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CHALLENGING MATH PROBLEMS WORTH SOLVING

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CHALLENGING MATH PROBLEMS WORTH SOLVING DOWNLOAD OUR FAVORITE PROBLEMS FROM EVERY GRADE LEVEL Get Our Favorite Problems Take The Online Workshop WANT GOOGLE SLIDE VERSIONS OF ALL PROBLEMS? HERE’S OUR GROWING COLLECTION Get Google Slide Versions WANT TO SHARE OPEN MIDDLE WITH OTHERS? CHECK OUT THESE FREE WEBINARS TO HELP TEACHERS RETHINK CLASSWORK Elementary Version

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Easy math activities - is this an oxymoron? It doesn't have to be.

You don't have to be a teacher long to see that a worksheet full of problems does not incite the excitement and enthusiasm of many of your students.
However, try any of these easy math activities, and you will experience unprecedented levels of excitement from your class.
Now that I am a parent, I see this in my 3 year old. "Let's go get our shoes on" leads to a slow, distracted exercise where I have to keep reminding her to stay on task. But... "let's race to see who can get their shoes on first" results in shoes on in about 10 seconds.

How to Use these Easy Math Activities

Use these ideas for test review, or any 20 minute time period too.

Use them on the fly. There is little to no prep; I could easily implement them if I noticed students were off task.

Most of these activities can be played for as little as 10 minutes all the way to 40 minutes, so they are flexible!

Use them when your students request to. Because they will! These activities were often used as an incentive.

One other thing that I love about these activities is that you can hold students accountable to your standards. You see, students REALLY want to play. You may have those students who refused to show their work. Well, students have to show work in order to move the magnet, or sign their name, or get a tic-tac-toe. You are the gatekeeper!

1. Tic-Tac-Toe

Project or draw 4-5 tic-tac-toe boards onto your whiteboard

Make half of the class Xs and half Os. You could do boys v. girls or split up geographically - window v. door.

Students work in pairs or groups. As soon as a group has completed a certain number of problems, they raise their hands with symbol for done, you go check, and if they did everything correctly and to your standards, they can take an expo marker and play an X or an O.

I instruct students to complete a game board before moving on to another, but you could play multiple boards at once.

2. Connect Four

Prep Time: 30 seconds

Materials: whiteboard and sticky notes in different colors

You can see that the concept is super simple -My students loved it, especially when they could block! This is similar to tic-tac-toe but it allows for more than two teams. Idea is from be the first team to connect 4 sticky notes in a row horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. Miss 5th.

Image Credit Miss 5th

Place students into groups. Draw or project a grid or table of 8 by 5 boxes. Each box needs to be able to fit a single sticky note.

Similarly, students work in their groups. As soon as a group has completed a certain number of problems, they raise their hands, you go check, and if they did everything correctly and to your standards, one student is sent to the board with their sticky note and they place it on the grid.

To manage the excitement and some of the behavior, I would create barriers for teams who were too rowdy. Example: if more than 1 student left their seat to move a sticky note, then I would remove one of their sticky notes. Using these types of tactics only has to happen once or twice before students internalize the expectations. Before you know it, the students who struggle the most are the ones policing other teams!

3. Magnet Race

Similar to Connect 4 and Tic-Tac-Toe, the magnet race was my first introduction to engagement by way of racing.

Materials needed: number line on a whiteboard with two or more different colored magnets. You could also do this with clothespins and a string or even a pushpin on a bulletin board.

All of the magnets begin at 0 on the number line. Students earn the chance to play after working together to solve problems, then one student from the group would stand and make a move. They could either move their magnet two spaces in the positive directions, or move the opposing team two spaces in the negative direction or split it. Whichever team had their magnet at the greatest value at the end was considered the winner.

Get a free vertical number line here.
All of those activities have the same type of appeal. Group style, positive peer pressure so everyone tries because you can't move ahead if someone in your group isn't working, and high engagement. I will be honest, it can get a little loud!

A couple of things to consider -

Blatant copying - this is going to happen if you aren't careful. I think spending time upfront about what is helping someone work a problem versus just letting someone copy is a good practice.

