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,...

Communication is the key. A presentation provides 25 sample items for Claim 3, Communicating Reasoning, for the Smarter Balanced High School Math assessment. Items require pupils to answer the question and provide logical reasoning to...

A math model is a good model. A slide show presents 10 sample items on modeling and data analysis. Items from Smarter Balanced illustrate different ways that Claim 4 may be assessed on the 8th grade math assessment. The presentation is...

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...

How are your second graders progressing in their math skills? Find out with a series of math assessment activities. With baseline assessment score sheets for each skill, you can track how well your kids are adding, subtracting, telling...

Take stroll around the classroom while teaching young mathematicians to count fluently with this whole-group math activity. The teacher starts things off by walking around the room while counting up from the number one and continues...

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...

Take flight with a fun activity focused on graphing data on a coordinate plane. As learners study the data for Granny's hot-air balloon trip, including the time of day and the distance of the balloon from the ground, they practice...

Develop young mathematicians' understanding of place value with this hands-on math activity. Working in pairs, learners take turns building two-digit numbers by rolling two ten-sided dice. Base ten blocks are then used to model the...

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...

Fill those extra ten minutes of math time with this fun counting activity. Given a short sequence of numbers, young mathematicians stand in a circle and count one-by-one until the last number is reached, at which point the whole group...

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...

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...

Break out the balances for this primary grade lesson on weight measurement. Using common elementary school manipulatives like unifix or snap cubes, young mathematicians determine the weight of four different classroom objects. A graphic...

Evaluate different aspects of geometry with one task. An assessment activity prompts learners to determine the area of a pathway in the shape of a parallelogram. The Pythagorean Theorem and area formulas for various polygons provide the...

For many young children it seems obvious that longer objects are heavier than shorter objects. This assumption is put to the test as the class investigates the relationship between length and weight in a whole-group activity. Using a...

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,...

Young geometers and biologists investigate the math of nature in an activity that is just the bee's knees. Participants will study the tessellations of hexagons in a beehive, along with the natural rationale behind the specific shape....

Practice doubling with a straightforward worksheet. Learners double plus one each number in the table, and then answer a series of hypothetical math equations.

What does it mean for something to grow exponentially, and how does that compare to linear growth? This activity tries to help learners gain an understanding of these concepts while modeling real-world problems. Linear and exponential...

Bring your young mathematicians into the fold. Scholars conduct an activity folding paper to see the relationship between the number of folds and the number of resulting layers in the 23rd installment of a 36-part module. The results of...

How many rabbit costumes can be made? This is the focus question of an activity that requires scholars to use multiplication and division of fractions to solve a real-world problem. They determine the amount of fabric necessary for eight...

First graders are exposed to addition of three whole numbers in a math activity centered around Eric Carle's, The Very Hungry Caterpillar. As the teacher reads, young mathematicians use counters and ten-frames to symbolize the number of...

What better way to engage children in a math lesson plan 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. Learners then...