The Math Toolbox

Negative "Math Talk" is a common occurrence in the math classroom. As we all know, attitude impacts success, so it's important to address students' attitudes toward math. In this getting-to-know-you activity, students have the opportunity to creatively share their feelings, both positive and negative, in a fun way! This is a great activity for the beginning of the school year, and works well with students from the upper elementary grades all the way through high school.

In this activity, students will practice multiplying a fraction by a whole number to determine how many ornaments to draw on a Christmas tree. A "work space" is also provided to encourage students to make a pictorial representation of the problem in addition, or instead of, using the standard fraction multiplication procedure. Check out my TpT store, The Math Toolbox, for other great resources!

In this activity, students are given a problem that they may or may not be able to solve. Students are then guided through five different problem solving techniques to help them solve the problem: solve a simpler problem, draw a picture, make a table, look for a pattern, and write an "input-output" rule. This activity provides scaffolding for struggling students, and at the same time challenges high-achieving math students to go beyond solving the original problem, into finding an algebraic r

In this activity students will practice multiplying a fraction by a whole number to determine how many ornaments to place on the Christmas tree. For this activity, I have modified my “Trim the Tree” worksheet (multiplying fractions by whole numbers) to be used with stations around the classroom. You can place multiple cards at each station, or just one. Use the “Work Space” table to draw pictures to represent and solve each problem. You may wish to encourage students to use simple shapes