Menu

Home

Site Index

Classroom Projects

Teacher's Inbox

Gifted Seminar

 

Math Lessons


Bar graphs and M & M's


The kids really enjoy learning estimation and bar graphing with this activity.

  1. Give each student an individual package of M & M's.
  2. Before the students open them have them estimate how many of each color will be in their package.
  3. Allow the students to open the package and count the numbers of each color and see how close they were.
Next it's time to begin the graphing. (Ordinary loose leaf paper works fine for this.)
  1. Have the students draw a large capital "L" on the paper.
  2. Across the bottom of the "L" they should write the colors of M & M's.
  3. Along the left of the "L" they should write numbers. (I recommend having the number cross each line.)
  4. Now have the students graph the number of M & M's of each color on the bar graph.

To add some color to the activity let them do this in colored pencils or crayons that coordinate to the M & M color. When graphs are complete the M & M's become a tasty treat.



Homework Checking

This can be a partner or cooperative group activity to check daily homework. It takes a little longer than reading off answers, but I find a lot of good student learning going on when I choose this method. It also breaks the monotony of daily math homework.

Give each group a copy of a sheet to fill out with the following directions on it:

 Homework Checkers

  1. Compare homework answers.
  2. Discuss any answers that are not similar.
  3. Correct your papers together.
  4. Fill in the sheet below for any answers you have changed and your reasons why.
  5. Make certain that everyone in your group's answers now agree.

  6. Staple all papers together and turn in to your teacher.

The teacher will grade only one paper from your group. Each group member will receive that grade.

Group members:

Problem number Reason that answer was changed
1 2 members either added or subtracted incorrectly
8 Decimal was placed incorrectly
17 Answer was not rounded to nearest tenth



Contributed by Kay



 Bargain Buyer

Collect advertising circulars from the Sunday paper. Give each student a copy of the directions below. They have a time limit of one class period to complete the activity.

The student who comes closest to $500.00 without going over wins a prize. Students should use calculators to compute the tax.

 Directions:

 You have just been hired with several others to be a buyer on a trial basis. The buyer who does the best will get to keep the job.

You have been given $500.00 from your employer. You must make the best use of the money possible and you must S-T-R-E-T-C-H your money! In order to do this you must follow a few simple rules:

1. You may only use the circulars provided.
2. You may only purchase an item once.
3. You may not purchase anything over $100.00.
4. You must purchase as many items as possible.
5. You may not help your competition.
6. You must only work in math class.
7. You must itemize your purchases on a tally form.
8. You must tally your items.
9. You must figure out the tax on the total.
10. You must not go over $500.00 (including tax).
Note: All items are subject to a 6% tax.


 Contributed by Kathy



 Quick Math


Here are 3 quick ideas for those times between lessons or while waiting for the end of class:

QUICK MATH #1:

  1. Using a deck of cards, have two students draw a card and not look at it. They show these to the class - but not to each other - by holding the card on their foreheads.
  2. The whole class will then say, "The product is __________ ."
  3. The students with the cards then turn and face each other, and look at the others student's card.
  4. The first student to figure out the card they are holding wins and gets to choose the next pair to hold the cards.

This is good multiplication review, and it involves everyone.


QUICK MATH #2:

 After teaching what a "100 chart" is, have 2 (or more) students draw a nine square grid - like in playing tic-tac-toe - on the board. Start the game by telling the students what number is in the center box, for instance "64."

Students then race to fill in the rest of the grid. For example:

53 54 55
63 64 65
73 74 75



Vary the game by starting in different cubes, or making the grid larger. The game helps students with number sense and relationship. They're adding or subtracting quickly and logically. They see patterns and multiples...


QUICK MATH #3:

 Using a ten sided cube (or cards from 0-9), have students build a number.

They draw 4 lines indicating place value of ones, tens, hundreds, and thousands - like this: _ , _ _ _. They also have a space to "throw away" a number: _.

Instructions can be "Make the largest number," "the smallest number," or "the number closest to, for example, "5,000."

Draw the first number. Students choose which place to put it in - and their neighbor makes sure they don't change this. Draw the second number, and so on for 5 numbers - even if the same number repeats.

 Amazingly, there is enough luck involved that students rarely tie - and it's a chance for lower math students to win at something. This game really helps build place value conceptual understanding - and it can be used for decimals as well. The whole class can play and try to "beat the teacher."



 Adding Integers

For many students, adding negative and positive numbers is a very difficult concept to grasp. To help them visualize it in a concrete way, use this simple strategy:

  1. Laminate sheets of white and black construction paper and cut them into one inch squares. The black squares represent negative numbers; the white squares represent positive numbers.
  2. To add -7 and +5, lay out seven black squares, then place five white squares below them, aligning them one by one.

    Example:
    X= black
    0= white

    X X X X X X X
    0 0 0 0 0
  3. Each X0 pair cancels each other out (-1 plus +1=0), so remove the pairs.
  4. The resulting answer would be X X or -2.



 Contributed by Angie



 What Day Were You Born?


Just a fun activity that the kids enjoy.

