Laura Candler
Fishbowl Multiplication
Transition young mathematicians from using repeated addition to multiplication with this fun, hands-on activity. Using manipulatives and the included game board, students work in pairs modeling repeated addition problems before...
North Carolina State University
Shapes
Expose youngsters to 3-D objects in a hands-on learning activity involving marshmallows and toothpicks. Engage your young mathematicians by introducing them to 3-D shapes by means of a story book. Explore 3-D shapes by manipulating...
Curated OER
St. Patrick’s Day
Combine math, creative writing, and leprechauns in a fun St. Patrick's Day activity! Using a bag of gold coins and marshmallows, kids write a math story about a leprechaun that includes a multi-step equation to solve.
Curated OER
M&M Science and Math
A series of math and science activities feature M&M's® as manipulatives to help kids work through equations. The resource includes exercises on finding averages, percent of compositions, moles in chemical reactions, genotypes and...
Illustrative Mathematics
Many Ways to Do Addition
A great aspect of teaching math is that children have the freedom to solve problems using a variety of different strategies. The focus of this lesson is for young mathematicians to become aware of many ways of answering addition...
Illustrative Mathematics
Field Day Scarcity
Introduce young mathematicians to concepts of financial literacy with this open-ended word problem. With seven dollars to spend during field day and given a list of available items and their prices, children must determine how they want...
David Pleacher
Candy Math Fun
Few things can motivate children to learn like the promise of a sweet and tasty treat. Given a bag of M&M®s, Skittles®, or other colorful candy, students first predict the contents of the bag before counting the pieces, creating a...
Shodor Education Foundation
Triangle Area
While the lesson focuses on right triangles, this activity offers a great way to practice the area of all triangles through an interactive webpage. The activity begins with the class taking a square paper and cutting in in half; can they...
K-5 Math Teaching Resources
Tangram Cutout
Challenge the spatial thinking of your young mathematicians with this printable tangram puzzle. Using different sized triangles, squares, and parallelograms, children must figure out how to fit all the shapes together to create a square.
Curated OER
How Heavy
Break out the balances for this primary grade lesson on weight measurement. Using common elementary school manipulatives like unifix or snap cubes, young mathematicians determine the weight of four different classroom objects. A graphic...
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...
West Contra Costa Unified School District
Division (No Remainders)
Help young mathematicians build a solid understanding of division with this base ten block activity. With the help of these popular math manipulatives, children model different math problems in order to reinforce the connection between...
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
Placing a Fire Hydrant
Triangle centers and the segments that create them easily become an exercise in memorization, without the help of engaging applications like this lesson. Here the class investigates the measure of center that is equidistant to the three...
Noyce Foundation
Miles of Tiles
Create number sentences and equations to solve geometric problems. Each activity in the series of five asks young mathematicians to consider different-sized tiles to build structures according to specific criteria. The first activities,...
101 Questions
Pyramid of Pennies
Go big or go home! Learners watch a video rendition of the creation of a penny pyramid. Their task is to determine the number of pennies in the pyramid. The lesson encourages multiple methods, including function building or volume formulas.
101 Questions
Coin Carpet
Here's a new meaning to the expression throwing away money...a carpet of coins! An intriguing lesson requires calculations to determine the coin that would be the cheapest option, but it's a little tricky. The cost of the coin changes,...
Curated OER
Task: Miniature Golf
"Fore!" All right, no one really yells this out in miniature golf, but this well-defined activity will have your charges using lots of numbers in their unique design of a miniature golf hole. Included in the activity criteria is the...
Curated OER
More and Less Handfuls
Working as a pair, two kindergartners will sit at a table and will pick two handfuls of counters. They will combine their individual handfuls into one, and count their own selection. They will then draw and record their count on a record...
Illustrative Mathematics
Logistic Growth Model, Abstract Version
Here learners get to flex some serious algebraic muscles through an investigation of logistic growth. The properties of the constant terms in the logistic growth formula are unraveled in a short but content-dense activity. Moving...
Noyce Foundation
Poly-Gone
Investigate polygons from rectangles to triangles to octagons. Each level of the five-problem series targets a different grade level. Beginning with the level A problem, learners examine the relationship between area and perimeter by...
Noyce Foundation
Fractured Numbers
Don't use use a fraction of the resource — use it all! Scholars attempt a set of five problem-of-the-month challenges on fractions. Levels A and B focus on creating fractions and equivalent fractions, while Levels C, D, and E touch on...
Howard County Schools
Setting the Table
How many people can fit around a table? Depends on the size of the table, right? Explore patterns to generate an equation for the number of people that can fit around a table given its size.
Noyce Foundation
Surrounded and Covered
What effect does changing the perimeter have on the area of a figure? The five problems in the resource explore this question at various grade levels. Elementary problems focus on the perimeter of rectangles and irregular figures with...