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
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
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...
Illustrative Mathematics
All vs. Only Some
All shapes have certain defining attributes that set them apart from others. In order to understand this, young mathematicians look at examples and non-examples of triangles, rectangles, and squares, working as a whole class to create...
Birdville Independent School District
Friendly Numbers
There are a number of different strategies young mathematicians can use when adding two-digit numbers. This lesson focuses on making addition easier by rounding the addends to friendly numbers, with the resulting sum being adjusted...
Scholastic
Study Jams! Function Tables
Each week Mia saves a certain portion of the earnings from her babysitting job. Help her figure out how much she can save this week with a step-by-step presentation on function tables. Given a set of inputs and outputs, the process for...
Scholastic
Study Jams! Compare Fractions & Mixed Numbers
Follow along with RJ from the Study Jams! crew as he walks step-by-step through the process for comparing fractions with unlike denominators. Starting with finding the least common denominator, the presentation goes on to demonstrate how...
Scholastic
Study Jams! Add & Subtract with Common Denominators
RJ and Zoey are at camp and need to get back to the mess hall for lunch, but they don't know how far they have to walk. Help them figure out the distance while teaching young mathematicians how to add and subtract fractions with this...
Illustrative Mathematics
Counting Squares
Challenge young mathematicians' understanding of squares with this geometry puzzle. The task is simple, identify as many squares as possible in a 3x3 array. Allow learners to work independently or in pairs as they search for squares,...
Illustrative Mathematics
Grandfather Tang's Story
It's amazing the complex figures that can be made using only a few simple shapes. Following a class reading of the children's book Grandfather Tang's Story by Ann Tompert, young mathematicians use sets of tangrams to create models of the...
Illustrative Mathematics
Measure Me!
How many unifix cubes tall are you? If you're not sure, then perform this math activity with your class and find out. Working in pairs, young mathematicians make measuring sticks out of unifix cubes in order to determine the length of...
Illustrative Mathematics
Favorite Ice Cream Flavor
What better way to engage children in a math instructional activity than by talking about ice cream? Using a pocket chart or piece of chart paper, the class works together creating a bar graph of the their favorite ice cream flavors....
Education Closet
Equal Rhythms
Engage young mathematicians in learning about fractions with this cross-curricular math and music lesson. After listening to and repeating different beat patterns, children realize that musical notes are just another way of representing...
Curriculum Corner
“I Can” Common Core! 3rd Grade Math
Help third graders make sense of the Common Core math standards with this simple checklist. By rewording each standard as an I can statement, children are provided with clear goals to focus on as they participate in math lessons.
University of Wisconsin
What’s a Square Foot Anyway? Laying Out the Design Plan
Clever! Participants don square-foot cardboard shoes to mark out the rain garden plot that they have spent the last few weeks designing. In this way, they are practicing scale modeling as well! Note that this lesson plan is part of a...
Granite School District
Activities that Build Number Sense
Have fun while building the number sense of young mathematicians with this list of ten-frame learning games. From developing cardinality and counting skills to learning place value and basic addition strategies, ten-frames are excellent...
Math Solutions
Race to 20
And they're off! Working in pairs, young mathematicians roll dice to see who can fill in their double ten-frames first. When students finally fill in their arrays, they create addition number sentences that represent their rolls, helping...
Scholastic
Adding and Subtracting Ten
Developing fluency with basic addition and subtraction is fundamental to the success of all young mathematicians. This four-day lesson series begins with learners using ten-frames and hundreds charts to recognize patterns when adding and...
Curated OER
Understanding Fractions Poster
Here is a great poster to hang in your classroom to help remind your young mathematicians of the definitions of proper, improper, and mixed fractions.
Curated OER
Prime Numbers
Remembering which numbers are prime can be a snap if you have a graphic to help you out. As this printable 8x11 image will tell you, a prime is a number which can only be divided by one and itself. Number 1-100 are enclosed in pretty...
Omaha Zoo
I Like to Move It
What do lemurs do best? They move! Lemurs like to jump, run, hop, and climb and it's your class's job to document seven fun lemur behaviors. The class starts by discussing why lemurs are considered primates, and then they isolate seven...
Curated OER
Take a Chance on Probability
Connect ratios, probability, and combination outcomes with a challenging activity idea. It guides your learners through probability of an event as fractions or ratios, on a number line, and with correct vocabulary. The class will be...