I wouldn't use these activities for either brand new concepts or on days where I needed really precise work to be done. For example: I wouldn't use these when I am asking students to draw and model fraction division. That requires lots of focus and precision. I also know that I will need to be really available to help.

I would use these activities on the day we are covering a skill that most students will excel on. Volume for example.

If you are choosing to run one of these activities in class, you will be highly involved with classroom management and answer checking, so you cannot pull a small group during this time.

Time: 30 seconds

Materials: Either print or project a 100s grid. I found this colorful one here as a free download.

This was my secret to review days! Review days tended to be a struggle for my students (and myself). I had 90 minute blocks, so playing a game for that entire time would get a little wild, but I needed something to keep students engaged the entire time - enter the hundreds grid.

As students complete problems (whatever number you decide), they raise their hands, you check, and then let them know if they need to fix any. If they are all correct, a student can sign the grid.

Students put their initials in one of the numbered boxes. The more problems students complete, the more opportunities they have for their initials to be in more boxes.

At the end of class, I would google a random number generator to select 3 or so winners. Those students would get to grab something from my prize box.

For the first half of class, I would allow students to work together. The second half of class would be completely silent as students needed to practice independently (they were having a test the next day after all). This game worked throughout both collaborative and independent work time.

5. Grafitti!

Graffiti is a fun and easy math activity. It requires more preparation than the others mentioned above, but it is great for math problems that need more space to be solved. You could even just give students an expo marker and they could work directly on their desks.

This is a great activity if you need extra space. Anything with models - integer operations, fractions, bar models, maybe drawing algebra tiles.

Give a variety of marker colors and see students incorporate colors into their strategies.

Checking work is really easy because their work is large and easier to read.

6. Math Musical Chairs

Prep time: 0 seconds

Materials: Chairs

Play music and students walk around the room. When the music stops, students must rush to find a seat. While seated, they have to complete 2 problems. When finished, they have to jump up and find another empty seat to do another 2 math problems.

The teacher said that her students love it, and all they are doing is completing math problems.

Students work better when they have the opportunity to stretch their legs and this keeps the momentum going.

7. Digital Activities

Prep Time: Varies

Materials: Devices

Our digital activities require little prep too. Assign via your school LMS, make sure your computers are charged, and watch your students work.

Many of the activities are matching, drag and drop, or error analysis.

8. Try our Autumn Freebie

If you haven't had a chance to grab our Autumn freebie, now is the time. These are self-checking, and they have a fun fall riddle that you get the answer to when you unscramble all of the letters. All you have to do is print for these easy math activities.

Grab them here.

Great for review if you have covered rational number operations or solving equations this semester.

You could actually pair this maze with tic-tac-toe, connect 4 or a magnet race!

Do you have any go to easy math activities? What are your students' favorites? I would love to hear your other ideas for how to turn any worksheet into an activity.

Maneuvering the Middle has been publishing blog posts for 7 years! This post was originally published in May of 2017. It has been revamped for relevancy and accuracy.

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Turn Any Worksheet into an Activity: 8 Easy Math Activities

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Easy math activities - is this an oxymoron? It doesn't have to be. You don't have to be a teacher long to see that a worksheet full of problems does not incite the excitement and enthusiasm of many of your students.

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The easiest most fun way to practice math facts in a classroom! Instantly engaging and perfect
for all-class activities. No students’ accounts required.

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Nearpod has lessons and games already created that you can assign or have students work through together in a targeted group

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Nearpod: Foster a love of learning in every student

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Create active learning experiences students can’t wait to be a part of.

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Given a topic, students research and then write or create a slide to present information in a different text structure.

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Students rotate through stations throughout the week. Each day is a different station with Friday being free choice (their choice of one of the stations). A slide is projected on the screen so students know which station they are completing that day.

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Great way to organize all the old task cards you have used already with students. If students know the TEK they are working on during their Tiger Time, they can go pick out those quickly.

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Some quick tracking sheet where students document/write what they completed for the time period.

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Get access to files anywhere through secure cloud storage and file backup for your photos, videos, files and more with Google Drive.