Follow these directions to find what day of the week you were born:

  1. Write down the last two digits of the year you were born. Call this number A.
  2. Divide that number (A) by 4, and drop the remainder if there is one. This answer, without the remainder, is B.
  3. Find the number of the month you were born from the month table below. This is number C.
  4. What day of the month were you born? This is number D.
  5. Add the numbers from the first four steps: A + B + C +D.
  6. Divide the sum you got in step 5 by the number 7. What is the remainder from that division? (It should be a number from 0 to 6.)
  7. Find this remainder in the Day Table. This tells you what day of the week you were born. (This method works for any day in the 20th century.)
NOTE: Leap years from 1960 to present: 1960, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008

MONTH TABLE

Month Number to use
January 1 (leap year is 0)
February 4 (leap year is 3)
March 4
April 0
May 2
June 5
July 0
August 3
September 6
October 1
November 4
December 6


DAY TABLE

Day Number to use
Sunday 1
Monday 2
Tuesday 3
Wednesday 4
Thursday 5
Friday 6
Saturday 0




Contributed by Luann



 Calendar Math


Using old calendars, paste each page onto cardboard. At the bottom write directions such as: 

  1. Add the dates of all the Mondays.
  2. Subtract the date of the first Sunday from the date of the fourth Tuesday.
  3. Multiply the sum of the dates of each day in the third week by five.
  4. Divide 2,500 by the sum of the even days in the month.

You could write the answers on the back of the card for easy checking and use as an extension activity or photocopy for the class.


 Contributed by Debra



 Math Scavenger Hunt

Materials: newspapers, scissors, glue, one large piece of paper per group

Students find, cut, and glue the following: 

  • numeral over 1000
  • numeral less than 10
  • numeral between 10 and 100
  • telephone number
  • address
  • Roman numeral
  • number written in words
  • radio call number
  • TV channel number
  • temperature
  • ID number of any kind
  • square
  • rectangle
  • circle
  • triangle
  • date
  • mixed number
  • fraction
  • decimal - but not money
  • zip code
  • money number
  • percent
  • an age
  • time of day
  • parallel line
  • type of graph


 To make it more challenging, you could have the groups race to find the items.


 Fun With Numbers

Here's how to have some fun with numbers...(6174 is the only number that shows up like this)

 Directions:

1. Pick 4 different numbers from 0 to 9.........

7823

2. Arrange them to make the largest number possible.........

8732

3. Now arrange them to make the smallest number.........

2378

4. Subtract the small number from from the large one.........

8732 - 2378 = 6354

 5. Now, take the answer and arrange those numbers to make the largest number possible.........

6543

Then make the smallest number possible.........

3456

And subtract the two.........

6543 - 3456 = 3087

6. Repeat step #5 until the number 6174 appears - it always will.........

8730 (largest) - 0378 (smallest) = 8352

8532 (largest) - 2358 (smallest) = 6174

And there you have it!

 Contributed by Keila



 Solving Word Problems with SQRQCQ


Survey
Read the problem rapidly, skimming to determine its nature.

Question
Decide what is being asked-in other words, what the problem is.

Read
Read for details and interrelationships.

Question
Decide what processes and strategies should be used to address problems.

Compute
Carry out necessary computations.

Question
Ask whether the answer seems correct. Check computations against the facts presented in the problem and against basic arithmetic facts.


 Contributed by Holly



 Hit the Target

  1. Students select 5 random digits - for example: 6, 2, 4, 7, 8.
  2. Students select one number from their list as the target - for example: 8.
  3. Using only the other 4 digits in any combination, and using each digit ONLY once in each problem, the students must use any math function to reach the target digit. Digits may also be used as exponents. For example:

(2 * 4)*(7 - 6) = 8,          72 - 64 = 8,          72/6 - 4 = 8
This really starts kids thinking and reviewing in a fun way!


 Contributed by Gus



 Pattern Block Recreation

This is a fun activity to do when you are working on geometry and want to practice using the shape names.

Materials: Pattern Blocks

 Directions:

1. Have students work in pairs

2. Each student should have a small set of Pattern Blocks. (Each set should have the same number and kind of blocks).

3. A screen, such as a notebook, is placed between the two students.

4. The first student creates a design with some of his/her Pattern Blocks and explains to the second student how to replicate the design. Directions are given, such as, "Place the hexagon to the right of the trapezoid."

5. When all directions have been given, students compare their designs to see how well they match.

6. Students reverse roles and the activity is repeated

 NOTE: In giving directions, students need to name the shape but not the color. The only blocks that need more specific descriptions are the blue and tan parallelograms. Have students determine what they will be called before the activity begins (e.g., the "fat" parallelogram and the "skinny" parallelogram). Colors may not be used.


 Contributed by Khandi
WAR....With a Twist


Maybe you've heard of the card game called WAR? You can use this as the basis for a review game to practice multiplication skills! All you need is a little bit of extra time - at the beginning or the end of a class period, on game day, etc.

To play, you will need a deck of cards for each pair of students who will be playing. In each deck, cover the Jacks, Queens and Kings with plain white adhesive-backed name tags. In permanent marker, assign the Jacks the value of 11, the Queens the value of 12, and the Kings the value of 13. The Aces serve as a wild card.

In their partner groups, each student gets exactly half the deck of cards as his/her "stack". Each player flips a card over at the same time, revealing their numbers. Whoever is first to correctly multiply the two numbers together wins the two cards. If an Ace comes up, the person who had the Ace can make it any number they choose. The other person has to multiply the 2 numbers. If they can't, or if they get the wrong answer, the person with the Ace gets the cards.

 Students play until they use all of their cards. Whoever ends the game with the biggest pile of cards wins the game.


 Contributed by Jennifer



 Division Cues

When it comes to division, an easy way to practice estimate, multipy, subtract, check, bring down, is to remember that:

Every
McDonalds
Sells
Cheese Burgers

Contributed by Neil

 

Design provided by Free Web Templates - your source for free website templates