SamizdatMath

Cuisenaire Rods and Algebra, you ask? Yes, Cuisenaire Rods AND Algebra go together! Like beans and cornbread, rods and algebra go together! Rods and algebra go hand in hand like bagels and lox. Like cornbeef and cabbage. Like pot cakes and molasses! Like liver onions, so do Cuisenaire Rods and Algebra! Like wieners and sauerkraut, you need to use Cuisenaire Rods and Algebra! Has this convinced you? Okay, here's how it works: one of the things that consistently trips up our algebra students in

I love those "cut n' paste" activities, but I wonder how much time is wasted by students who have to cut out all those little pieces along the lines and then maneuver them into place. What good are these activities if the students spend 20 minutes cutting and only 10 minutes "thinking" about math? In my version of a "fractions to percents" cut n' paste, I've designed the pieces to be cut out with a minimum of cutting, so that your students can focus on actually "doing the math." By placing the

I love those "cut n' paste" activities, but I wonder how much time is wasted by students who have to cut out all those little pieces along the lines and then maneuver them into place. What good are these activities if the students spend 20 minutes cutting and only 10 minutes "thinking" about math? In my version of a "fractions to decimals" cut n' paste, I've designed the pieces to be cut out with a minimum of cutting, so that your students can focus on actually "doing the math." By placing the

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 a very fun and motivating activity that can be done in 1 - 2 class periods, along with homework. It tells the story of an intern at a website who figures out a way to "hack" his burrito to almost twice the size by ordering "half-portions" of items like red and black beans, chicken and beef, and white and brown rice. The activity looks at how hacking each ingredient adds to the weight of the burrito through the number of additional ounces and how those additional ounces can be written as

You'll like this puzzla - go check out the preview, download it and use it on your kids. The actual file includes a wonderful explanation of how you can solve this problem without using equivalent fractions. Cool no?

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

Here's something for you to try out in this newest of years: a 4 clue number puzzle which utilizes multiples, consecutive numbers, yadda, yadda. Cut n' Serve! Updated for 2019 (because the solution is 2019.....) Another fine product brought to you by SamizdatMath!

This investigation has all the materials you need to help your students master the naming and properties of prisms and pyramids. In includes the nets (templates) for 15 different prisms and pyramids, from the triangular to decagonal, as well as charts to organize the counting and pattern finding of these different solids. There is also an extensive investigation into the work of Leonhard Euler who discovered the relationship between the number of faces, edges and vertices found in any polyhedra.

Jacob Lawrence was perhaps the preeminent painter of the Harlem Renaissance. During his lifetime, he produced among the most striking works that depicted everything from the northern migration of African Americans during the 1920s, to the daily life of the community in Harlem. His paintings incorporate many mathematical ideas, including patterns and geometry, as well as ratio and proportion. This activity makes use of a portion of his 1945 painting The Shoemaker to analyze Lawrence's use of dist

Okay, I know this appears to be a shameless attempt to cash in on the Thanksgiving Holiday, but I am deeply concerned that many of you loved the idea of your students knowing when they can and when they cannot make an equivalent fraction. Why you need this activity: many of our students do something peculiar when they learn a new skill - they apply it to every case they see, whether they can use it or not. In this case, I've seen students try to turn the fraction 1/4 into 7ths, even though ther

Ben and Ilene are having an argument: they are looking at a number line with a 0 on one end, and 1 million on the other end. The question is: where would 1 thousand be? Ben & Ilene have different insights into the problem: Ben says that 1,000 is a large number and so is a million, so it must be close to that side. Ilene says that 1 thousand is much smaller than 1 million, and it belongs closer to 0. Is either of them correct, or is one of them "more correct" than the other? I've included 5 exam