Monday Math Freebie - Arctic Animal Races

Towards the end of the semester my students and I spent some time on probability and data analysis. I made a set of spinner activities to look at the notion of fair and unfair. They were pretty boring and focused on color, so I decided to dress them up and create a lesson and resources using Arctic animals.

In this set of activities, students:

• experiment with fair and unfair spinners
• tally and record the results of their spins
• graph the results of their experiments 
• determine what makes a spinner fair or unfair

Probability does not appear in the Common Core standards until middle school. However, students can still use probability activities to collect and analyze data. With this in mind, these activities can be used to meet the following Common Core Standards for Math.

• 1.MD.C.4 Organize, represent, and interpret data with up to three categories; ask and answer questions about the total number of data points, how many in each category, and how many more or less are in one category than in another.
• 2.MD.D.10 Draw a picture graph and a bar graph (with single-unit scale) to represent a data set with up to four categories. Solve simple put-together, take-apart, and compare problems1 using information presented in a bar graph.
• 3.MD.B.3 Draw a scaled picture graph and a scaled bar graph to represent a data set with several categories. Solve one- and two-step “how many more” and “how many less” problems using information presented in scaled bar graphs. For example, draw a bar graph in which each square in the bar graph might represent 5 pets.

Here's what the packet and resources look like.

Download Arctic Animal Races

I hope you get a chance to use this activity in your home or classroom. Please let me know if you try it and how you like it! 

Monday Math Freebie - Geometry Vocabulary Puzzle

I've been playing around with Formulator Tarsia, "a tool for creating activities in a form of jigsaws or dominos for later use in a class." Sadly, this free software only works on a PC, so I used Wineskin to convert the program to an app that would run on a Mac. It's a bit glitchy (at times), but now I have VMware Fusion, a program that allows you to run Windows on a Mac. I don't use it often, but it's been great for playing around with Tarsia.

This is a very long introduction to say that I am working on a series of puzzles for math. The first is a triangle shaped puzzle to review geometry vocabulary. Simply laminate and cut the large triangles apart. Students try to assemble the 16 pieces into a large triangle. Students should notice that the three corner pieces have writing on only 1 edge. The side pieces have writing along 2 edges, while the interior pieces have writing along all three edges.

Here's what the pieces and completed puzzle look like.

Download Geometry Vocabulary Puzzle

I hope you get a chance to use this puzzle in your home or classroom. Please let me know if you try it and how you like it! 

**BTW, as of this writing I am only 12 followers away from 20,000 on Pinterest! Check out this post to learn more about my boards (all 230 devoted to teaching) and to enter a giveaway for some free books!

Monday Math Freebie - Fall-Themed Addition Games

I created two new addition games this weekend by putting a twist on some old favorites for practicing multiplication. Those games, and a few others with a fall theme can be found in this addition packet.

Here's what the games look like.

Download Fall Themed Addition Games

I hope you get a chance to use these in your home or classroom. Please let me know if you try these and how you like them! 

Monday Math Freebie - Be a Number Detective

I've been working on number sense riddles for some time now. Today I'm sharing my first set for the numbers 1-32. Each card has 3 or 4 clues and ends with the question "What number am I?" In general, these cards are designed to help develop number sense and thinking flexibly about numbers and how they are used and represented in our world. Terms such as multiple, factor, even, odd, prime and composite are used.

If you want to use these in a math center, I have included a poster. Here's what the cards and poster look like.

Download Be a Number Detective: Set 1

I hope you get a chance to use these in your home or classroom. Please let me know if you try these and how you like them! 

A Halloween Treat - Math Freebie

Commercially produced math manipulatives (Unifix cubes, base-10 blocks, etc.) have become so expensive that I am always looking for cheap alternatives. The Dollar Tree and Dollar Spot at Target have supplied many of the materials I use these days (particularly cute mini-erasers). Last summer (2012) I started using sand timers, rubber animals, foam beads, and more from Oriental Trading Company.

Here's the Halloween set I'm using for counting, graphing, patterning, multiplication, fractions and more. You get 500 of these beads in a package for $6.00. (That's about 1.2 cents each!) There are 5 shapes and each one comes in a large and small size.

Here are the pages I created to go along with them.

Download Halloween Math Activities.

If you don't have these shapes and still want to do the activity, here's a page with an assortment of images you can use. 

Download Halloween Shape Page.

These activities can be used to meet a number of following Common Core Standards including:

• K.MD.3. Classify objects into given categories; count the numbers of objects in each category and sort the categories by count.

• 1.NBT.1. Count to 120, starting at any number less than 120. In this range, read and write numerals and represent a number of objects with a written numeral.

• 2.MD.10. Draw a picture graph and a bar graph (with single-unit scale) to represent a data set with up to four categories. Solve simple put- together, take-apart, and compare problems using information presented in a bar graph.

