Spring Weather: Temperature-Reading & Graphing Activity

The seasons they are a-changin'. And so is the weather! As spring approaches, the temperatures usually rise. What a great time to teach your students about reading thermometers and graphing. This easy-to-implement and hands-on bulletin board graph and free downloads will help you do just that.

Drive-Thru Menu Math Stations

Beep beep! Honk honk! Put students in the driver's seat with these realistic math stations. Your students will love hopping in the car and heading out to get lunch at the drive-thru--no driver's license required. Bonus, these math stations are great for any level.

What You'll Need
Menu

• Get your hands on any of our Menu Math activity books that come with full color menus, and that means no prep necessary. Plus, they are packed with reproducible practice pages and come in multiple levels.
• Snap a picture. Next time you're at your favorite drive-thru restaurant, take a picture of the menu, print it, and then laminate.
• Make your own kid-friendly menu.

Pencils and Paper
Chairs, four per station

Set-Up
Create several stations, or let's call them "restaurants," throughout your classroom. At each restaurant have a menu (or a few copies of the menu for each student), pencils, and paper. Split students into groups of four or five, but no more than five. Assign one student per station to be the cashier; this student will take the orders.

Solve Math Word Problems in 6 Easy-to-Follow Steps

Many students have difficulty mastering word problems. We have a solution that helps students break apart a word problem into six easy-to-follow steps. In following these steps, students will learn to focus on the information and sequence that is helpful to solving the problem. 

Use this template <free download> to make following these steps even easier.

1. Underline the Facts

Students should carefully read the problem and then determine which facts give them the information they need to solve the problem.

2. Highlight the Question

Focusing on the question will give clues as to what operation should be used to solve the problem.

3. Circle the Operation

Focusing on this step allows students to use the information gathered in the first two steps to make their decision about the operation and then move on to the next step.

Students who struggle with word problems may specifically struggle with the words that indicate the operation. Work with students to recognize these words and what operation they indicate: in all (add), how many more (subtract), how many left (subtract), etc.. 

Tip: In addition to circling the operation, have students write the operation. This will help students make the connection between words like “how many more” and the operation
“subtract”.

4. Write the Equation

This important step is a result of determining the operation and then using the information from the facts. Writing the equation says: “I know how to do this problem.”

5. Solve the Problem

This is the computation part of the process. Students will solve for the answer.

6. Write Your Answer in a Sentence (Does it make sense?)

Writing the answer in a sentence helps reinforce the problem-solving process. Asking students to think about whether or not the answer “makes sense” helps them check the answer and see it in the context of the problem.

Following these steps will help students master one-step word problems so that when extra information appears in their word problems, they can differentiate the important versus the unimportant information.

Tip: Have students use different colored crayons or markers for two-step word problems. This will help each operation stand out. Plus students will love getting to use markers in math class!

Check out our two Step-by-Step Word Problems activity books that are packed with practice activities using these 6 easy-to-follow steps. The books feature three to four levels of practice. As the levels progress, students are challenged to apply their skills. Word problems include multi-digit addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division with and without regrouping.

7 Get-Up-&-Move Math Activities

Maybe you want to promote a healthier classroom by getting your students up and moving through an activity, maybe your students are more tactile learners, or maybe you find that if your students are active they are more focused and well-behaved throughout the rest of the day. Whatever your motivation, we've got some "active" math games to get your students up and moving... Plus you don't even have to leave the classroom!

Bowling Math
Get an inexpensive bowling kit from the toy section and set up a lane or two in your classroom. On the bottom of each pin write numbers (depending on your student's level make the numbers as small or large as you'd like). Have students take turns rolling the ball down to the pins. After one student rolls the ball down to the pins, have that student walk, lunge, or skip down to the pins. Have that student add up the numbers on the bottom of their pins--that's their score for that round. If you'd rather not keep score, just have students work the math problem. They can either add, subtract, or multiply all of the numbers or just the two largest numbers.

Active Stations
As students make their way through your normal math stations, have them do lunges, crab walking, or wheel barrels to get to the next station. 

Bean Bag Toss
Use these simple instructions (from Dirt & Boogers Blog) to make your own Bean Bag Toss easily and with very few materials. Adjust the design with a few extra holes to make this game educational. Simply cut several holes into the box and label each hole with a number. Give students a math equation and have them toss the bean bag into the hole with the correct answer.  Or assign word problems to each number. Whichever hole the bean bag lands in, that is the word problem the student must answer.

