Education Development Center
Word Problem with Rational Numbers—Balancing Bars of Soap
Here's a resource teachers won't want to wash their hands of. Given a task where a full bar of soap is on one side of a balance and 3/4 of a bar of soup and a 3/4-ounce weight is on the other side, young mathematicians must determine the...
5280 Math
Multiplication Table Algebra
Patterns, patterns, everywhere! Young scholars examine the multiplication table to identify patterns. Their exploration leads to an understanding of the difference of squares and sum of cubes by the completion of the algebra project.
Curated OER
Analyzing Word Problems Involving Multiplication
Learners sometimes have difficulty making sense of a word problem. In a guided learning activity, pupils are asked to think about how to find an answer and explain their thinking, rather than finding the answer. It allows them to...
West Contra Costa Unified School District
Division (No Remainders)
Help young mathematicians build a solid understanding of division with this base ten block activity. With the help of these popular math manipulatives, children model different math problems in order to reinforce the connection between...
Illustrative Mathematics
How Many Colored Pencils?
Support young mathematicians' interpretation of place value in order to multiply single-digit numbers by 10. The task builds upon and enhances a learners' understanding of place value, a second grade skill, while introducing them to...
Illustrative Mathematics
How Many Marbles?
Don't lose your marbles! This simple story problem helps make teaching division with fractions much easier. Work on this problem along with the lesson titled, How Many Servings of Oatmeal? to highlight the difference between the two...
Illustrative Mathematics
Reasoning about Multiplication and Division and Place Value, Part 2
The learner puts reasoning and estimation to work. The directions are to place a decimal in the answer to make the equation true. Pupils are to look at the two problems, one multiplication and one division, and estimate an answer. No...
Illustrative Mathematics
Equivalent Expressions
Here is a straight-forward problem of multiplying two binomials with a twist. It is up to algebra learners to decide how to turn this product of sums into a sum of products. However, it is not the quadratic that is the answer; it is the...
Illustrative Mathematics
Running to School, Variation 2
Rose's commute to school is a fractional distance. After she runs part of the way, your class needs to determine what fractional distance she ran. This problem explores fraction operations through modeling and computation. The...
Henrico County Public Schools
Factoring Puzzle
Factoring polynomials is an essential part of writing equivalent expressions and algebraic problem solving. Here is a card game that serves an engaging activity for reviewing factoring of polynomials.
Illustrative Mathematics
The Stamp Collection
By using language like "half of the stamps," children are exposed to patterns in arithmetic that requires solving a two-step word problem. This type of language opens a new door for transitioning learners toward understanding fractions...
5280 Math
Polygon Polynomials
Patterns in polygons lead to patterns in polynomials. Presented with a series of polygons, individuals create polynomial expressions to represent their patterns. The algebra project consists of nine problems that incorporate polynomial...
Curated OER
St. Patrick’s Day
Combine math, creative writing, and leprechauns in a fun St. Patrick's Day activity! Using a bag of gold coins and marshmallows, kids write a math story about a leprechaun that includes a multi-step equation to solve.
Illustrative Mathematics
Running to School
The object of this activity is to compute how far Rosa ran to school. Given in the exercise is the fractional number of miles between home and school and the fractional distance Rosa ran. The commentary shows several ways to have your...
Illustrative Mathematics
Running to School, Variation 3
How far is it between school and home? Here is a relatable activity where the participant runs to school a certain fraction of the way. That distance is given in miles. It is up to your learners to determine the distance between home and...
Illustrative Mathematics
Drinking Juice, Variation 3
It is up to the learner to find the amount of juice originally in a bottle, knowing what fraction of the juice is left, and the amount that has been consumed. The accompanying commentary provides a useful and detailed description of...
Illustrative Mathematics
Drinking Juice, Variation 2
An excellent activity using word problems where pupils interpret and compute quotients of fractions. The commentary includes using a fraction bar model and equations to represent the problem. In this variation of the resource, the...
Illustrative Mathematics
Comparing Products
How can 5th graders show understanding that 30 x 225 is half of 60 x 225 without completing the computation? They can use an area model and draw it out. An array, or an open array, is an area model that allows for young learners to...
Illustrative Mathematics
Making Cookies
Hooray for chocolate chip cookies! Ask your mathematicians to triple a chocolate chip cookie recipe and then reduce the recipe by one-fourth. Your class may need two days to complete, tripling the recipe the first day and reducing the...
Barnstable Public Schools
Math Relay Races
A plethora of activities make up a cross curricular choice page filled with math games—relay races, dice, and crossword puzzles—a survey challenge equipped with data organization, graphing, a quicksand recipe, Hula-Hoop activity to...
5280 Math
Pythagorean Triples
From Pythagorean triples to the unit circle. Learners use the Pythagorean Theorem to find Pythagorean triples and then relate their work to the unit circle in a fun algebra project. Their discovery that x^2+y^2 is always equal to one on...
Illustrative Mathematics
Banana Pudding
Making banana pudding despite misplacing your one-cup measuring cup is easy as long as you can find your quarter-cup measuring cup! This real-life activity provides a good opportunity for learners to interpret division of a whole number...
Illustrative Mathematics
Grass Seedlings
Plants never grow at the same rate, and that is the antithesis for this word problem involving multiplication of fractions. On the learning exercise, Raul notices that Pablo's seedlings are 1 1/2 times as tall, and Celina's seedlings are...
Curated OER
Drinking Juice
Pictures, number lines, decimal equivalents, or Cuisenaire rods can be used to show insight into the meaning of multiplying fractions.Here, Alisa drinks 3/4 of 1/2 liter of juice. To find the total volume of the juice that Alisa drank,...