• 3.NF.1. Understand a fraction 1/b as the quantity formed by 1 part when a whole is partitioned into b equal parts; understand a fraction a/b as the quantity formed by a parts of size 1/b.

I hope you get a chance to use these in your home or classroom. Please let me know if you try these and how you like them!

**BTW** - Faith over at 1st Grade Fantabulous has a terrific post on how she uses the fall foam beads and has some freebies for you! Here's what those pieces look like.

I hope you'll head over and check out her post entitled Winners and Fall Centers.

Monday Math Freebie - Dots and Boxes Games

While searching for resources for teaching scientific notation I came across a middle school version of the dot game where students were required to simplify exponents and record numbers in scientific notation. I loved this idea and wrote to the author asking if I could adapt his idea for the elementary classroom. My thanks to Kevin Koch for giving me permission to create these resources!

In this version of the dot game, students draw line segments and form boxes as usual. When they complete a box, they earn one point. However, if they complete a box with a number sentence, they must say the number sentence aloud and give the solution. Answering correctly earns a player extra points. Once all the boxes have been made, players total their scores. The player with the highest score is the winner.

The two versions I have today are for practicing basic facts, one in addition and one in multiplication. Here's what they look like.

Download Addition Dots and Boxes Game

Download Multiplication Dots and Boxes Game

I hope you get a chance to use these in your home or classroom. Please let me know if you try these and how you like them! 

Monday Math Freebie - Fall Themed Multiplication Games

In honor of fall I have created two new multiplication games and "dressed up" some old game boards for practicing basic facts in multiplication.

Here's what you'll find in this packet.

 Download Fall Themed Multiplication Games.

I hope you get a chance to use these games in your home or classroom. Please let me know if you try them and how they work! 

Monday Math Freebie - Math Talk Cards

Making sense of problems, reasoning through problem solving strategies, and communicating and explaining answers are important skills students must develop. These skills can be found in the NCTM Process Standards, the Strands of Mathematical Proficiency specified in the National Research Council’s report Adding It Up, and in the Standards for Mathematical Practice found in the Common Core Standards.

To encourage students to talk about math, this packet contains a set of 24 question cards and 24 sentence starter cards. Simply cut the cards apart and put on a ring. They can be used by the teacher to guide whole-class or small group discussion, or by students working in small groups at centers or stations.

Here's what the cards look like.

 Download Math Talk Cards Set.

I hope you get a chance to use these cards in your home or classroom. Please let me know if you try them and how they work! 

Monday Math Freebie - Numbers to 20

As I prepare for the start of the semester, I find myself working on materials for teaching number sense and place value.

In this packet you'll find three sets of numbers sense puzzles to 20. Each set contains the number in graphic as well as standard and word form. One set uses ten frames, one tally marks, and one base-ten blocks.

Here's what the puzzles look like.

 Download Number Sense Puzzles to 20. 

I hope you get a chance to use these puzzles in your home or classroom. Please let me know if you try them and how they work! 

Monday Math Freebie - Problem Solving Booklet

While working on some word problem/problem solving resources, I thought it might be nice for students who weren't journaling in math to have their own problem solving booklets.

In this packet you'll find two versions of the cover (one says word problem book and the other says problem solving book) and a blank problem solving page. On the forms students draw a picture, use a number line, and write an equation to solve the problem. They must also give the solution to the problem and explain how they know the answer is correct.

Here's what the pages look like.

 Download the Problem Solving Booklet.

If you are looking for some word problems to use with these booklets, check out these resources for Cognitively Guided Instruction (CGI).

• South Dakota Counts: CGI Problems (70+ pages of questions for K-5!)
• CGI Problem Sets
• Math Made Fun: Cognitively Guided Instruction (Scroll to the bottom of the page for downloadable resources.
• MindSong Math: CGI Word Problem Files
• CGI Word Problems

If you're not familiar with CGI, check out this helpful chart from Teacher Tipster.

I hope you get a chance to use this booklet in your home or classroom. Please let me know if you try it and how it works! 

Monday Math Freebie - A Twist on the Dot Game

While searching for resources for teaching scientific notation I came across a middle school version of the dot game where students were required to simplify exponents and record numbers in scientific notation. I loved this idea and wrote to the author asking if I could adapt his idea for the elementary classroom. My thanks to Kevin Koch for giving me permission to create these resources! Here's what I've come up with so far.

In this version of the dot game, students draw line segments and form boxes as usual. When they complete a box, they earn one point. However, if they complete a box with a picture, they must solve some type of problem (write the number, name the fraction, etc.). Answering correctly earns a player extra points. Once all the boxes have been made, players total their scores. The player with the highest score is the winner.

I made two versions to start. One game is for young students on identifying numbers. The other is for older students and is on naming and writing fractions in simplest form. Here's what they look like.

Download What's That Number? Dots and Boxes.

 

 Download Fraction Dots and Boxes.

I hope you get a chance to use these in your home or classroom. Please let me know if you try these and how you like them!