5 Gift-Themed Activities

‘Tis the seasons for celebrations and gift giving! It's easy to make this generous season part of your math, writing, science, and thinking lessons with these tips. Plus students will love giving and receiving these gift-themed activities.

Gift Stations ~ Math
Fill several different size boxes with random dollar store gifts and wrap them or use the dollar store gift boxes--no wrapping necessary. Then, put the gifts at different gift stations: one station for measuring, one for weighing, and one for word problems. Split students into groups and rotate them through each gift station. Have students work together to answer the questions you’ve left at each gift station.

Word Problems Gift Station: Tape a word problem to the bottom of each gift. Ask students solve one or all of the problems on each gift. Or to further challenge your students, ask them to determine which gift is the largest or heaviest, and then have them only answer the word problem on the bottom of that gift.

Measurement Gift Station: Ask students to measure each box’s width, height, length and determine which is the largest, smallest, and tallest gift.

Weight Gift Station: Do the same as the Measurement Stations with weight related questions.

Celebrity Gift ~ Writing
Because gift giving is so special, it should take a lot of thought and planning. Ask students to think about what they might give to their favorite celebrity or character from a book. They can pick the celebrity or have students pick one person from list. Then have write about the gift they would give. Ask student to describe the gift and why they chose it for that person.

Celebrity Suggestions: Santa Clause, the President, Walter Payton, J.K. Rowling, Miley Cyrus, One Direction, Bart Simpson, Justin Timberlake, Katniss Everdeen (The Hunger Games).

For more inspiration and mini biographies to help students know what to choose as a gift, have students read any one of our Celebrity Readers stories.

Game-Winning Ideas for Teaching Through Sports

We've got a game-plan to win over your students’ attention! Dive headfirst into a sports themed lesson plan with these game-winning ideas!

Geography
Give each student a blank U.S. map <free download>. Have students use an Atlas to locate their favorite team’s home city and state. Have students mark their blank map with a star on the home city. Then each week students keep track of where their team is playing by finding the city in an atlas, and then marking their map.  Have students answer these questions based on each week’s traveling: Which direction did the team travel? How many miles did they travel from the last city they were in?  How many states did the team travel through to get where they are? How many miles from home is the team? You can even introduce time zones and weather/climate changes.

Language
Have you ever realized how many of our everyday terms and sayings come from sports? Introduce students to sports idioms like: ballpark estimate, behind the eight ball, first out of the gate, come out of left field, dive headfirst, game-plan, get the ball rolling, and many more!  Have students familiarize themselves with these by drawing a picture of the idioms, defining the idioms, and using the idioms in a sentence.

Vocabulary
Make your spelling list sports themed with words like champion, arena, compete, coarse, fitness, performance, or opponent.  Challenge students to see how many times they can find and highlight these words in a sports magazine or newspaper. Have students write a news article about their favorite team using as many of the sports-themed spelling words as possible or use these spelling activities <free download>. We also have a Sports Vocabulary activity book that is packed with over 50 pages of reproducible worksheets all about, you guessed it, sports vocabulary!

Reading
Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Pick up the Sports section of your local newspaper and get your students reading about their favorite athletes and teams. When students are more interested in what they are reading, they are sure to stick with it! Try this worksheet of questions students can answer after they read <free download>. Or grab one of Remedia’s high-interest, low readability activity books that focus on sports and famous athletes (click here to view).

Math Sports and math go hand-in-hand. From simple addition to physics and geometry, no matter your students’ math level you have an opportunity to introduce a math concept through sports! We recommend using Teaching Math Through Sports - high-interest, real-world math activities, templates, and lessons featuring hockey, baseball, basketball, skateboarding, the Olympics, and more!

Game Show Games with an Educational Spin

We all love a good game show! Next time you’re looking for ways to spruce up your game-play in the classroom, try watching your favorite game show and then modify the games for your classroom. This is not a new concept; it has been done for years with shows like Jeopardy and Family Feud. And now we’ve done it with three games that are spin-offs of NBC's Hollywood Game Night classics.  

If you're not familiar with it, the show brings together two awesome components—games and celebrities. We’ve simply put an educational twist on a few of Hollywood Game Night's very simple games so that you can use them to review just about any subject in your classroom. You probably won't have the celebrity guests, but you can definitely have fun! Bonus…these games require very few materials. Each game will require you to have a writing utensil (shock!) and a timer (a watch will do just fine).

