Illustrative Mathematics
Bookstore Account
We use debt often to describe negative numbers and your learners will be able to see how it translates into math. They will be asked to go through a series of transactions and make simple equations for each one, following it with a...
Illustrative Mathematics
Comparing Freezing Points
Subtracting negative numbers can be confusing to your middle schoolers. Here, they are able to draw a number line and put their answer in sentence form to check their understanding of negative numbers.
Illustrative Mathematics
Chess Club
When the membership in a chess club changes, it is your mathematicians' job to find out how many boys and girls are attending and the percent change from last year. The activity provides a great compound problem finding the different...
Illustrative Mathematics
Comparing Years
Who knew that the Egyptian, Julian, and Gregorian year were different lengths? Your mathematicians will! They will have to calculate the difference between the years in seconds and find the percent change. Using dimensional analysis,...
Illustrative Mathematics
Selling Computers
A quick activity to test your learners' knowledge of percent increase. When an electronic store needs a 30% increase in computer sales, your mathematicians must calculate how many computers they need to sell next month.
Illustrative Mathematics
Stained Glass
A complex question looking for the total cost of a stained glass window by calculating area and circumference of a circle. With detailed components, this activity will challenge your designers to figure out if they have enough money to...
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 activity in the Additional Materials section to practice this...
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
Writing Constraints
Use this resource to present your number crunchers with how to write a constraint equation and to determine viable solutions. The price of an object limits the amount that can be purchased. The speed at which you walk limits the number...
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
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
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
Molly's Run, Assessment Variation
Part of as assessment series, the activity follows the lesson Molly's Run to practice ratios and dividing with fractions. Different solution options are given for your learners' preference. The commentary explains how the standards...
Illustrative Mathematics
Cooking with the Whole Cup
Whoops! Travis accidentally put too much butter into the recipe. Your bakers must find out how to alter the recipe to accommodate different changes by using unit rates and ratios . The activity has multiple parts and calculations with...
Illustrative Mathematics
Riding at a Constant Speed, Assessment Variation
Practice ratios and unit rates with tracking how long Lin took to ride her bike. Provided with different questions, your mathematicians can assemble their answers using a chart or setting up ratios. The activity is included in a set of...