Illustrative Mathematics
Eight Circles
We are used to finding the area of a circle by plugging the radius into an equation. Here, learners are required to go further to find multiple areas and calculate the difference. They must detect a pattern in order to figure out the...
Illustrative Mathematics
Shrinking
Is Aunt Nancy shrinking? Find out by calculating with the average height women lose each year. The activity practices multiplying and dividing with decimals and rounding the final answer.
Illustrative Mathematics
Puzzle Times
Give your mathematicians this set of data and have them create a dot plot, then find mean and median. They are asked to question the values of the mean and median and decide why they are not equal. Have learners write their answers or...
Illustrative Mathematics
Walk-a-thon 1
Your mathematician's job is to explore the relationship between hours and miles walked during a walk-a-thon. The activity compels your learners to experiment with different means in finding out this proportional relationship. The answer...
Illustrative Mathematics
Security Camera
A different-than-normal problem that allows learners to practice their reasoning to find an answer. The problem bases itself off a graph drawing of a store that needs to install security cameras. The challenge is to find which placement...
Illustrative Mathematics
Shirt Sale
Everyone loves a good deal, and your mathematician's job is to calculate the original price when given the discount. A different type of problem than the traditional "find the percent change" has your learners working backwards to...
Illustrative Mathematics
Making Hot Cocoa, Variation 1
Dividing with fractions can be a confusing task to some, but the activity illustrates how to make groups out of the problem and look at it visually. Use this problem with the lesson plan in the Additional Materials section to practice...
Illustrative Mathematics
Making Hot Cocoa, Variation 2
Learners are introduced to dividing by fractions in a visual way. Setting up groups from the information in the problem allows them to see what we divide and why. Use with the previous lesson, which can be found in Additional Materials,...
Illustrative Mathematics
Jayden’s Snacks
A quick activity to test the knowledge of your learners on adding and subtracting with decimals. They must calculate how much Jayden spent at the store and how much money he has remaining.
Illustrative Mathematics
Paying the Rent
Learning how a bank account works is a useful tool. The exercise in the resource is to deduct rent from a checking account and create an equation from a description. Participants then graph the balance of the bank account versus months...
Illustrative Mathematics
Fishing Adventures 2
This resource is part of a series which expects participants to be familiar with graphing inequalities on a number line. It is a word problem that asks your class to graph a discrete solution set and interpret it in the context of an...
Illustrative Mathematics
Find the Change
This exercise is an opportunity for algebra learners to understand the connection between the slope of a line and points found on the line. Use similar triangles to explain why slope m is the same between any two points. Discuss with the...
Illustrative Mathematics
Computing Volume Progression 2
Once your geometers know how to apply the formula V = l w h, they will be ready to take on the fractional volume of a fish tank. Have your number crunchers swap heights so they can see that the fractional volume will not change.
Illustrative Mathematics
Guess My Number
Make a game out of solving equations. This particular activity works well for pairs of learners. Follow the instructions to have player one pick a number and player two verbally give an equation. Participants need to make sense of a...
Illustrative Mathematics
Miles to Kilometers
Can your mathematicians come up with an easy way to convert miles to kilometers? Start by asking learners to write an algebraic expression for each of the descriptions given. Once they determine that they are both the same, ask...
Illustrative Mathematics
DVD Profits, Variation 1
The idea in the resource is to understand the connections between proportional relationships, lines, and linear equations. To stay within the context of the standard, skip the part of the resource that solves with unit rates. Instead,...
Illustrative Mathematics
Giantburgers
What is a million between friends? This fast food chain claims to serves a certain percentage of Americans every day. The resource agrees, but depending on how you calculate it, you could be a million off. Let your fast food munchers be...
Illustrative Mathematics
Proportional Relationships, Lines, and Linear Equations
The resource is a good introduction to what makes a proportional relationship between two lines. Discuss the similarities of both lines and the possibility of intersection. Use this opportunity to list other acceptable forms of each...
Illustrative Mathematics
Buying a Car
Teenagers love to think about driving and buying their first car. The intent of this resource is to create an equation for the list price of a car and add the appropriate state tax. Once your teens understand the calculation, ask them to...
Illustrative Mathematics
Dimes and Quarters
Here is a coin problem where the algebra learner determines the pair of linear equations needed to solve the system. Whether the equations are taken from a table, or your scholars recognize the format of a coin problem, it is an...
Illustrative Mathematics
Electoral College
A cross-curricular resource that takes the electoral votes and allows your learners to organize and analyze the data. Young voters can determine which states are more influential and interpret the dotplot provided for more data....
Illustrative Mathematics
Fixing the Furnace
This comprehensive resource applies simultaneous equations to a real-life problem. Though the commentary starts with a graph, some home consumers may choose to begin with a table. A graph does aid learners to visualize the shift of one...
Illustrative Mathematics
Coupon Versus Discount
All too often stores give coupons for an item, but when you go into buy it, the item is on discount. The store won’t take the coupon if the discount is used. So what do you do, use the coupon or take the discount? This activity helps...
Illustrative Mathematics
Molly's Run, Assessment Variation
Part of as assessment series, the activity follows the instructional activity Molly's Run to practice ratios and dividing with fractions. Different solution options are given for your learners' preference. The commentary explains how the...