Want a fun, hands on math activity for your students to celebrate Earth Day on April 22? This Earth Day Geoboard activity can provide a FUN review of a variety of math skills. Do you have a stash of geoboards collecting dust in your closet? Well, get ready to pull them out as your students create images to celebrate Earth Day! This set of hands on math challenges will help your students compose shapes, count, add and create a simple bar graph. This is a great way to take a break from your normal math routine & focus on ways to care for our planet (while also weaving in some important math ..read more

Ready for your angles geometry unit? Whether you’re just getting started or looking for quick and easy review, this set of 8 angles worksheets covers a wide variety of vocabulary and skills. There are so many fun, hands on math topics to explore in geometry. And the best part? It doesn’t have to wait until high school! Laying the foundation for high school geometry begins in upper elementary and middle school. Before students can understand relationships between the angles in a triangle, or discover exterior angles, they need to understand what an angle is. This free set of angles worksheets c ..read more

Looking for a fun way to help your kids practice and understand indirect measurement? This free indirect measurement lesson will get kids outside, applying their math skills to real life. One of the biggest overarching math concepts in middle school is proportional relationships. We see proportional relationships in real life all the time, and it’s important that students can recognize them, but more than that apply proportions to solve real problems. There are a lot of applications, but one easy way to show students a proportional relationship is through indirect measurement. By creating simi ..read more

Are you looking for a fun way to introduce functions? This simple function rules game will help students understand functions, function rules and how the rule relates to a table. A lot of times, pre-algebra or algebra textbooks begin exploring functions by telling students that functions are rules that determine an output from a given input. Then it shows you how to create a function table with a given rule. Then students practice. When I was preparing to explore functions with my 8th and 9th graders, I wanted to give them a more open-ended challenge to help them think about and make sense of ..read more

Looking for a fun way to explore relations and functions with your students? This function representations sort is an easy way to get students talking and comparing functions. One of my biggest goals when teaching functions is to help students understand that functions can be represented in multiple ways. To help them make connections between a table, a graph and an equation. That describing a situation in words can then be translated into math language (but still mean the same thing!). A lot of times, I see students get hung up on abstract equations, unsure what to do with them. But if we can ..read more

Help your students better understand how to multiply & divide by powers of ten using this hands-on math game. Or use the game pieces as manipulatives for students to learn & practice. We work in a base ten number system. Therefore, helping students understand place value & powers of ten in this number system is essential for developing deep number sense. But far too often, students are told facts or ‘tricks’ to memorize rather than being given time to play with numbers and make sense of this number system on their own. The goal of this math center game is to aid 5th grade students ..read more

Looking for a fun and quick way to add some math fact fun to your 100th day of school? Grab this free set of 100th Day Color by Addition pages to help your littles add within 10! Have you and your students been counting the days of school? Do you know when you will hit ‘day 100?’ If you haven’t been keeping track, never fear. There’s still time to do a quick calendar count and plan for that fun milestone-the 100th day of school! And if you teach preschool or kindergarten, you will definitely want to include these 100th day of school color by addition pages. This can provide a fun themed revie ..read more

Are your students able to articulate their math thinking, ask good questions and share math ideas together? If not, read these 10 easy strategies to encourage productive math talk in the classroom.  In today’s fast-paced educational landscape, where every moment counts, fostering effective math communication skills is essential to prepare our students for jobs in the 21st century.  Picture this – a classroom abuzz with chatter, not just any chatter, but the vibrant symphony of students transforming numbers into lively conversations. Math talk not only strengthens students’ understand ..read more

Looking for ideas and conversation starters for your math block? Number talks are a great and easy way to build number sense & mathematical reasoning. Use these three number talk ideas to get started! Have you been wanting to start a number talk routine in your classroom, but aren’t sure where to begin? If you’re just getting started, it can be intimidating. How do you encourage discussion? Will students respond? What is the end goal, and how do you steer the conversation in that direction? In this post, I’ll outline three simple ways to start talking about numbers in your classroom, incre ..read more

Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and I want you to know that I’m thankful for YOU! I’m participating in a collaboration to give away LOTS of amazing free products, and also LOTS of giveaways for TPT giftcards. Read on to learn more about the free resources and giveaways! Sharing My Blessings: As I finish up 2023 and look back on the year we’ve had, I have so much to be thankful for. Here are just a few things I wanted to share with you: 1. Everyone in my family is healthy. There have been years where loved ones (or my own kids) have been sick and in the hospital over the holidays. One ..read more