SamizdatMath

This "product" is an exercise in the form of a "lightly" competitive game that uses addition and subtraction on the number line (which was invented in 1685 by the mathematician John Wallis) that students can play in any number of configurations (pairs, triplets, etc.) and in any number of ways (rolling a single die, rolling 2 dice, using the numbers individually or in combination, etc.) There are versions that use 3, 4, 5 and 6 rolls. There is a number line under each game for your students prac

Back in the 1980s (before most of you were born), the A & W hamburger restaurant chain tried to go head to head with McDonalds' new "quarter pounder" by creating and marketing a "⅓ pound hamburger." It was a spectacular flop. A research company hired to find the source of the problem found out that half of the people surveyed thought that there was less meat in a ⅓ lb. burger than a ¼ lb. burger because, well, "3 is less than 4." The burger was renamed the "Big Papi" and continued to be sold b

Okay, you're teaching your kids how to do two and three column addition.... WHAT A SNOOZE! I promise you, this is going to be fun! Here's how it works: you've taught your students about regrouping/carrying in multi-column addition, and they've done a few problems and you want them to have a little more experience with it while doing some deep thinking. This is the activity for you! This collection of "ink blot addition puzzles" will engage your students in a completely different way, because

This is Max Forstat; she owns a building which has 4 apartments per floor. There are 6 floors in the building. She decides to number the apartments from 1 to 24, starting from the ground floor. Apartments 1 through 4 are on the first floor, 5 - 8 on the second, and so on. How would you figure out which floor each apartment is located? This activity gets students involved in performing division with and without remainders, and then using the remainder to determine the floor and location of the ap

This is a set of activities that uses the raw data from each state in the 2016 United States Presidential Election, including the number of votes for each candidate, the number of "eligible" voters and the number of voters who "did not vote." What students will find out that if "did not vote" was a candidate, it would have "won" by one of the largest landslides in history. This is based on data used on the following website: https://brilliantmaps.com/did-not-vote/ The first activity explains som

This is a collection of 34 different hexagonal subtraction/additional/logic puzzle cards (hence, the title above) which uses 5 rows containing clues that have to be figured out by moving around the puzzle in different directions. Very simply, each pair of hexagons add up to the hexagon above that connects them. However, in many cases you can't add the two hexagons together, because there is missing information that won't show up until you solve other parts of the puzzle. It's great because not o

Here's a very uncomfortable fact: it takes 4 pounds of potatoes to make 1 pound of potato chips. That means that for every 1 pound bag of potato chips you eat, 3 pounds of potatoes have to be thrown away. What a waste of food! This is a series of activities that looks at the hidden world of food waste. It includes a look at how much food is wasted as it is "processed" into finished products like french fries and potato chips. It also includes mathematical activities where students calculate how

From the same place that brought you Fractions: You're Teaching Them Wrong, this is another resource to up your teaching to the highest reaches of the universe.... You're a novice teacher, you're an experienced teacher. You think you've been teaching concepts, but you're not sure. You know why? BECAUSE YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT A CONCEPT IS! This is the definitive 60 page fully detailed explanation that explains everything EVERYTHING you need to know about teaching mathematical concepts. EVERYTHING

This is an old brain teaser that someone told me, and which I shortened and clarified, as well as added clues for your students to use, as well as three different explanations for how to solve it. Basically, the problem goes like this: you have 7 people who want to find the average of their salaries. The only problem is that no one wants to tell anyone how much they earn. How will you find the average without anybody stating their actual salary? I've run this problem by all my techie type frie

Greetings friend & fellow educator, Here we go again: just when you thought you had everything fixed up and all your ducks lined up in a neat little row, I’m back to give you some straight talk about place value, because, as I’m fond of saying, you’re teaching it wrong. Not only are you teaching it wrong, but you probably don’t even understand much of it yourself. Oh, you thought you knew everything, just because you bought a few games and did some random stuff with those silly “foldables” th

Here’s the idea: your students are learning about coordinate geometry, so you teach them hoe to find the x and y axis, they plot a few points, maybe you play some lame games, and then they’re off and graphing some equations. Bo-ring! These activities teach students about the conventions of coordinate graphing (they are not “rules”, they are “conventions”) and then applies them to the practice of solving actual problems, from delivering pizza to making maps to guide first responders. The activiti

This activity is an invitation for your students to take part in an original piece of mathematical research. We begin with a problem: there is a 6 x 6 apartment split up into 36 "tiles" that need to be arranged so that all 4 apartments use the same number of tiles (9 each) and where each apartment is the exact same shape. Oh, and the apartment has to include a bathroom and kitchen, as shown on the floor plan. From here, the problem morphs into a larger exploration of how many ways this 6 x 6 ti

This packet includes a cover letter for parents that describes the importance of doing math over the summer break, and features a handy chart with a list of the 6 games that are part of this pack, along with a checklist for the dates when they are played. If the child follows the chart, he/she will have practiced math over 50 times during the summer. There are 6 games in the packet, which can be played as partners. They practice addition, subtraction, place value and estimation, and includes ga

Your kids suck at sketching fractions, which is okay, because the truth is, EVERYBODY SUCKS AT SKETCHING FRACTIONS! You use manipulatives instead, which is great, but they are a butt-pain to distribute and clean up, and you can't send them home, so the kids, who suck at sketching fractions, end up getting incorrect answer when the do homework, or try to work in class without the manipulatives. These fraction cards, which have been specifically designed to abide by the CCSS for third grade, are

Stop That Rat! ? Why would anyone want to "stop that rat?" Well, because it's really fun to watch your students work on this puzzle, which comes in gritty color as well as black and white. 63 pages of rat fun! Seriously, the basic puzzle is simple: take the disks which are numbered 1 - 6, and arrange them on the board so that each side adds up to 9. However, things get very interesting when you find out that you can re-arrange the 6 numbers to add up to 10, 11 and 12. But it gets better than th

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

We all know the Japanese puzzle craze for Sodoku, which are excellent for developing logical reasonging. This is a customized set of 4 x 4 puzzles using colorful and slightly silly symbols, complete with clues and cutout stamps at 10 different levels of challenge. There is also a blank "Sodoku Do It Yourself" page where students can paste in their own tiles and share them with other students to solve.

Greetings Intrepid Teacher: If you’ve downloaded this preview pack and have looked at the materials already, you’re probably scratching your head and thinking, “What is wrong with this person? Why do his activities look so strange? Why do they have all these fancy designs? And why does he love Louis Jordan so much? I have no answers: I was raised in the wilds of Long Island, New York, and my background was in industrial and visual arts. I was overeducated beyond my intelligence at a prominen

The Beans in a Pan Puzzles are a hands-on way to stimulate algebraic thinking in a fun and interesting context. CUT & SERVE! them on a paper or plastic plate, pour out the dried beans of your choice, and watch the kids go at it. Includes 10 "closed ended" puzzles of varying degrees of difficulty, 10 more "open ended" puzzles, and "DIY" blanks for your students to make their own. In middle school, you can have your students write algebraic equations about the different puzzles, including "3 mor

These are among my favorite "hands on" puzzles to have my kids learn addition facts, or do remediation for those who are having problems "catching on." There are 10 different "bean puzzles" which can be cut out and glued to a paper plate. Number them 1 - 10 so kids can keep track of which ones they've completed (1 is the easiest, 10 is the most tricky.) Students complete the puzzle by taking dried kidney beans (or bean shaped counters) and distributing them in each pan so that two pans add up to