These math puzzle worksheets make it easy to help your students build critical thinking and problem-solving skills while having fun!
Students come to us on all different levels, which can be a challenge- 3 great ideas on how to teach a mutli-level class.
Free set of printables to go along with Magnetic Tiles. Includes two levels of difficulty. Builds problem solving skills.
These top-rated supplies for building a thinking classroom will make it fun and engaging for your students.
I started putting together these math joke of the week posters at the end of last school year. I'm super excited about how it turned out. I put the finishing
If you're not making time for math games, your students are missing out! Check out these 5 math games every classroom needs to play!
Worksheets for 1st grade math, first grade math worksheets for free for the basic math topics taught in grade 1.
As a teacher, there is so much to do when it comes to setting up the classroom, that it is hard to know where to start! Over the course of my first six years of teaching middle school math, a few of these classroom projects have become staples in my classroom. In this post, I plan to share a few of these ideas. (1) Assignment Notebook Board The first thing my middle school students do (or should be doing!) when they come to class is fill out their assignment notebooks. With some ruler tape that I found at Office Max, I created this assignment notebook board. The number 1 on each day is for what we do in class. The number 2 on each day is any homework that is assigned. For example the 1 might be "Multiply Fractions" and the 2 might be "Pg 232 hw (due tmw)." (2) Math is Everywhere Board I have written about this project in a few other posts, but it is one of my all time favorites to start the year! I have two bulletin boards in my classroom. This one gets filled with these tiles. Students must show how they see math in the real world on their tile. On the back of their tile, they must write a paragraph explaining how math is seen in the topic that they chose! You can click HERE for a free set of the bulletin board letters! (3) Challenge of the Week Many of you have already seen or tried out the Challenge of the Week in your classroom! I have loved seeing the pictures! Each week, I put up a new challenge problem. They are optional and students have until the end of the day on Thursday to turn it in. Anyone who gets it correct gets a small prize on Friday when we go over the answer! Both the 6th Grade Challenge of the Week Problems and the 8th Grade Challenge of the Week Problems are FREE in my TpT store. Enjoy! (4) Teacher Book Shelf My teacher book shelf took on some major changes recently. I started with this new way of organizing all of my math workshop materials. I decided to organize them more by the type of game, rather than by the topic like I had done in the past. I cleared these shelves off and organized them in these containers that I had ordered a few years ago. If you are looking for the materials and resources that I use for math workshop, be sure to check out my Math Mega Bundle (Upper Elementary/Middle School) and my Math Mega Bundle (8th Grade Math). Below these containers, I have two shelves with labels for Monday through Friday. This is where I put all of my plans and resources that I will be using for the coming week. This has been a useful way to stay organized and prepared throughout the week! As you can see, I am not quite ready for the first week of school... On the bottom of these shelves are my task cards, which very well could be the hardest resource when it comes to organization! I found these containers at Michaels. They have worked out pretty well. I have two sets of task cards that I use throughout each school year for each grade level. I have a regular set of task cards and then a set of enrichment task cards. Each set takes up two of these containers. Teaching two different grades means I end up with 8 of these containers, which is pretty manageable! Check out the links below if you are interested in the task cards for each grade level! 6th Grade Math Task Cards Bundle 6th Grade Math Enrichment Task Cards Bundle 7th Grade Math Task Cards Bundle 7th Grade Math Enrichment Task Cards Bundle 8th Grade Math Task Cards Bundle 8th Grade Math Enrichment Task Cards Bundle (5) Bulletin Board (Number 2) My second bulletin board is filled with some routine-oriented and expectation posters. I made these the last few years. The colored math workshop poster shows where students of each group should be at any given time. The homework data chart is where we record our homework data. As a class, we figure out what percentage of homework we turn in on time each day. Over the course of the year, we graph these and look at trends. It also becomes a fun competition between classes! (6) Bobblehead Collection I started my bobblehead collection a while ago and it has just grown ever since! Students enjoy seeing them and it is a fun way for students to get to know me and my interest in baseball! My wife and I are trying to get to all 30 MLB stadiums, and recently made it to Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. Luckily it was a bobblehead giveaway, so the Kevin Appier Royals bobblehead is the most recent addition to the collection!
We want students to be comfortable in our classrooms. We want them to feel welcomed and inspired. Classroom decoration can play a role in creating that environment. Below are some simple ways to …
Geometric Art
I have been using interactive math notebooks in my classroom for as long as I can remember. Math notebooks are a great place for students to take notes, record definitions and sample problems, and practice new skills. They are perfect to use for direct instruction and guided practice, in small groups or as a whole class.…
Are you looking for a way teaching math vocabulary in a more visual and conceptual way? To differentiate for your struggling learners? Every year, it seems we get more and more visual learners coming into our classrooms, learners who benefit from math word walls that show concepts and vocabulary in action. This approach has worked wonders in my classroom and I know it will in yours! Adding a visual math word wall to my classroom completely changed how my students access our math vocabulary and the concepts we learn in class. Our math word walls are covered in examples and visuals that show the math concepts in context along with the vocabulary words we cover in class.
Free printable tangrams and tangram pattern cards. These activity sheets are great for preschool math learning centers. Students work on building different animals, objects and shapes.
Come grab this free resource that is a collection of my favorite virtual math manipulatives!
So you’ve read the book, Building Thinking Classrooms by Peter Liljedahl, and are wondering what’s next. It all makes sense and the educational system is definitely in need of a shake u…
Stop taking away recess and using other punishments to control your students. Find success with 10 powerful classroom management strategies!
FREE printable Symmetry drawing activity for preschool and kindergarten kids. A fun art and math activity in one! Kids will complete the symmetrical pictures by drawing the other half.
