Pet Shop Aquarium Math / Art

In this pet store math activity, students learn about adding decimals as well as area and perimeter by designing an aquarium and collaborating with their peers to create an entire pet store wall of aquariums! - Check out my post at We Are Teachers!

Angle Investigation: Polaroid Snapshots

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RGB0rZrna2n7hnx8CyTAaa-AzyvTjAri/view?usp=sharing 

Area + Perimeter Punk Rock Hair Design

Kids design a punk rock hair style and figure out the area and perimeter of their design.

Free download: https://drive.google.com/file/d/17Nc3B4Q8UUPPjMxEEkaU9s0eLpsFK3rY/view?usp=sharing

Googie Math / Art

Free Download: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NP0t-fn9RroznPtcnbsyS_y43rpV9J6h/view?usp=sharing

Practice your money skills and get creative with Shel Silverstein's "The Googies are Coming," from Where the Sidewalk Ends. What is a googie? Who knows?! Have kids write a definition for a googie. Next have them make a snapshot image of a googie. Then kids add up the cost of certain children! Once they figured out the different costs, they become googies and choose 5 children (draw/ add up the cost). 

Note: Tell kids googies want children to play with, so no one gets scared!

Rock Band Storypath

Storypath units promote children as active participants in their own learning. Students learn about topics through cross-curricular connections woven into an imaginative real-world scenario. They role-play and make critical decisions independently and collaboratively. Invite your students on a rock band adventure! This unit integrates Common Core standards with project-based learning. Students discover that what they learn in school is valuable, even for a rock star!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fV41KsbdGUCe3K0GlvNYHIpLTfQyo9Er/view?usp=sharing

Entomology: Cross-Curricular Learning

Kids have fun investigating insects in their natural habitat!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VSK6HrKelgtudsf66-B3jeZ8On5L4Ywh/view?usp=sharing

Includes:
1. Letters and photos from Entomologist Greg prompting kids to do different experimentations.
2. 3 Insect Investigation Worksheets: identifying, describing, comparing and contrasting
3. Insect Trading Card Project: measurement and data collection
4. 4 Insect Posters: insect characteristics, non-insect characteristics, mouth parts and compound eyes
5. Insect Fraction and Graphing: oversized images of insects are hung up around the classroom and kids have to circle whether the specimens are insects or not. Then they make a graph of their findings and record fractions.
6. Ant Restaurant Experiment and Recording Sheet: kids have a menu and add their own items to a paper plate for experimentation. Then they graph the results of the experiment (as a class).
7. Label Ant Worksheet
8. Metamorphosis Monarch Sequencing Cards and Worksheet
9. Create Your Own Ladybug Sequencing Cards and Ladybug Lifecycle Worksheet
10. Lifecycle Comic Strip Tech Project
11. Incomplete Metamorphosis Worksheet: Grasshopper and Dragonfly
12. Butterfly Feeder Instructions: kids make daily recordings of the feeder
13. Letter from Greg prompting kids to research an insect from a different biome

Mandala Math Art

Check out my We Are Teachers post on integrating art and math by making mandalas!

Halloween Math Art Projects

Check out my We Are Teachers post: 3 Halloween Art Projects that Incorporate Math!

Kid Made Monopoly: Adding & Subtracting Decimals

Practice adding and subtracting decimals by having students create a class game of monopoly! Kids design a debit card and balance a checkbook. Check out my post at We Are Teachers! Click here for free printables!

10 Magical Math Puzzles

Check out my post at We Are Teachers: 10 Magical Math Puzzles to make learning enchanting!

Playground Design

Students practice regrouping decimals by designing a playground in cooperative learning teams! Click here for the printable.

Party Time!

Free printable: Students design a party invitation! Hang their party invitations up around the room. Then the students choose 10 parties they would like to attend. They write down the party name or the name of the student who created each invitation. Next to the name they record, they write when each party starts and ends. Then they write how long each party is (elapsed time). Click here for the printable, which includes clocks on the invitation to help students practice telling time. For more hands-on telling time activities click here to see my post at We Are Teachers.

Half Yellow

Visit We Are Teachers to check out Half Yellow Fraction Art with geometric pattern blocks!

