Illustrative Mathematics
“Crossing the Decade” Concentration
Young mathematicians concentrate on learning to fluently count. Following the rules of the classic game Memory, children take turns flipping over cards in order to find pairs of numbers that cross a decade (e.g. 29 and 30). For younger...
Illustrative Mathematics
Comparing Numbers
Young mathematicians spin their way to a deeper number sense with this fun, collaborative activity. Using two spinners, one with the numbers 0-9 and the other with the decades 00-90, pairs of students take turns building and comparing...
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...
Scholastic
Quick as a Cricket Lesson Plan
Teaching young learners about similes is easy as pie with this primary grade language arts activity. Following a class reading of the children's book, Quick as a Cricket by Audrey Wood, young readers learn the definition of a simile as...
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...
Mr. Printables
Map of The USA Jigsaw Puzzle
Encourage young learners to explore the United States with this printable map puzzle. A fun activity that engages children in learning US geography.
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...
PBS
Joseph Had a Little Overcoat: Flash Card Games
Expand the vocabulary of young readers with this series of five activities based the children's book Joseph Had a Little Overcoat by Simms Taback. From playing bingo to group storytelling, a variety of different approaches are presented...
University of Wisconsin
Noting Notable Features for Rain Gardens
Eight groups in your class are each responsible for a different aspect of surveying the campus for a suitable rain garden location. Features to consider include water flow, topography, sun/shade patterns, land surface, vegetation,...
Steven's Institute of Technology
How Does Your Garden Grow?
What to do, bunnies are getting into the garden and eating all the carrots! After reading the story Muncha! Muncha! Muncha! the class works together to design a device that will keep those bunnies out of the garden. They get together in...
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...
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...
Illustrative Mathematics
What’s Missing?
Now you see them, now you don't! This fun peek-a-boo activity engages young mathematicians in developing their ability to compose and decompose numbers. After being presented with a series of counters, children close their eyes while the...
Illustrative Mathematics
Shake and Spill
Entertaining as well as educational, this math activity about decomposing numbers is bound to capture the engagement of young learners. Given a cup and five two-color counters, young mathematicians simply shake and spill the cup,...
Illustrative Mathematics
3-D Shape Sort
From the apple on your desk and the coffee cup in your hand, to the cabinets along the classroom wall, basic three-dimensional shapes are found everywhere in the world around us. Introduce young mathematicians to the these common figures...