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Dan Meyer's math in three acts: introduction/hook, more information, conclusion. These include videos, questioning to use, and are searchable by content.

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Photos to inspire higher depth of knowledge in contextual problems.

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We think that this is a very good time to wish for peace. Above is a picture of the wreath that I made for this winter's season. Do you know this symbol? Where did it originate? Do you ever use a different symbol for peace (for instance, sideways "V"s)?

In this activity students learn about the semaphore flag symbols and how this peace symbol was first designed. They design their own symbol and try to figure out how many possibilities there are in this kind of communication.

The activity: PeaceSymbol.pdf

How should I cook my turkey? - Students judge timing, cost, tastiness, and quantity necessary as they plan for the feast. 4.MD, 5.NBT, 4.MD, 6.RP, 6.NS, 7.NS + Great video on a deep frying fire with William Shatner.

Shopping season already! - Students will be able to add some understanding and analysis to holiday shopping trips after calculating savings in dollars and percents with this timely investigation. 6.RP, 7.EE, 7.EE

Not enough mashed potatoes - Use Brian's famous mashed potatoes recipe to practice changing decimals to fractions; calculating ingredient measure for various-sized Thanksgiving servings; have students explain their reasoning; and to have students figure out how many servings 7½ pounds of potatoes would make. 5.NF, 6.RP, 7.RP

Consumers in the U.S. spend a lot of money. In this activity we look at historical data to see if there are any patterns in our spending. How does our holiday spending show up in these graphs? What accounts for spikes or drops in spending? What patterns do you notice? Which patterns will likely continue and which patterns won't? Let the class see, think, wonder and discuss in this timely activity.

Soo Yeon is a Mathematics teacher at an international school in Asia and has be an avid user of YummyMath. Formerly she was a chemical engineer and shares our intent of providing practical, relatable, and real-world contexts in teaching mathematics.

She would like to share the following with YummyMath users:

"As you know Leslie and Brian's hard work and vision of exploring math in real life contexts has been instrumental in helping students develop critical thinking, questioning skills, and a positive attitude towards Mathematics. I wholeheartedly share their vision and am dedicated to upholding their mission. Moving forward, YummyMath will continue to evolve, enhancing content and user experiences to better meet your needs both now and in the future. I understand the challenges teachers and parents face in balancing engaging activities with time management. To address this, I kindly request your input through a survey ( ) to ensure that YummyMath effectively supports your needs.

Thanks so much for your support as YummyMath starts this new chapter. "

In this activity, students work through the nomenclature to understand the possibilities of nano science and quantum dots. Questions that are answered; How many nanometers are in a millimeter? What is a semiconductor? What and why does this nano technology increase our ability to closely examine, understand and modify our tools?

The activity: Quantum-dot.pdf

On Veterans Day we honor the men and women that have served in the Armed Forces of the United States. There are now 16.2 million living veterans. We found these maps that show where veterans live in the U.S.

What do you notice and what do you wonder when seeing these maps?

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We think that this is a very good time to wish for peace. Above is a picture of the wreath that I made for this winter's season. Do you know this symbol? Where did it originate? Do you ever use a different symbol for peace (for instance, sideways "V"s)?

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Word problems are often dreaded by students. To try to help the grandmother who wrote about her frustration with helping her fourth-grade granddaughter with word problems, I replied with the following message:
Instead of focusing on traditional word problems at this time, which seem to be dreaded by both of you, maybe it would be better to focus on math questions in a more playful way. Try posing problems that have more than one right answer, more in the spirit of math riddles. Here's an example of a traditional word problem that a fourth grader would be expected to solve, followed by a problem that's more like a riddle:
Traditional Word Problem: Billy had $163 and spent some. He has $15 left. How much money did Billy spend?

