SamizdatMath

This is a set of 60 puzzles (20 at each level) of "Square Knot" Puzzles focused on practicing problems solving for early learners (K - 2nd grade) using addition. Why you should try these: One of the things that we should be emphasizing from the very earliest of ages is mathematics as problem solving. This is more than writing a bunch of word problems: problem solving is about using various techniques for finding the correct answer. In this set of puzzles, students have to arrange four numbers so

This is a set of "inkblot" subtraction strategies that are much different from the cruddy old "drill & kill" worksheets with cutesy characters you probably are using. These activities engage your students in deep thinking about how subtraction works and the strategies we use to solve the column based subtraction algorithm. Do NOT use this if your kids prefer to do routine sorts of problems or they don't want to deepen their understanding of mathematics. The goal here is to deepen conceptual

Here's the problem: There are 100 seats on an airplane and 100 people waiting to get on. The first person loses their boarding pass, so they take a random seat on the plane. If the next person finds their seat occupied, they take another random seat. If their seat is free, they sit in it. Question: What is the probability that the 100th person on the plane will sit in their assigned seat? Oh, sure, you can look up the answer and come up with some convoluted or excessively mathematical explanati

This is a collection of 9 different colorful Cuisenaire Rod "make the road" puzzles which challenges your students to cover a path using exactly one of each rod. Each one has a different colorful background. This is a great activity that your students can do independently during a work time or placed in a math center. There's a handy chart you can fill in with your students' names to keep track of which puzzles they've completed, with fillable form fields. There is also an option for students

This is an approach to teaching the geometric concepts of complementary, supplementary and exemplary (also known as conjugal) angles through groupwork and problem solving using non-standard examples. This makes this activity different from anything else you’re likely to see anywhere. Why is this? Because most curricula treat this important topic as one where students see some examples, solve some lame-o problems related to them, and then more on. No thought is given about how to make this intere

Here’s a nice little “take home” activity that develops both visual spatial skills, mathematical vocabulary AND it's really fun! Here’s how it works: print out the puzzles and challenge booklet on card stock (or laminate before cutting out...) and have your kids cut them out. The kids cut out the “clue cards” and have kids write clues about the different puzzles. Then they can share their cards and look at one another’s clue cards, find the shape it is describing and use the puzzle pieces to “s

This is an old problem I saw almost 20 years ago: suppose you took two dice and rubbed off the pips (dots) from the faces, and instead put on numbers. How would you number it in such a way that you can roll the two dice and make all the numbers from 1 to 36? This is a wonderful problem to study combinations, patterns and general problem solving techniques. It is "hard" in that you can't calculate your way through it, and the solution evolves slowly as you work through the problem. But the soluti

Here is an interesting fact: did you know that most castles built during the middle ages were made from wood? It's a true fact! But you're probably thinking: wait, if most castles were made of wood, how come when you google the word "castle," all you see are stone edifices? The answer is: survivor bias! Think about it: you build a wood castle, and over the years, what's the thing that threatens it most? FIRE! So all those wood castles burnt to the ground over the last thousand years, while the

This is a collection of ten different four-step mysteries where students have to work backwards (if you'll pardon the pun...) Instead of just taking a number and rounding it off to the nearest hundredth, tenth and unit (which is just soooooo boring and unproductive), the student is given the following clues about a "mystery number" • When rounded off to the nearest unit, the number is 0. This indicates that the number could be anywhere between 0 and .499 - it the number was .5 or above, it w

Here's the deal: you want your students to practice rounding off numbers so you give them one of these rando "worksheets" with lots of numbers saying "round off to the nearest ten," "round off to the nearest hundred," yadda yadda yadda and they do it and forget about it and it's just a superficial way to approach this important topic. This takes the whole topic and reverses it, making it far more interesting and useful: each booklet starts by asking "When rounded off to the nearest thousand, it

This is a set of 9 Christmas/Holiday themed math mystery puzzles. As you know, one of the things I have always advocated is giving children math problems that are interesting and challenging. I know, I know, this flies directly in the face of “well, if we give them hard things to do, then they’ll get discouraged and think math is hard.” Well, the truth is this: math is hard! And let me say another thing: anybody, young or old, experienced or not, is either lying or has never done “real math” if

This is a collection of 8 different Christmas/Winter Holiday Themed "matrix addition" puzzles which use funky symbols as clues to figure out the answers. They were designed for 2nd graders, but you could use them with advanced first graders, or just throw them at some third and fourth graders to see how they react. They're sort of algebraic puzzles that you can have a lot of fun with and who doesn't like fun? Comes in color and b/w for your printing pleasure! What makes this really cool is th

This is the same as Number Logic Puzzles Silly Creatures with a winter theme, which should really motivate your students! This is a fun little booklet that your students can put together in about 3 minutes and we’ll really give them some fun working logically - and because this is something you purchased from me, your kids will also have a chance to make their own puzzles to share with one another. Ain’t that cool? Comes in b//w and color booklets - the color booklets have been formatted to g

This is a winter themed variation of Silly Creatures Number Logic Puzzles, a fun little booklet that your students can put together in about 3 minutes and features 2 kinds of objects to decipher. This version involves three different objects to interpret, which will really give them something fun to do and most likely fry their brains by working logically - and because this is something you purchased from me, your kids will also have a chance to make their own puzzles to share with one another.

Note: this is the same as the "winter theme three part number logic puzzles," but with "silly icons" instead of "winter icons." This is a sequel to Silly Creatures Number Logic Puzzles, a fun little booklet that your students can put together in about 3 minutes and features 2 kinds of objects to decipher. This version involves three different objects to interpret, which will really give them something fun to do and most likely fry their brains by working logically - and because this is somethin

Here’s a set of puzzles that will promote the use of “backwards thinking.” That is, the technique is to look at where you want to “end” and then work backwards step by step in order to get to the beginning. Some people refer to this as “guess and check,” but that is incorrect: that technique involves putting in possible solutions and then starting from the beginning to see if the solution is correct. Eh, no, that’s not quite the way it works.In working backwards, you get to the beginning by work

This is a set of activities designed to introduce students to a technique for finding the number of paths on a matrix from corner to another. In the beginning problems, students are permitted to use any technique they like, including the "brute force" method of tracing each and every path. Fortunately, for the first couple of problems, this is too confusing, but as the grid gets larger and larger, there are more and more paths to trace, which can get very confusing. From here, a new technique i

This is an investigation where your students design, cut out and fold different networks in order to determine which ones will become a cube. Students are introduced to the concept of a network, learn how it can be used to form different types of polyhedra, and then investigate different ways (there are 11) to create a 2-D net that can be folded into a cube. Students then take the "working" and "non-working" nets and sort them onto a sheet, then compare their properties. There is also an activi

This is a set of 2 activity sheets that use a minimum amount of text so that students can engage in solving word problems without the obstacle of decoding dull sentences. The problems are tricky not because of the wording, but because a) there is "interleaving," which means that depending on the problem, the student may have to perform addition, subtraction, multiplication or division. In addition, some of the division problems have remainders that have to be interpreted. There are 4 problems p

This is an activity I’ve done with my 5th, 6th and 7th graders to help them understand the importance of “thinking” before rounding off a number. You know, some of us (not you, of course) teach rounding as a “rule” and our students blindly go off rounding numbers without thinking about the implication of doing so. These two activities are designed to impress upon your students that when they round off a number, they should do it with a certain amount of forethought, because if they blindly follo