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Flocabulary, not just the quizes

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Fast Focus
STAAR Countdown
Target the Question (group work)
Greg Tang
Journal (Mentoring Minds has prompts)
Versatiles
Imagine Math (targeted pathway if needed)

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Storyworks
Readworks
Targeted Task Cards
Book Club
HMH online

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ECR/SCR Group practice
Journal Response
Would You Rather: Persuasive Writing
Editing and Revising Practice
Mentor Sentence

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Stemscopes
Task Cards
Vocabulary Review Cards
CER
WIS/WIM
Generation Genius

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Typing.com
Ongoing Project

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Fluency Folders

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Agenda Check: some students may need a day in the week, to get themselves organized. Be sure all assignments and due dates have been recorded in their agenda.

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Redesign Question Types and Low Tech Aligned Options

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Redesign Question Types and Low Tech Aligned Options

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I like visuals that are clear and organized so I can see where the kids are, what they are supposed to be doing..etc. I'm transitioning into more accountability tasks...

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From Ms.G

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www.timestables.com

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Flocabulary: songs to practice math facts and allow movement

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Flocabulary: songs to practice math facts and allow movement

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Sometimes, kids just need time to catch up/finish unfinished work/make corrections

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Google Classroom review
Released STAAR questions
Content specific reading passages

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Freckle
Noredink
Flocabulary

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I recently found CommonLit. It's a free site similar to ReadWorks. One thing I like about it, is that there is "guided reading mode" where you must stop after reading (or listening to the text-to-speech) to answer a question. It's a good CFU throughout the passage. Then there are about 5 questions at the end for comprehension including a constructed response question. The texts are often taken from published literature (not necessarily written by the site itself).

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For full functionality of this site it is necessary to enable JavaScript. Click here for instructions on how to enable JavaScript in your web browser.

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CommonLit has made a tremendously positive impact on my teaching practice. I'm very proud to teach CommonLit!

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CommonLit definitely keeps me organized. It's easy for me to grade and it's easy for me to see students' reading growth increase throughout the year.

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The CommonLit assessment questions are aligned to our ELA standards, which is extremely helpful when prepping for the state exam.

Teachers trust CommonLit to foster students' reading comprehension

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CommonLit | Free Online Reading Passages and Literacy Resources

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CommonLit is a comprehensive literacy program with thousands of reading lessons, full-year ELA curriculum, benchmark assessments, and standards-based data for teachers.

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I recently found commonlit.org. It's a free site similar to ReadWorks. One thing I like about it, is that there is "guided reading mode" where you must stop after reading (or listening to the text-to-speech) to answer a question. It's a good CFU throughout the passage. Then there are about 5 questions at the end for comprehension including a constructed response question. The texts are often taken from published literature (not necessarily written by the site itself).

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I recently found commonlit.org. It's a free site similar to ReadWorks. One thing I like about it, is that there is "guided reading mode" where you must stop after reading (or listening to the text-to-speech) to answer a question. It's a good CFU throughout the passage. Then there are about 5 questions at the end for comprehension including a constructed response question. The texts are often taken from published literature (not necessarily written by the site itself).

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Conversation Cube Writing Practice

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In order for students to have the necessary support to complete their projects, users are encouraged to support student completion of the learning experiences and independent research as described in each of the task descriptions. Two or more students may collaborate in Phase I and/or Phase II. When…

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https://sites.google.com/smusd.org/mathtalksforslides/steve-wyborneys-resources?pli=1

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Steve Wyborney has some of my favorite number talks on his website. Please check out his to learn more about how to use these math talks with your students. There are even more on his website. I selected a variety from each type for my 3rd graders to create these slides below. I'm telling you...students LOVE these!

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Math Talks for Slides - Steve Wyborney's Resources

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Working on a constructed response or extended constructed response in small groups.  Rating each others responses and giving glows and grow for responses.

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Working on a constructed response or extended constructed response in small groups.  Rating each others responses and giving glows and grow for responses.

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using vocabulary cards and matching up the images that go with it and be able to explain why the two go together

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Spreadsheet that changes weekly. This allows us to see what kids we have worked with through out the year.

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Add some depth and complexity to traditional Literature Circles with this complete and ready-to-use resource!

