Curated OER
Read My Bar Graph!
Elementary schoolers make and use bar graphs to picture information. They learn how choosing the right scale for a bar graph can help make a persuasive argument. This is a terrific activity on graphing which should excite your kids....
EngageNY
Distributions and Their Shapes
What can we find out about the data from the way it is shaped? Looking at displays that are familiar from previous grades, the class forms meaningful conjectures based upon the context of the data. The introductory...
Curated OER
Word Clue and All About Me Problem Solving
Fifth graders practice solving word problems using highlighted strategies. In this word problem lesson, 5th graders brainstorm and use words as clues that indicate the math operations that will be used to solve problems. They use...
Curated OER
TI-Nspire Activity: What Does Your Representation Tell You?
By learning to select the best representation for three meal plans, students compare three meal plans to determine the best choice. Data for the meal plans is sorted on a table, as an algebraic equation, and graphed on a coordinate grid....
Illustrative Mathematics
Velocity vs. Distance
At the end of this activity, your number crunchers will have a better understanding as to how to describe graphs of velocity versus time and distance versus time. It is easy for learners to misinterpret graphs of velocity, so have them...
Curated OER
Balloon Bop: Skip Counting
Practice counting in patterns and skip counting by 1, 5, and 10. Once the patterns have been taught, teams of 5 or 6 learners -- holding hands in circles -- skip count each time they collectively bounce a balloon up into the air. Early...
Curated OER
Place Value Review: Tens and Ones Place
Young learners determine the place value of a digit in a given number. They review 10s and 1s place value by participating in activities using unit blocks. Some excellent independent practice is built in to this plan. A written...
Curated OER
Don't Bet The House On It!
Great real-world math application! Have the class compare and contrast their estimated home price and income data with actual data. In groups, they participate in simulations to discover how the housing market and mortgages operate....
Curated OER
Prime Factorization: Finding Factors in the Fifth Grade
The lesson starts out with a brain drain, which is a great way to get students to activate prior knowledge and build lasting connections. They tell everything they know about prime factorization, use their knowledge to...
American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture
Shapes in Agriculture
It's time to get crafty with shapes! Your future farmers demonstrate their geometric ability by building a farm using triangles, circles, rectangles, and squares. But first, scholars take part in a brainstorm session inspired by their...
Curated OER
Balanced Equations
Help your math class understand variables. This activity is for a visual learner. They will use weights and a balance scale to show how the sides of an equation are equal. Worksheet is included.
Curated OER
Investigation--Can You Build This?
Early learners explore shapes using colored blocks. They first get some hands-on time with the blocks and then look at beginning math concepts regarding spatial relationships. They work with a partner to build a 6-8 block tower...
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...
Curated OER
How Much Does it Cost to Light Your School?
Learners compute the cost of electricity used to light their classroom and their school for various lengths of time. They compute the amount of coal needed to produce the electricity used for one hour of light in their classroom. An...
Learning to Give
Five Thousand Dollars!
How does consumerism affect global poverty? Upper graders find out about cost benefit, wants and needs, and making good consumer choices as they explore this global topic. They role-play an impulse spending experience and work through...
Curated OER
Solid Waste
Students determine the percentage increase in output of solid waste in the U.S. They determine the length of time it takes for throw away items to decompose.
Illustrative Mathematics
Morning Walk
Sometimes young algebra learners don't understand why they need to create an equation when they can just figure out the answer with it. This activity tries to encourage creating simple equations by balancing the use of more complicated...
Curated OER
Get the Picture!
Astronomers practice downloading data from a high-energy satellite and translate the data into colored or shaded pixels. As a hands-on activity, they use pennies to simulate high-energy satellite data and they convert their penny...
Curated OER
Pattern Block Barrier Game
Challenge your learners to give clear and concise directions in this shape-name practice activity. In partners, they place a dividing "wall" between them, with pattern blocks and a grid on each side. Partner A places one block at a time...
Curated OER
The Pythagorean Puzzle
An engaging hands-on activity is presented. Learners of all ages are addressed in thie unique plan. K-5 learners identify, name, and define a rectangle, square, triangle, and the concept of area. Older learners prove the Pythagorean...
Curated OER
WATER HERE AND THERE
Introduce the topic of water conservation with a little drama. Dressed as snowflakes, hail stones, or rain drops class members dramatize the events in a narration of the water cycle. The series of lessons that follow focus on...
Brooklyn Museum
"Workt by Hand": Hidden Labor and Historical Quilts
Just like a painting or the symbols on a flag, quilts can express ideas that reflect a cultural context, space, and time. The class discusses the history of quilt making throughout US history and what different types of quilts mean. They...
Illustrative Mathematics
Molly's Run
A simple instructional activity with a lot of support behind it. Your learners will find out how long it takes Molly to run a mile by choosing their solution method. The activity can be used as a instructional activity or as an...
Northeast Georgia Regional Educational Service Agency
Who Were the Tired, the Poor, the Huddled Masses Yearning to Breathe Free?
Elvira Woodruff's The Orphan of Ellis Island: A Time Travel Adventure is the core text in a interdisciplinary unit study of immigration at the turn of the century.