise! Young learners round amounts of money and measurements to the nearest dollar or meter. Each section contains 20 problems, making it easy to divide up this asignment into...
Baylor College
What's Is Soil Made Of?
It's time to roll up those sleeves and get a little dirty in the second lesson of this series on the science of food. Investigate where plants and animals get the minerals they need to live in this two-part exploration of soil. First,...
Teach Engineering
Flow Rates of Faucets and Rivers
Go with the flow and use a helpful resource. A set of two activities has learners investigate flow rates. They first determine the flow rate of a faucet by measuring how long it takes to fill a bucket. Using the results, they make a...
Curated OER
Let's Plot Points
Use coordinate grid paper to plot points and identify shapes that are already plotted on the paper by saying their coordinates. Pupils also measure the distance between points and play the game Battleship. There are several web links and...
Curated OER
Massive Migrations
Here is an exciting exploration of a fascinating topic for your emerging ecologists: bird migration! They begin by visiting the US Fish & Wildlife Service website to discover which Arctic birds come to their areas. They are assigned...
Curated OER
Action-Reaction! Rocket
Students construct a rocket from a balloon propelled along a guide string. They use this model to learn about Newton's three laws of motion, examining the effect of different forces on the motion of the rocket. They measure the distance...
Fraction Bars
Quotients of Whole Numbers that Equal Fractions
A complete lesson on dividing whole numbers by other whole numbers and getting a fraction result. Groups of learners use fractions bars, and strips of paper that are cut to specific lengths. The hands-on activities in the lesson are...
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...
NASA
Food For Thought
Science can be quite tasty. A delectable unit from NASA shows learners why it's important to consider food, nutrition, and health in space. Four lessons explore the idea in great depth, including testing cookie recipes. Along the way,...
Curated OER
Riding on a Pendulum
A comprehensive resource gets fourth grade physical scientists making observations about the period of a pendulum and then applying knowledge to a playground swing. Through seven different stations, they will record observations and...
Berkshire Museum
Where’s the Water?: Acting Out Science Cycles
Young scientists transform themselves into rivers, oceans, clouds, and drops of water in order to explore the water cycle. After assigning and explaining to students their different roles in the activity, the teacher reads aloud a...
Baylor College
Heart and Lungs
With a partner, youngsters measure their pulse and breathing rates, both at rest and after running in place for a minute. While this activity is not novel, the lesson plan includes a large-scale classroom graphing activity and other...
Curated OER
Turn Up the Volume
Measuring volume can be a mystery for 5th graders, but this hands-on activity gives the gift of discovery. The volume of simple rectangular solids and irregular shapes are calculated through various methods including displacing liquid in...
Curated OER
Who's On First?
Have you ever considered why the number 10 is so important to us? That's what learners do here. They explore patterns formed by powers of ten and by decimals, convert units of measure within the metric system, and express these in the...