Friday Favorites - Math Activities

Every Friday this summer I am sharing some of my favorite things with you! The month of July is focused on technology and academic areas.

Check out past Friday Favorites...
PD Books
Read Alouds
Kids' Favorite Series
Book Studies

Tech Apps

I love teaching math so it was hard to pick just a few of my favorite math activities to share with you, but I was able to do it! The activities I'm sharing below are mostly geared towards second grade, but could apply to high first graders or low third graders. You'll also notice there are a few activities with food. I find that anytime you can add food to a lesson - the lesson becomes more engaging!  I also try to incorporate as many hands-on lessons and math games as I can to help keep students engaged.

Check out a few of my favorite math activities...

Counting to 1,000 Book - One of the second grade standards is that students are able to count and write their numbers to 1,000.  So for an activity (we started whole group and then students would work on it when they finished work early) I had students write their numbers from 1-1,000. They would do one paper at a time and then I would check it. This allowed for quick feedback and made sure students didn't get too carried away with incorrect numbers.  When they were finished, it was put together in a book that they could take home.  They loved the fact that they got to decorate the front cover.

Making 2D Shapes - As I mentioned, I like to incorporate food into lessons when I can. I saw this online and can't remember the exact source, but it worked perfectly. We had been studying 2D shapes and their attributes. As a way to practice, students created shapes using pretzels and marshmallows. This lesson was a hit and the kids loved trying to create the harder shapes with more sides.

Arrays with Skittles - Another great food lesson. I like to break out the Skittles when we start working on arrays.  Students like below can make the array that fits the equation. For example, 3 x 7 - they make 3 rows with 7 Skittles in each row and then count to find the product.   They also enjoy the Skittles when we are finished!

Race to Zero - This is a fun, competitive game that focuses on subtraction and strategy.  Students can play in teams, partners, individually, etc. The goal is to be the first person to zero. Each team gets 3 dice and starts at the number 999. They decide how many dice to roll and then once they've rolled, they decide what order to put the numbers in. Then, they subtract. This continues until one team reaches zero. The interesting thing about this game is that it focuses on being strategic and using the right number of dice at the right time and really thinking about the best order to put the numbers in to maximize your turn.  I love having the kids play this for an activity during Morning Meeting.

Lucky Charms Graphing - Back to the food again! I again do not know where I got the worksheets I used, but there are many different Lucky Charms graphing packets out there.  The kids have fun picking out the marshmallows and graphing the totals that they have.  It also gives you a chance to ask some data analysis questions which focuses on number sense, addition, and subtraction.

Create Your Own Graphing Project - This is a fun project that my students always enjoy working on. Once we've learned about the different types of graphs, students work with a group on a project where they create their own graph. The group comes up with their survey question, surveys students, creates the graph, analyzes the data, and presents their findings to the class. It's a great project to use to wrap up the graphing unit. You can find this in my TPT store... Create Your Own Graph Project.

Thanks for stopping by! Next week I'll share some of my favorite reading lessons and activities!