Illustrative Mathematics
Three Composing/Decomposing Problems
Practice composing and decomposing numbers in base-ten using three word problems. Each problem presents a different scenario requiring learners to explain their thinking, find the number of ones, and find out different ways to make a...
Illustrative Mathematics
How Many Servings of Oatmeal?
Here is another way to illustrate division of a whole number by a unit fraction. In this case, the problem is asking if there are so many servings per cup, how many servings are in a package of multiple cups. Learners are to model their...
Illustrative Mathematics
How Many Cells Are in the Human Body?
Investigating the large numbers of science is the task in a simple but deep activity. Given a one-sentence problem set-up and some basic assumptions, the class sets off on an open-ended investigation that really gives some...
Beverly Hills High School
The French Revolution
Aspiring filmmakers and budding historians alike will love a storyboard project on the French Revolution. Learners plan a Hollywood blockbuster, complete with script and full storyboards, that cover important events of the French...
Illustrative Mathematics
Sammy's Chipmunk and Squirrel Observations
Here is a fun project. Sammy observes a chipmunk and a squirrel to see how many holes each needs in order to stash the same number of acorns. Scholars could find the answer algebraically or create a table to analyze the...
Illustrative Mathematics
US Garbage, Version 1
An interesting example of a discrete function and how it is applies to the real world. This could easily make a good collaborative lesson with an environmental science class. Practice reading a table and drawing a scatter plot make up...
Illustrative Mathematics
Calculations with Sine and Cosine
Practice makes perfect and perfecting those trigonometric functions are vital in trigonometry. The task requires evaluating cosine and sine values at common degree measures before looking at the results. Is there a pattern when the...
Illustrative Mathematics
Identifying Quadratic Functions
Put your high schoolers to the test and see how well they know their quadratic functions. With excellent thought-provoking questions, learners use what they know about creating quadratic equations based off different pieces of...
Illustrative Mathematics
Sum and Difference Angle Formulas
Need practice deriving trigonometric angle formulas? With this worksheet, pupils derive the sum and difference formulas for cosine and tangent and the difference formula for sine. Scholars use the sine sum formula and other known...
Illustrative Mathematics
Building a General Quadratic Function
Rewrite a quadratic function to easily see the transformations involved. The instructional task takes a general quadratic function and rewrites it into a form that shows the translations and scaling of the parent quadratic function. The...
Illustrative Mathematics
What's the Point?
Given a certain amount of points, how many line segments can you connect between them? How many close geometric figures can you create? These are the types of questions learners are asked to solve in a assessment-based worksheet.
Illustrative Mathematics
Solving Two Equations in Two Unknowns
More than just a one-problem resource, learners must explain their answer and incorporate a writing component to mathematical thinking. The resource also includes an explanation of the solution to help with the reasoning.
Illustrative Mathematics
Maria’s Marbles
Ali has more marbles than Maria in some of these word problems, while in others Maria has more marbles than Ali. First graders are tasked to read each word problem and solve how many marbles each girl has.
Illustrative Mathematics
Ordering Time
Practice telling time to the nearest five minutes in a digital and analog clock activity. Learners are prompted to order clock cards in increasing time order, and then write the time each clock represents.
Education Development Center
Writing Numerical Expressions—Hexagon Tables
Explore a basic pattern to practice writing expressions. In collaborative groups, learners examine a contextual pattern and write an expression to model it. The task encourages groups to describe the pattern in multiple ways.
Education Development Center
Choosing Samples
What makes a good sample? Your classes collaborate to answer this question through a task involving areas of rectangles. Given a set of 100 rectangles, they sample a set of five rectangles to estimate the average area of the figures. The...
Education Development Center
Finding Parallelogram Vertices
Four is the perfect number—if you're talking about parallelograms. Scholars determine a possible fourth vertex of a parallelogram in the coordinate plane given the coordinates of three vertices. They read a conversation...
August House
The Drum
Take a journey to India with a read aloud of The Drum: A Folktale from India by Rob Cleveland. Make connections to the story's theme by building and practicing drums, role playing story characters, and practicing skills in phonics, math,...
Curated OER
Greek Barbie or Action Figure
Young historians bring Greek mythology to the twenty-first century with this engaging research project. Hired to create a Barbie doll or action figure modeled after a Greek god or goddess, students gather the information necessary to...
Illustrative Mathematics
Fruit Salad
Playing with values in this fruit salad problem allows learners to find out how many cherries were mixed in. Your middle schoolers can organize their thoughts in a chart before going into the equation. Eigth graders can skip the chart...
Curated OER
Animal Brains
Do big bodies make big brains? Let your learners decide whether there is an association between body weight and brain weight by putting the data from different animals into a scatterplot. They can remove any outliers and then make a line...
Scholasic
The Magic School Bus and the Missing Tooth
We chew with our teeth every day, but how much do we really know about them? Allow Ms. Frizzle to teach your kids a thing or two about teeth. Kids complete a prereading exercise, read the book, and respond to several prompts about the...
Illustrative Mathematics
Satellite
Learners practice relating rules of trigonometry and properties of circles. With a few simplifying assumptions such as a perfectly round earth, young mathematicians calculate the lengths of various paths between satellite and...
Illustrative Mathematics
Bank Shot
Young geometers become pool sharks in this analysis of the angles and lengths of a trick shot. By using angles of incidence and reflection to develop similar triangles, learners plan the exact placement of balls to make the shot....