Following recipes is a great way to sneak in some important work in fractions. Doubling or cutting in half a recipe gives kids an opportunity to understand fractions in the context of a real-world problem. The photo above shows a way to get kids to think about larger fractions/numbers being made up of unit fractions. You could also segue into a discussion on equivalent fractions and the multiplication of fractions. For example, 1/4 + 1/4 = 1/2 and 3 x…
This book is TOO FUN! The illustrations alone are priceless. It’s a Halloween twist on the traditional The 12 Days of Christmas song. I always like to read the story first without too many interruptions. Although, be sure to have the students see if they can find the dog on each of the pages! They love that. Then we get into the math. With my younger students, we use Unifix cubes to determine the total number of gifts on day…
This is a fun lesson I do with sixth graders where students redesign the soda can. After reviewing volume of rectangular prisms, students determine the volume of a can of soda in cubic inches. They use this volume to re-design the soda can so that their can has the same volume. Students will need to use the area of polygons such as rectangles, triangles, parallelograms, and trapezoids in the design of their new can. They begin by creating a net…
I’d been staring at equivalent fractions for eons and never knew it. Check out this multiplication matrix filled with them! Way cool! Starting simply, look at the first two rows in the upper left. The number in the first row (numberator) is ‘1’ and the number in the second row (denominator) is ‘2’. Those numbers represent the fraction 1/2. All the numbers in the two rows to the right reflect the equivalent fractions. This works for any two numbers picked…
Students having difficulty reading large numbers? Try this super easy graph paper activity. CCSS: 1.NBT.2; 2.NBT.1