SamizdatMath

FACT: Students need more practice solving subtraction problems. FACT: This collection has lots of subtraction problems. FACT: Not all subtraction problems are the same: some are "take away," some are "let's compare one with another," some are "I have something and took away this, now I have this...." This is a collection of over 200 different "BIG Busy Bee Hive" puzzles where students practice subtraction in a context that is fun and thoughtful. That is, yes, they get lots of opportunities to do

FACT: Students need more practice solving subtraction problems. FACT: This collection has lots of subtraction problems. FACT: Not all subtraction problems are the same: some are "take away," some are "let's compare one with another," some are "I have something and took away this, now I have this...." This is a collection of over 200 different "Busy Bee Hive" puzzles where students practice subtraction in a context that is fun and thoughtful. That is, yes, they get lots of opportunities to do "ta

79 89 99 119? 129? Take 2: 134 124 114 84? 74? Do your students struggle to count by 10s across 100? If they're doing mental math, then they probably will at one time or another. So why not help them practice this so they don't say things like "75, 85, 95, uh, uh, 105?" This is a "three-fer" - you get the group game "roller coaster" where a group of students compete cooperatively to count up and down by tens between a bottom and top number. For example, the first students says 78, the next one

There is no cutesy kids or animals in this activity; it focuses on the math without distraction. This is an activity where children practicing using the "count up" and "count down" activity to make change from whole dollar amounts ($1, $2, $3, and in denominations up to $20.) It is designed to replicate the "real life" experience of giving change when the buyer has a non-whole dollar total. It also gives students practice in making change using coins, or combinations of bills and coins. The goa

I KNOW this is going to come up on every search of the novel "The Outsiders," but don't blame me - it was Peggy Kaye who came up with this simple and easy division partitioning game where pairs of kids draw between 10 and 25 Xs on a piece of paper, then throw out anywhere from 1 to 5 fingers, add them (the fingers) together and use that as a divisor to partition the Xs into groups by circling them. The player with the fewest "outsiders" is declared the winner. Easy peasy, fun game, right? WRONG!

This is a collection of hands on activities where students fill an outline of a rod with smaller rods to determine the length of a unit fraction. It develops the idea of the "flexible unit" by using different rods as the "unit" and then having students try to find rods that are 1/2, 1/3, 1/4 etc. of that unit. They then record their solutions by tracing the correct rod and shading it in. There is also an activity where they also find common fractions once they find the unit fraction. For example

This is a set of activities that focus on helping first and second graders memorize the doubles from 1 - 10, with special focus on the "hard doubles" of 7, 8 and 9. There are two different games, and 20 different puzzles involving "number searches" where students find a number and its double nearby. Students also practice writing doubling and halving equations. There is also a set of "locate and calculate" assessments where students locate a doubling equation and then record it.

This is a set of activities which develops the idea of odds and how they can be applied to understanding why the lottery is, at best, a sucker's bet. It takes a list of ten different things that can happen, from rolling a set of snake eyes using two dice (1/36) to being born with an extra finger or toe (1/500) to winning an Oscar (1/11,500) to drowning in a bathtub (1/850,000) to becoming president of the US (1/10,000,000) to winning the Mega-Millions or Powerball lotteries (which have slightly

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

Howdy Phrens! This is a set of phecking great activities that your 2nd - 4th graders are going to love! The first is a game called "Take 2, Make 4" which involves taking 2 digit cards and making a 2 digit number and then adding or subtracting 10, 20, 30, 40 or 50 to make a new number, where a chip is placed on that spot. The second phecking game is called "99," where students select a digit and use it as ones or tens to decide how many spaces to move on the hundreds chart. Except my hundreds ch

Subtraction is a much more complex operation to understand, because it can be used to solve problems involving three different situations. Whereas addition is the joining of two or more quantities, subtraction could be removal, comparison or finding a missing piece. This is a single lesson where students learn about the three types of subtraction problems: removal (also known as "take away"), comparison ("the difference") and "find a missing piece (also known as "missing addend.") There are two

This is an activity I tried out on my second graders and it was dope: the idea is that while students know "how" to subtract, they don't know all the cool properties of subtraction that make it unique and distinct from addition. In this activity, there are 30 different subtraction challenges that are open ended Here's what you do; introduce the lesson, get the kids going and then watch the magic happen! Here's the thing; the subtraction challenges are designed so that there some of them will y

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 give you a jolt of color without using up all your ink! There are also single page and double page formats to save enough more

This is a collection of 8 different Thanksgiving 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 that I also in

Greetings teacher phrens, Here's the activity you've been waiting for if you want your students to become more flexible and fluent with non-routine number facts and combinations using MENTAL MATH STRATEGIES; Schools o' Fish challenges students to take 15 different numbers and arrange them in groups so that they add up to the same number (at least, in this version.) Features: • EZ Cut n' Paste Technology: the pieces have been arranged in such a way that your students can cut out all 15 in abo

Great for math centers! This is 20 different "addition tower" problems: it combines Basic Set of Addition Towers and adds 10 more puzzles that use various combinations of digits to make the totals located at the base of each tower. Cut out the digit cards and place them directly on to the puzzle sheets until they get a solution and then record them on the answer sheet. Includes recording sheets so that you don't have to print up individual sets for each student, and a "DIY" sheet so that you

Here's a cool idea: give kids a set of numbers 1 - 10 and have them place them in columns so they add up to a number at the bottom of the tower. Great for practicing addition fact combinations, as well as developing problem solving skills. This is a basic set of 10 puzzles that is appropriate for K - 2nd graders. Great for math stations! Not so good for "scoot," because different kids will need different amounts of time to solve. Includes solutions AND a "do it yourself" template so you & your

This is a "bingo" style game where players have to get 5 in a row. Sound pretty boring, right? Well, it ain't. Here's why: instead of just being a "one to one" correspondence game where the teacher calls out some bogus fraction (like, uh, 4/5 = ? %), this is a game where students choose from 4 numbers, create a fraction and then convert that into a percent, and then choose whatever square fulfills that percentage. Except the squares are not all exact percentages: most of them are "between 20%

This is a set of 99 different activity cards that covers all the possibilities of making change for $1 (that is, from 1¢ to 99¢.) Print up the cards, laminate & cut them out and you can use them for the rest of your teaching days, the teaching days of the teacher you leave them to, the students you tutor or for your children, grandchildren and great grand-chillun.... The focus is on "mental math" strategies including counting up, counting down, finding composites, and whatever mental mouth stra

This is a collection of 10 different algebra puzzles that use 3 different variables which are represented as rectangles, triangles and hexagons. Yes, we know that "adult" algebra uses X, Y and Z, but since this is designed to be appealing for our younger students (and because abstraction is still tough for them) I've used these geometric shapes instead. I've also limited the kinds of numbers students use by focusing on using 0 - 9 digit cards. This is so your students will not get frustrated wh