Does It Add Up? 25 + Math Resources, Apps, Web Tools, and Activities

It isn’t that they cannot see the solution. It is that they cannot see the problem. - GK Chesterton
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Math doesn't live inside of a book. That is the wrong way to teach math. Math is useful for solving problems, and necessary to figure out the world around us. We can get our students to learn math in engaging ways by making sure each lesson gets to use the math for real-world learning. Instead of having students solve problems in a book, give them learning missions where they use the principles and equations to explore the school grounds, their households, or the world around them. For example, students can research the statistics of their favorite team or players and create an interactive infographic displaying these statistics using Buncee or Piktochart. Students can code a game, learn geometry and trigonometry while building structures in Minecraft, or interview math experts virtually. My recent presentation, Does It Add Up?, is full of more ideas. Scroll to access the bookmarks.

Ideas and Resources

  • Useful hashtags to find resources are #Math, #Maths, #STEM, #STEAM, and #MathChat.
  • Try these types of instructional methods with English learners: multimedia, visual aids, screencasts, hands-on learning, sensory learning, graphic organizers, realia, flashcards, pair work/group work, storytelling, diagrams, foldables, charts, gifs, experiments, infographics, videos, demonstrations, labeling, games, PBL, mindmapping and sketchnoting.
  • Get them to create and solve Emoji word problems!
  • Students can visualize data and create infographics. Find a slide presentation and free web tools here.
  • Math Science Music has several lesson ideas and interactive resources for a variety of ages that use music to teach math concepts.
  • Desmos has several cool interactive and visual lesson ideas and resources for students, like this one about angles, graphing, and basketball.
  • Students can create games and learn coding! Try Hopscotch or Scratch MIT.
  • Try this Math visual online dictionary for children.
  • Try the STEM Hollywood lesson plans, to get learners to use science, math, and technology to investigate a haunting or survive a zombie apocalypse.
  • Google Docs and Spreadsheets have great add-ons for math to type equations and solve math problems. Check out my Google resources here!
  • Get them sewing. They will follow patterns and take measurements.
  • Learn through cooking! Find recipes here. Students can learn math, science and literature while helping feed others by creating cookbooks. I recommend using BookCreator, Issuu, or FlipSnack. Enhance the cookbooks by getting students to include short how to videos, images, or audio clips of interviews explaining the science, history, traditions or origins of the recipe.
  • Transform word problems into comics! Check out this blog with examples. Find free comic creators here!
  • They can create videos of their word problems to visualize them! Try Explain Everything, Educreations, or Powtoons. See this example by Mrs. Wideen’s first graders using Educreations!
  • Students can study the math and physics of the slides, swings, or other playground equipment.
  • Students can take what they learn and apply it into building their own playgrounds. They can use Legos.
  • Get them to conduct field research with local engineers and contractors.
  • Students can measure their shadows at different times of the day. Get them to bring in other objects and draw what they predict the shadows will be depending on the time and location.
  • Get them to test different distances and angles with their bodies playing different sports to improve their game!
  • Foldables are great for learning. Find examples here!
  • The Mathematics Shed is one of my favorite math blogs with such innovative activities for students, such as Star Wars math problems.
  • Yummy Math has plenty of real world math problems to solve that are interesting.
  • ​Math is Fun has plenty of activities as well as a visual math dictionary.

Bookmarks