Free Download of 1-4-5 Square Challenge. Can you make a square using exactly 1 piece? 4 pieces? All 5 pieces?
This is the fifth installment in the Everything You Ever Wanted To Know about Using Exit Tickets in your Math Classroom blogging series. If you haven’t already, check out the first four posts and t…
This project is PERFECT for your young witches and wizards! I usually save this project until the end of the year when I'm reading the 3rd Harry Potter book, but you could also give students this project immediately after teaching them about area and perimeter, or as a project to take home during fall, winter or spring break. If you enjoy this project, please check out my other math projects and my other Harry Potter products. (If you like this product but you don't have a Harry Potter themed class, check out my Design-A-Zoo project!) ~~~~~~~~~~Customer Tips~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ How to get TPT credit to use on future purchases: • Please go to your My Purchases page (you may need to login). Beside each purchase you'll see a Provide Feedback button. Simply click it and you will be taken to a page where you can give a quick rating and leave a short comment for the product. Each time you give feedback, TPT gives you feedback credits that you use to lower the cost of your future purchases. I value your feedback greatly!
I recently came across this idea on Pinterest, and I LOVE it. I am sorry, I don't know who the original credit goes to for coming up with this idea is...if you can claim it - let me know :) As we all know, getting students to understand the whole IDEA of a proof is difficult. Then throw in theorems, postulates, reasons, statements UGH...it's too much. The reason I love using Uno to start teaching proof is that you begin the lesson with something students are familiar with - many have played Uno before. The general idea is to give students some number of Uno cards. There is a card for them to begin with [GIVEN] and a card for them to end with [what they are trying to PROVE]. Students are also given some number of additional cards. Then they are asked to find a way to get from the GIVEN card to the PROVE card by playing a hand of Uno. For example, start the students with this layout of cards. Students may realize that if they start with the blue 8, the game could proceed by playing the green 8, then the green 1, the yellow 1, and finally ending with the yellow 3. The cards must be played in this order...if they aren't, the rules of the game are not followed. After a bit, you could introduce the Wild Card - it can be played just like in real Uno...you can use it to change to any color. It helps you move through the game, or in our case, the proof. Students must realize that they can't complete the game without using the Wild Card to change to the green color. After the students understand the idea, you could provide students with extra cards that aren't needed for the proof, but could be included. It isn't WRONG to put them in the proof, but they make the game (or proof) longer than necessary. Or, you might be given an extra card that CAN'T be included in the game - it doesn't fit at all. For example, In this case, the 5 isn't necessary at all. It's tempting to use it after the blue 0, but then you can't proceed without any of the other cards. Notice that we could just use the red 0 and the red 7 to finish the proof. The red 2 isn't necessary, but could be included. The proof would just be longer. After students understand the idea of sequencing the cards, then you can introduce the two column proof format. Want to try using this in your class? Join my email list and I'll send you a packet with everything you need to give it a try! Join My List! I'll email you the packet so you have everything you need to have your best intro to proof EVER! Send me the Uno Packet! We respect your privacy. Unsubscribe at any time.
These are my favorite songs to use in high school math classes. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do and your students love them also!
Bulletin boards, doors, and classroom walls are all opportunities to spread positive math messages! A bulletin board in a math classroom should be meaningful. I’ve gathered some of my favorites that will get students attention, make them feel welcome, make them think, inspire them, or even make them
Here's a simple way to teacher less than, greater than: with toys! Free printable included.
If you’re looking to regain some of your essential time, this is a post for you! Many of the daily systems teachers have setup for themselves and students can quickly turn into time-suc…
How to plan collaborative project-based learning activities in the math classroom. Check out these engaging PBL ideas for 3rd grade students!
One of the most time-consuming things teachers deal with is student absences! I no longer worry about this because my students completely take care of it!
Hands-on learning is incredibly important for kids. There are a million reasons why! Today I am highlighting more than 60 elementary hands-on math teaching ideas that I have featured over the years on my site.
This is a great activity for students learning the Pythagorean Theorem. Students will use the Pythagorean Theorem to calculate distances. In addition, students will add decimals to calculate routes involving more than one stop. Lastly, students will explain the shortest route.
Okay before we start digging into these Get to Know You activities I want to share a little bit of the “why”. When I first started teaching 5th grade math a few years ago I noticed right away that my students were coming to me with some math baggage, if you will. Both good and… Continue reading Getting to Know Your Students as Math Learners
Use this fantastic pentomino exploration as a first day of math class activity in middle school. You'll learn so much about your students!
Yes! FREE homeschool math curriculum for K-8th grade does exist and it's wonderfully Charlotte Mason. Click, print, and done! Watch the video
Enjoy a classroom tour from a teacher who has been teaching for 15 years - classroom ideas and strategic set-up!
I want to tell you about a really easy and fun get to know you activity. This can also be used for a fun math activity throughout the year. What's even better is that your students will love to create these and they make FABULOUS hallway displays.
Teaching multisensory math techniques as well as incorporating multisensory math activities into lesson plans is not only best practice for students
Get the Training Several years ago, my 3rd grade team had the honor of piloting the Eureka math curriculum (Engage NY). We did not receive any training on this program that year. We struggled. Honestly it felt like we were treading water all year and there were several times that we started taking in some
Build fact fluency with these engaging games and activities. Check out these super fun and creative ways to help your students stay engaged.
Practice grade 4 math with these FREE 4th Grade Math Worksheets and print as many as you need. Fourth grade math answer key included!!
An Elementary Teaching Blog with tips, ideas and freebies for your classroom. For new teachers and seasoned teachers alike!
