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Category: Problem-Solving

Hunting for Buried Treasure: Angles and Angle Measurement

Hunting for Buried Treasure: Angles and Angle Measurement

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Aye, matey, it’s time to hunt for buried treasure. In this fun and creative activity, students will be designing their very own treasure map. As they design their map and hide their treasure, students will get plenty of practice using a protractor while reinforcing mathematical vocabulary such as acute, obtuse, and right angles, parallel and perpendicular lines. Tying in social studies and writing skills, students will be using a compass rose to write directions in order for their classmates to…

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Reason Abstractly and Quantitatively

Reason Abstractly and Quantitatively

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Estimates help us predict the reasonableness of an answer. Having students make an estimate before they perform the calculation, and even writing the estimate next to the problem, can help them to focus on making the numbers (and the problem) make sense. Example: 3.2 x 9.8 = Students use benchmarks to determine that 3.2 is close to 3 and 9.8 is close to 10, therefore, a reasonable estimate would be 3 x 10 = 30. If students perform the actual…

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Beginning Fraction Work

Beginning Fraction Work

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I’ve said it before, but it’s important to say it again…understanding fractions begins with understanding the whole and the pieces that make it up.  The question below is a good way to get students to reflect on the idea that, with fractions, each piece names one equal part.  The CCSSM identifies each part as a ‘unit fraction’. Posing this question is a great opportunity to focus on the CCSSM Standards for Mathematical Practice, Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning…

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Cookie Fun Way to Teach Money, Arithmetic, and Geometry

Cookie Fun Way to Teach Money, Arithmetic, and Geometry

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Cookies in math class? Absolutely! This fun and engaging hands-on activity will get your students excited about doing math. Students will be designing their perfect cookie within the limits of a budget. They will be filling out order forms for cookies, candy and frosting then designing and drawing their final product. This fun activity seamlessly ties in important concepts in math, specifically, addition, subtraction, multiplication and division with money, and attributes of geometric shapes. This lesson is divided into grades…

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Common Core Mathematics Standards Focus – Commutative Property of Addition

Common Core Mathematics Standards Focus – Commutative Property of Addition

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Making sense of and understanding mathematics is the foundation of the new Common Core State Standards in Mathematics.  It is not enough that kids can compute with numbers – they must understand why those computations work.  Enter Number Theory, the part of math that explores numbers and how they relate to each other.  At the heart of Number Theory are the properties of number.  One of the first ones students will encounter is the Commutative Property of Addition.  It states…

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