You will be amazed by the level of discussion and critical thinking that will take place among your students. Each Literature Circle role (listed below) is directly connected to 11 elements of critical thinking: Big Ideas, Rules, Trends, Patterns, Language of the Discipline, Ethics, Relationships Over Time, Details, Unanswered Questions, Across Disciplines, and Multiple Perspectives). Just print, select the text (or have students select the text), and you are ready to get started!
Two versions--with and without icons--are now included!!
This Depth and Complexity Literature Circle Unit includes the following:

*"Discussion Director" graphic organizer

*"Connector" graphic organizer

*"Vocabulary Enricher" graphic organizer

*"Literary Luminary" graphic organizer

*"Investigator" graphic organizer

*"Plot Profiler" graphic organizer

*"Illustrator" graphic organizer

*Detailed job descriptions for each role

*A student rubric to assess Literature Circle performance.
➡FREE Depth and Complexity Posters $AVE: Get this and several other resources in my Critical Thinking MEGA BUNDLE!!! ★CLICK HERE for Critical Thinking Task Cards for Literature, History, and Science★ ★CLICK HERE for Teaching Critical Thinking Using Fairytales★ ★CLICK HERE for Thinking Mats for All Subjects★
This resource was created based on the Depth and Complexity framework, which was created by Dr. Sandra Kaplan under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Educational Research and Improvement: 1996
Get all the latest Teacher Thrive news!
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Please read: This is a nonrefundable digital download. Please read the description carefully and examine the preview file before purchasing.

© Copyright 2018 M. Tallman. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to copy pages specifically designed for student or teacher use by the original purchaser or licensee. This is intended to be used by one teacher unless additional licenses have been purchased. The reproduction of any other part of this product is strictly prohibited. Copying any part of this product and placing it on the Internet in any form (even a personal/classroom website) is strictly forbidden. Doing so makes it possible for an Internet search to make the document available on the Internet, free of charge, and is a violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

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Depth and Complexity Critical Thinking Literature Circles Book Clubs

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Add some depth and complexity to traditional Literature Circles with this complete and ready-to-use resource!You will be amazed by the level of discussion and critical thinking that will take place among your students. Each Literature Circle role (listed below) is directly connected to 11 elements ...

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My kids are obsessed with making Google Slides, so during this time, they must make them regarding a math topic... ex: x12 facts, equivalent fractions, etc...

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Printout from AWARE for UAs that show TEKS report so I can group.

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Each week I pull teks from the first semester, that I want to spiral. Each day I pull two questions, (similar in type) one is "we do" and one "you do." This builds up their skills and confidence and helps me guide my future instruction. After our warm up's I pose a "problem of the day" that is a question the fast finishers can work on and everyone can benefit from.

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POW #6: Fruit Stand

The cost of 1 apple, 1 banana and 1 pear is 30 cents. (If you used a dime and a penny to purchase the apple (Alex used 2 coins), then the coins to make 30 cents could include:

2 dimes and 10 pennies or

2 dimes, 1 nickel and 5 pennies, or

1 dime, 3 nickels and 5 pennies, or

1 dime, 2 nickels and 10 pennies, or

1 dime, 1 nickel and 15 pennies.

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Student Resources / 2022- 2023 Math Problems of the Week & Solutions

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POW #6: Fruit Stand The cost of 1 apple, 1 banana and 1 pear is 30 cents. (If you used a dime and a penny to purchase the apple (Alex used 2 coins), then the coins to make 30 cents could include: 2 dimes and 10 pennies or 2 dimes, 1 nickel and 5 pennies, or 1 dime, 3 nickels and 5 pennies, or 1 dime, 2 nickels and 10 pennies, or 1 dime, 1 nickel and 15 pennies.

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The Inside Problem Solving problems are non-routine math problems designed to promote problem-solving in your classroom. Each problem is divided into five levels of difficulty, Level A through Level E, to allow access and scaffolding for students into different aspects of the problem and to stretch students to go deeper into mathematical complexity. The problems were developed by the Silicon Valley Mathematics Initiative and are aligned to the Common Core standards.

To request the Inside Problem Solving Solutions Guide, please get in touch with us via the feedback form.

Why Problem Solving?

