Illustrative Mathematics
Sort and Count
Young mathematicians are on their feet and moving around in this primary grade sorting activity. After giving each child an object or picture card, they then sort themselves into groups, counting to see which has the most or least...
Illustrative Mathematics
Sort and Count II
Capture the engagement of young mathematicians with this hands-on sorting activity. Given a bag of objects, students work independently sorting the items based on their physical attributes, counting to determine the size of each group....
Illustrative Mathematics
Counting Cup
Help your kindergartners develop counting skills using a 24 oz. plastic cup, counting manipulatives, and a paper plate. Start with a small group of learners and place a quantity of counting objects between the range of 5 to 10 into each...
Illustrative Mathematics
Counting Overview
Develop automatic, meaningful counting skills with your class by using everyday classroom/school items, objects, and opportunities. Counting skills should be practiced during the year using objects and items they are familiar with and...
Curated OER
Counting Mat
Using the provided counting mats (1-6 and 7-12) and small objects to count with, guide your young learners to match the correct number of objects to the written numeral and dots. Class members will either read the numeral and count out...
Illustrative Mathematics
How Many Containers in One Cup / Cups in One Container?
The object is to model fraction division by asking “How many are in one group?” It is a difficult concept to understand, but developing the model that shows one cup to a certain amount of container or one container to a certain amount of...
Curated OER
Goody Bags
Looking for Common Core math center ideas for your Kindergartners? This a great one that is easy to set up, change up, and can be individualized to the learning level of each child. Start with a collection of zippered plastic bags...
Curated OER
Finding Equal Groups
Build counting fluency in your kindergartners with this counting and grouping timed learning game. Provide various groups of objects to count such as a clear plastic bag filled with 7 beans or a cup with 5 pennies. There are many other...
Los Angeles County Office of Education
Assessment for the California Mathematics Standards Grade 1
Here is an assessment designed to test mathematicians' knowledge of writing numbers, comparing numbers, skip counting, solving addition and subtraction problems; along with measuring objects, telling time, identifying shapes, reading...
Illustrative Mathematics
Teen Go Fish
Kindergartners play the classic game Go Fish as they practice identifying numbers in the teens. A fun and engaging activity that develops number recognition skills in young learners. As added support, provide cards that include both the...
Illustrative Mathematics
Money in the Piggy Bank
It's time to crack open that piggy bank and see what's inside. First, count up the pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters, identifying what fraction of them are dimes. Then calculate the total value of the coins, writing another fraction...
Illustrative Mathematics
Which Number is Greater? Which Number is Less? How do you Know?
When comparing groups of objects, it's easy for children to identify which has more, but it's not so easy for them to explain their reasoning. This simple whole-group activity provides multiple opportunities for learners to compare...
Curated OER
How Heavy
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...
Noyce Foundation
Granny’s Balloon Trip
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...
Balanced Assessment
Catenary
Develop a model for a hanging chain. Pupils find a mathematical model for a hanging chain and then they compare their models to the precise function that models the curve. Scholars come up with a strategy to determine how close...
Illustrative Mathematics
What’s Missing?
Now you see them, now you don't! This fun peek-a-boo activity engages young mathematicians in developing their ability to compose and decompose numbers. After being presented with a series of counters, children close their eyes while the...
Illustrative Mathematics
Seeing is Believing
How many visual models can be used to show multiplication? Three basic kinds of models can be used to represent and explain the equation 4 x (9 + 2). The commentary section provides description and graphics to explain the set...
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
Shake and Spill
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,...
Illustrative Mathematics
How Long
It won't take young mathematicians long to learn how to measure length with this fun, hands-on activity. Working in pairs, children use Unifix® or snap cubes to measure and record the lengths of different classroom objects. To extend the...
Illustrative Mathematics
Christina's Candies
Help Christina figure out how many chocolate and lemon candies she has with a lesson on decomposing numbers. When presenting this context to the class, the teacher chooses the total number of candies and the number that are chocolate,...
Curated OER
Skeleton Tower
Your algebra learners build a quadratic function in this task of counting the blocks used to build objects. The arithmetic sequence that shows up brings up a shortcut to the long addition using the Gauss Method. Eventually, learners...
Curated OER
Cantor Set
Discover an interesting mathematical object that your algebra learners will enjoy investigating. Their adventure will lead them to the generation of a finite geometric series.
California Education Partners
Bake Sale
Work with fractional cookies. The three-part assessment task checks the pupils' ability to find the product of fractions and whole numbers, mixed numbers, or fractions. Learners determine the amount of ingredients needed and how many of...