A Different Word Problem: The answer to a subtraction problem is 15. What might the problem be?
What interests me when I pose a problem such as the second one is the size of the numbers students choose. That can provide information about their level of numerical comfort. Also, then I can ask them to write a word-problem situation that would match the math problem they created. And, as always, I'm interested in how students solve problems. I think it's very, very important to encourage students to reason mentally, without paper and pencil, and at all times to explain their thinking.
Reflections on My Message

This one activity probably won't be sufficient for helping the fourth grader. Students need a great deal of experience with interpreting situations, connecting them to the appropriate mathematical operations, and finding and justifying solutions. But it can shift the focus from being right or wrong to connecting situations to math problems. (See Classroom Suggestions below for instructional suggestions.)

A caution: Teachers often resort to helping children solve textbook problems by providing word cues. For example, teachers might tell their students that if a problem says "altogether," they are supposed to add, or if a problem says "how many more," they should subtract. Teachers provide these cues to help students be more successful with word problems. However, instruction of this type does little more than offer students tricks for figuring out answers. The cues focus on doing something with the numbers at hand, instead of making sense of the situation and modeling it mathematically.

Watch a Short Video

Here's a typical word problem that's useful for seeing if students can interpret a remainder and give an answer that correctly responds to the situation.

There are 295 students.
Each school bus holds 25 students.
How many buses are needed to fit all of the students?

For a revealing and vivid example of how word cues can interfere, watch this one-minute video clip of Mallika Scott asking Marisa, a fifth-grader, to solve the problem, inappropriately using word cues.

Note: This video is from the Math Reasoning Inventory (MRI), a free online assessment tool for learning about students' numerical reasoning, appropriate for students in grade 5 and up. I've found MRI to provide insights I never had access before about students' numerical understanding and reasoning ability. The video clip of Marisa is part of the MRI Video Library of almost 100 clips that you can search by students or by problem. For more information about MRI, see my earlier blog post: We Ask, We Listen, We Learn.

Classroom Suggestions

Following are ideas about how to approach word problem instruction with students.

Give students problems to solve that have more than one right answer, such as the one suggested above: The answer to a subtraction problem is 15. What might the problem be? For other problems like this one, my two go-to resources are both titled Good Questions for Math Teaching: Why Ask Them and What to Ask. One book is for grades K-6, written by Peter Sullivan and Pat Lilburn, and the other is for grades 5-8, writtenby Lainie Schuster and Nancy Canavan Anderson.

Another way that I've had success is to present word problems in a different way. For example, using the traditional word problem I described earlier, I would write on the board:

I'd read aloud what I'd written: "Billy had 'blank' dollars. He spent 'blank' dollars. Billy has 'blank' dollars left." Then I would have the students read it aloud with me. Next I'd insert numbers in two of the blanks. For example, for the problem I presented above, I would write:

Using the think-pair-share instructional strategy, first I would ask students to work individually to solve the problem, then I'd have them talk with their partners, and finally I'd lead a class discussion for them to report their results. As always, I would have students explain how they reasoned. To continue, I'd change the numbers, always filling in two blanks but changing which amount was unknown. And, for independent practice, I sometimes ask students to choose their own numbers. As with having them write subtraction problems that have a specified answer (like 15), this gives me insights into students' numerical comfort.

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Word problems are often dreaded by students. To try to help the grandmother who wrote about her frustration with helping her fourth-grade granddaughter with word problems, I replied with the following message: Instead of focusing on traditional word problems at this time, which seem to be dreaded by both of you, maybe it would be better to focus on math questions in a more playful way.

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Problem based lessons

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My growing list of free real world problem-based lessons for grades 2 through high school. Includes links to download multimedia and teacher guide.

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Problem based search engine

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Problem-Based Lesson Search Engine - Robert Kaplinsky

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This search engine searches all of the sites below to quickly help you find a problem-based lesson (also called 3-Act Task, mathematical modeling, or application problem)

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3 Act Tasks

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Model your word problems with Thinking Blocks! Only at MathPlayground.com.