Problem solving is the cornerstone of doing mathematics. George Polya, a famous mathematician from Stanford, once said, "A problem is not a problem if you can solve it in 24 hours." His point was that a problem that you can solve in less than a day is usually a problem that is similar to one that you have solved before, or at least is one where you recognize that a certain approach would lead to the solution. Bu t in real life, a problem is a situation that confronts you and you don't have an idea of where to even start. Mathematics is the toolbox that solves so many problems. Whether it is calculating an estimate measure, modeling a complex situation, determining the probability of a chance event, transforming a graphical image or proving a case using deductive reasoning, mathematics is used. If we want our student s to be problem solvers and mathematically powerful, we must model perseverance and challenge students with non-routine problems.

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Inside Problem Solving | Inside Mathematics

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The Inside Problem Solving problems are non-routine math problems designed to promote problem-solving in your classroom. Each problem is divided into five levels of difficulty, Level A through Level E, to allow access and scaffolding for students into different aspects of the problem and to stretch students to go deeper into mathematical complexity.

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The Math Viking: Elementary Math Exploration

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Links » The Math Viking: Elementary Math Exploration

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The best games engage kids and allow for exploration as well as practice. Many tiles expand to show lots of games. Go ahead and EXPLORE! Notice that counting, composing and subitizing games are at the top left before number lines

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From 2004 to 2010, a team of researchers and teachers at FCRR collected ideas and created Student Center Activities for use in pre-kindergarten through fifth grade classrooms. The activities are designed for students to practice, demonstrate, and extend their learning of what has already been taught, sometimes with teacher assistance and sometimes independently. Students can complete the activities in small groups, pairs, or individually.

Accompanying these Student Center Activities is a Teacher Resource Guide that offers important insights on differentiated instruction and how to use the Student Center materials.

Component

Name of the reading component: Phonological Awareness (PA), Phonics (P), Fluency (F), Vocabulary (V), or Comprehension (C). Each component is color coded: PA is purple, P is orange, F is red, V is green, C is blue.

Subcomponent

Name of the reading subcomponent, which is a subskill of the component.

Activity Name

Activity Number

The letters correspond with the reading component (PA, P, F, V, or C). The numbers are listed in ascending order within each component. The activities are sequenced from simple to more complex within each component and subcomponent.

Student Icon

The suggested number of students for the activity. One student icon indicates that students may work independently or with a small group. Two student icons indicate that the activity requires students to work in pairs. Two student icons with a plus sign indicate that the activity requires two or more students.

Objective

States the goal of the activity, which is aligned with the subcomponent.

Materials

Materials are located on the pages that follow the Activity Plan. Most materials are non-consumable to be prepared and used repeatedly (e.g., word cards can be laminated). Some materials are consumable and will need to be duplicated for each student doing the activity. Other materials, such as counters, are commonly found in most classrooms.

Activity Statement

One sentence explanation of the purpose of the activity and what students do to complete the activity.

Activity Steps

The first step describes how to setup the center. The second step begins with: The student, Students, Working in pairs, or Taking turns depending on the number of students needed to complete the activity. The second step also starts the series of steps to complete the activity. The next steps explain what the student does to complete the activity. The last step lists one of three accountability methods: Self-check, Peer evaluation, or Teacher evaluation.

Example

A visual of the activity and key materials.

Extensions and Adaptations

Suggestions that extend or provide an adaptation for additional practice on the skill addressed in the activity. Materials for the extensions and adaptations are included after the pages that align to the Activity Plan.

Users may use the FCRR Student Center Activities resources as long as modifications are not made, the resources will only be used for non-profit educational purposes, and the copyright belong jointly to the Florida Department of Education and the Florida Center for Reading Research. These resources may not be used for any commercial purposes. These resources on our site may be linked to but not reposted, reproduced, modified, or copied to other sites. For questions about the use of these resources, please contact The Florida Center for Reading Research at fcrr@fcrr.org.

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From 2004 to 2010, a team of researchers and teachers at FCRR collected ideas and created Student Center Activities for use in pre-kindergarten through fifth grade classrooms. The activities are designed for students to practice, demonstrate, and extend their learning of what has already been taught, sometimes with teacher assistance and sometimes independently.