ACTIVITIES

Writing and Math with Shopping Lists
Children will use a variety of mathematics and literacy skills as they create shopping lists to use at the store to buy their favorite treats. They will also develop problem-solving skills while they work to stay within a budget. ReadWriteThink, Grades K-2

LESSONS

Melodies and Math
Discover the way math and music work together as you create your own tunes using a touch-tone phone and other non-traditional musical instruments. ArtsEdge, Grades K-4

This Little Piggybank Went To Market
Count your money and see how your savings can grow. EconEdLink, Grades K-2

Figuring in Football
In this primary grades lesson, students identify figures on a football field. They look for both congruent and similar figures, and they consider figures that are the same but that occur in a different orientation because of translation, rotation, or reflection. Illuminations, Grades K-2

Ladybug Adventures
The activities in this four-part series from present a rich computer environment in which students use their knowledge of number, measurement and geometry to solve interesting problems. Planning, visualizing, estimating, measuring, testing and revising are all components of the ladybug activities and the activities help students build ideas about navigation and location, and use these ideas to solve problems. Illuminations, Grades K-2

What's Left?
In this lesson, one of a multi-part unit, triangular flash cards and dice games help students practice addition facts. Students modify their "Addition Chart" to record the facts they know at the immediate-recall. Illuminations, Grades K-2

Counting Crows
This lesson blends math and art with literature using Aesop's fable, "The Crow and the Pitcher." The class will discuss the fable and its meaning. Each student will design their own puppet and act out the fable using pebbles and water in containers. Students will also make predictions and then compare them to actual results. ARTSEDGE, Grades K-4

Draw a Math Story: From the Concrete to the Symbolic
In this lesson, students identify key mathematical vocabulary heard in read-alouds of math-oriented stories and then work at drawing representations of the concepts presented. ReadWriteThink, Grades K-2

Giant Story Problems: Reading Comprehension through Math Problem-Solving
Working as a class, students read a story problem and answer a series of questions designed to bring out the essential points of the problem. Students then draw a picture on chart paper showing the details of the story problem. They write both an equation and a sentence to represent the problem. ReadWriteThink, Grades 1-2

Geometric Solids and Their Properties
In these five interactive geometry investigations, students explore geometric solids and their properties. Students analyze characteristics and properties of three-dimensional shapes, develop mathematical arguments about geometric relationships, construct various geometric solids using an interactive tool, and explore and create nets for them. Within each lesson, students use visualization, spatial reasoning, and geometric modeling to solve problems. Illuminations, Grades 3-5

Measuring the Flag
Studying the Star-Spangled Banner is a great chance to combine history and math! In this classroom activity , students apply historical information to math problems to gain an understanding of the flag’s size. Smithsonian's History Explorer, Grades 3-5

Solving the Math Curse: Reading and Writing Math Word Problems
This lesson uses the four modalities of reading (reading, writing, listening, and speaking) on a math word problem to bridge the gap between reading and math. ReadWriteThink, Grades 3-5

Talking, Writing, and Reasoning: Making Thinking Visible with Math Journals
By talking, writing, and reasoning in math journals, students shift the emphasis of their work from finding the “right” answer to a metacognitive exploration of how their problem-solving works in ways that encourage them to apply, extend, and adapt their strategies to new situations. ReadWriteThink, Grades 3-5

QARs + Tables = Successful Comprehension of Math Word Problems
In this lesson, students apply the question-answer relationship (QAR) strategy to word problems that refer to data displayed in a table. By following the QAR framework, students can determine whether mathematical calculations are required to formulate a correct response. ReadWriteThink, Grades 3-5

Sorting Polygons
Students identify and classify polygons according to various attributes. They then sort the polygons in Venn Diagrams, according to these attributes. Illuminations, Grades 6-8

Mathematics and Football
The ideas in these activities focus on connections between mathematics and football by using the Super Bowl. Students are asked to look at the Super Bowl not just as "the big game" but as an opportunity to apply mathematics to some interesting problems. The activities involve number sense, geometry, measurement, statistics, estimations, and problem solving. Illuminations, Grades 6-8

Football Finances
In this activity, students analyze pictures of football stands to make estimates related to the attendance at the Super Bowl. The students will realize that estimates must, at times, be made with little background information and that a range of answers might be correct. Students also make estimates about the television audience. Illuminations, Grades 6-8

Big Math and Fries
Here’s a lesson that is almost as hard to resist as an order of fries! This lesson is designed to enlighten students about how to calculate percent of calories from fat, carbohydrates, and protein. The calculations are made to determine if a person can follow the Zone Diet with only McDonald's food items. Illuminations, Grades 6-8

Least Squares Regression
A nine-lesson Unit Plan that builds skills for interpreting the slope and y-intercept of linear equations. The lessons provide students with a real-life context in which to relate both concepts and give students the opportunity to view data in tabular, graphic, and algebraic form. Illuminations, Grades 9-12

INTERACTIVES

Ten Frame
Great for young kids! This student interactive from Illuminations presents four games that help students develop counting and addition skills. Each of the games uses a frame of ten, which can be a helpful way to learn basic number facts. Illuminations, Grades K- 2

How Many Under the Shell?
After Okta hides some bubbles under a shell, he then either adds more bubbles or takes some away. Students have to determine how many bubbles are left under the shell. Illuminations, Grades K-2

Concentration
Play by yourself or against a friend to form pairs. Match numbers, shapes, fractions, or multiplication facts to equivalent representations. Practice facts by using the clear pane mode or play the game with the windows closed for a greater challenge. Illuminations, Grades K-5

Primary Krypto
Combine five number cards using the four arithmetic operations (+, –, ×, ÷) to arrive at a "target" number. This online version of Primary Krypto uses the numbers 1–10 only. Illuminations, Grades K-8

Geometric Solids
This tool allows you to learn about various geometric solids and their properties. You can manipulate and color each shape to explore the number of faces, edges, and vertices, and you can also use this tool to investigate the following question: Illuminations, Grades K-12

Deep Sea Dual
Okta challenges you to a duel! He wants to play you in a game where the first person to choose cards with a specified sum wins. You can choose how many cards, what types of numbers, and Okta's level of strategy. Illuminations, Grades 3-8

Isometric Drawing Tool
Use this interactive tool to create dynamic drawings on isometric dot paper. Draw figures using edges, faces, or cubes. You can shift, rotate, color, decompose, and view in 2‑D or 3‑D. Illuminations, Grades 3-12

Tower of Hanoi
Solve the Tower of Hanoi puzzle by moving all of the disks from one peg to another using the smallest number of moves. Compete against a friend to see who can solve the puzzle in the shortest time or with the fewest number of moves. Illuminations, Grades 6-12

Calculation Nation
Challenge others. Challenge yourself. Become a citizen of Calculation Nation! Play online math strategy games to learn about fractions, factors, multiples, symmetry and more, as well as practice important skills like basic multiplication and calculating area. This is THE site for online math games! Illuminations

Dynamic Paper
If you are teaching math, you have to try this applet! With Dynamic Paper, you can create customized activity sheets for your classroom - Nets of 3-D shapes, tessellations, coordinate graphs, and more - all based on your input. You can then print and or save as a PDF activity sheet or jpg for the Web.

View all 105 interactives from Illuminations! Grades K-12