SamizdatMath

This is one of a series of activities that helps children “break down” numbers. One of the things that I’ve noticed about mathematics curricula is that there is a lot of focus on putting numbers together, but not enough on breaking numbers apart. Perhaps it’s because breaking numbers apart is a lot harder to teach and learn; after all, addition is commutative, and it’s sort of fun, because you get more (except when you’re using negative numbers.) But in order for children to learn how to do thin

This is a nice little activity that I used with my 3rd graders, but would also be good for 2nd and 4th graders: Students cut out quarter inch calibrated rulers and then use it to measure the length and height of a variety of staplers, old and new, and then draw boxes that will hold the stapler. This comes with some very nice quarter inch rulers that you can print out, laminate and distribute to your students. Fun, cheap and really good to teach your kids about measuring in quarter inch incremen

This is an interesting activity that you can do with your 2nd, 3rd and 4th grade students in about one class period that will deeply impact their understanding of time. You see, we spend a lot of time teaching children how to read time, how to add time, how to subtract time, yadda, yadda, yadda, that we don’t think about teaching them some of the properties of time. For example, that as Albert Einstein showed, time is relative. Of course, teaching general and special relativity to young children

15 Geometry Area Challenges for ALL LEARNERS! • Don't you hate the way those practice sheets all show the base and heights of the figures your students are calculating the area? • Don't you hate the fact that the bases are always on the bottom, and the heights are always in the middle? • Don't you wish your students could do something more than "plug & chug" some numbers to get an answer? If these are your issues (at least, in mathematics; I don't do anything else...) then you should definit

This is a baker's dozen of task cards that you can put out for your students to measure different parts of their bodies (circumference of head, height, waist size, foot size, leg length, etc.) using Learning Links. If you have them around, you've probably wondered what to do with them. If you've never used Learning Links (they go by a variety of names), you can pick up a 500 link kit for about $15 from Pricefalls.com Click here to buy them! You're students should work in pairs to measure

Did you ever think the Metric System, also known as S.I. (Systeme Internationale) could be fun? Well, this activity is more fun than you can shake a stick at: download this product and your students can create a metric identity card, which includes their photo complete with the gen-u-ine Metric Identity Card "seal." Best part of this activity is that after your students have measured their height, weight, handspans, foot lengths, area of their feet and hands, as well as volume of fist in cubic

These activities are centered around the idea of measuring and constructing pitched roofs. Depending on a building's cost, function and location, a roof can either have a very steep pitch (which would mean a very acute angle, like you would find on ski houses in the mountains) or an obtuse angle (like a house in the tropics where it rains a lot and the water has to run off slowly to prevent flooding.) These activities are designed for students to work on individually or in pairs: the first part

Do you have a bucket full of plastic links in one of your bins and wondering what can you possibly do with a huge pail of these colorful plastic links. Your prayers have been answered! These are 10 different measurement cards, in 8 x 10 as well as 5 x 8 that you can print out, laminate and set up "estimation stations" which your kids will enjoy. They will estimate the length of their hand, and then measure it, as well as their foot, arm and around their head. They'll measure the longest and sh

What goes better together than a new class getting to know one another and doing math at the same time? These five activities will help your students get to know each other better, while engaging them in fun math activities involving surveys, computation, problem solving and numeration. Four of the activities should be done in pairs. You can use the data collected during the activities to make a graphs, and hang up the "make a creature" activity on your empty walls. Have fun!

It is difficult to show a use for multiplying fractions that seems both fun and real. In this activity, students learn about a "multi-ray" which changes the size of an object. When the multi-ray is set to more than 1, it is enlarged. When it is set to between 0 and 1, it is made smaller. This activity starts by teaching the concept of scaling by whole numbers, then scales a whole number by a fraction, then a fraction by a whole number, and finally a fraction by a fraction. This activity includes

Tired of holding up clocks and having kids shout out the time? This partner game is ideal for kids from 6 - 10 who need to practice reading time on the hour and half hour. Print up these beautiful and clear clock cards, chop 'em up and shuffle, demonstrate the game and off they go! Send a set home for parents to play with their kids.

This set of 10 different "estimation stations" develops students' understanding of length, perimeter and area by using Cuisenaire Rods of different lengths. Students record their estimates on a "data sheet" and then make and record exact measurements, measuring such things as the length of their foot, the area of a hand and the perimeter of a design.

UPDATED 2/27/15: By request, the game now comes in color! Enjoy! Help develop your students' understanding of area and perimeter using this fun and easy game. Students take turns picking a game from the pile which specifies a specific area or perimeter of a shape.The student makes a shape with those specifications on the board, collecting points for each burger inside. When there are no mo' burgers to collect, the player with the most wins! Customer Tips: How to get TPT credit to use on futu