Post-It Note Area/Perimeter

Have you used post-it notes for a creative math lesson yet?! They're a fantastic tool to introduce the concept of area and reinforce perimeter. For this lesson, students used 25 or less post-it notes. We made a prediction: Do different shapes that have the same area have the same perimeter? Working in groups of 4, students mapped out their design and figured out the area and perimeter of their shape. Then, they found a blank wall to construct it! Click here for printables! Featured in The National Counsel of Teachers of Mathematics - thanks to my ECE professor! - if you belong, check out the article here!

The Case of the Missing Sides!

Students transform into Perimeter Detectives as they try to solve The Case of the Missing Sides! After they figure out the unknown side lengths of 10 real world irregular polygons, they must infer what they are part of! - Click here to download!

Introduction (Fence for the Vegetable Garden)

Students compare and contrast regular and irregular polygons. They are introduced to the term perimeter by relating it to a garden fence. Then, they rap along with Heath: Rap video by Heath!

Perimeter Detective

Next, they investigate real world irregular polygon photographs. They must find the length of the missing side for 10 items! Then, they use their detective skills and infer what the objects are part of! Tell your students to think creatively! Note: Older students could convert side length measurements. - Conversion Chart included in the package! Exit Slip - For reinforcement, students apply their new skills independently by figuring out the missing side lengths of five irregular polygons. Then, they rate their understanding by drawing a checkmark in the box that fits their current knowledge of the content.

Bubble Gum Exploration

Cross-curricular learning with bubble gum:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MNYQ30GsdJD1oSyImNqL73bFqz-HYGfS/view?usp=sharing

Math:
Graphing - Who can blow a bubble?
3D Solids - Comparing gum shapes
Measuring - Pre-chewed vs. chewed (stretched) vs. blowed bubble on wax paper
Mean, Median, Mode and Range (optional) - Using data for measuring
Area/Perimeter - Gum wrapper design (and real gum wrappers - optional)

Science:
States of Matter - Investigating the process of bubble blowing / physical changes of gum chewed and placed in ice water

English Language Arts:
Writing - How-to blow a bubble / Recipe for new flavor / Math word problem

Social Studies:
Economics - Cost of their gum
History - Inventor Research

Design:
Logo & Packaging - Design for their new flavor of gum

Art History Math Integration

Check out my post over at We Are Teachers! Students learn about artists while creating their own art using their math skills!

Learning with Sticky Notes and Yarn

This hands-on review idea comes from Hands On as We Grow! (They did sight words). You can use it to assess students on any topic: operations and algebraic thinking, synonyms and antonyms or food chains (just to name a few). The food chain activity doesn't even need sticky notes (just print out images). The possibilities are endless with yarn and tape!

Equivalent Fractions Musical Plates

Get children up and moving with this fun, kinesthetic fraction activity! Children are given a fraction and dance around to music, trying to find its equivalent. Written and visual representations of fractions are used to assess children's understanding!

materials:

post-it notes

paper plates

sharpie to write fractions

visual representations of fractions to glue on plate

music

instructions:

Give each student a fraction written on a post-it note. Students remember their fraction and stick it on their shirt. Next, lay out the paper plates with fractions written (or pasted) on them. You should make a variety of equivalent fraction plates for each student and spread them far apart. Then, each student will have to really look to find a plate that is equivalent.

Start up the music and children dance and hunt for a fraction that is equivalent to their own. When they find a fraction that is equivalent, they stand on the paper plate. If they don't find an equivalent fraction before the music stops, they're out! For each round, students keep hunting for fractions. Once there are no more fractions that are equivalent to their own, they sit out. They found all of their fractions! 

This activity can be played as a whole group or with small groups to assess the children's learning. 

Fraction Pictionary

This activity is from the Oregon Department of Education. Students play Pictionary with fractions! Divide students into teams. One child draws the fraction on the board. His/her teammates try to guess the image as well as the fraction! If their team guesses correctly they get a point. When drawing, children can divide single objects to represent fractions (shown above) and you could also thrown in multiple objects. For example, 2/5 dogs. A student could draw 2 dogs and 3 cats. Also, check out Fraction Charades!