Want more reasons to start playing games in the classroom? Read this!

Off the Top of My Head Materials: Sticky-Notes, Marker, & Timer

Split the class into at least two teams. Each student will have a sticky note on his or her forehead. Each sticky note has a review word, phrase, punctuation or grammatical term, math formula, historical figure, book character, or whatever you might want to review written on it. Everyone can see what is on the sticky note, except for the person wearing the sticky note.

Have one team play at a time. Depending on how many students are in each team, assign a time limit, like 90 seconds. Each team has that much time to try and get through as many sticky notes as possible. Have team members line up. The person at the front of the line turns to face the person behind him. That person gives the guesser clues to help him figure out what the sticky note on his own forehead says. Once the guesser gets the answer, he moves to the front of the line and turns around to begin giving clues to the person who was behind him. The person who was giving clues goes to the end of the line. Each correct answer is worth one point.

Watch how this game is played on Hollywood Game Night.

10 Real-World Activities that Support Your Curriculum

 
When it comes to getting your students' attention, and keeping it, making your lesson as relatable as possible is key. Turn what kids already find entertaining, like going to the movies or texting, into learning experiences, and they'll meet the challenge head on! And they'll have fun doing it! Here are 10 tips to supplementing your daily lessons with real-world kid experiences.
 

1. Have students text a summary of the story they just read to a friend in the class and then share their friend’s summary with the class. This will really help them to make a summary brief and to the point.
   
   
2. For book reports, have students write a review of the book on their Facebook page. This may even prompt discussions about the book with their peers. Have them print their review and discussions to include in their book report.
   
   
3. Take a picture of your mall’s directory and post it on your whiteboard to teach mapping skills. “Travel” through the mall with your students. Have students write directions from one store to the next store.  Find the pet store. How would you get there from here?
   
   
4. Follow-up your lessons on fact and opinion with some previously recorded TV commercials. Have students divide a piece of paper into 2 columns, labeling one as "facts" and the others as "opinions". As students watch the commercials, they'll quickly see that there are probably more opinions in commercials than facts!
   

5 Math Activities Using Repurposed Magazines

Before you toss your TV Guide, People, or Every Day with Rachael Ray in the recycle bin, read these tips for repurposing old magazines.  That pile of magazines has great activities to support your math lessons!

Magazine Math

1. Have students cut colorful pictures from magazines and paste them onto a piece of construction paper use this template <free download>. Underneath the collage of magazine clippings have students write a math word problem related to the picture they’ve created. Have students carefully proofread their work for errors. Also have them answer the word problem and write the answer on the back of the activity. Then have students share their word problem with a classmate to solve. Post the colorful word problems on your bulletin board for an eye-catching math board.
   
2. Go on a magazine scavenger hunt! You can modify this concept for any subject, but for the sake of math related activities, focus on your current lesson plan. For example, have students find: a line longer than two inches, a number in words, a percent, a pie chart, a bar graph, a date, a cylinder, a right angle, and so on.  Instruct students to find an example of each in a magazine, cut out the example, and glue them to a piece of construction paper. This would also make for a colorful math bulletin board!
   
3. Start clipping and saving the recipes printed in magazines for your next fractions lesson. Provide each student with a recipe. Challenge students to double, triple, or cut the recipe in half.  For a hands-on approach, give students only three measuring cups, for example: ½ teaspoon, ½ tablespoon, and ¼ cup.  Have students determine how to make the recipe with just those measuring tools.  If the recipe calls for 3 cups of flour, how many ¼ cups will you need?


4. Local city magazines are typically free and easy to find, plus they are always packed coupons to local restaurants. Provide each student with a coupon and ask them to identify how much they must spend in order to redeem the coupon and if they spend x amount of money, how much will they save by using the coupon?  To give students a hands-on experience, give each student different amounts of play money. Have them deduct the coupon’s discount amount from their stack to see what 10% looks like versus deducting $10.
   
   Real estate advertisements are also common in local magazines. These advertisements often market a square foot price (i.e. $0.50/sf). Ask students to determine how much a building would cost of if the square footage was 7,000 sf. Or if the square foot price and the total price are listed, ask students to determine the size (sf) of the building.
   


5. Save the postcard-size blow-ins that sell magazine subscriptions. See example below. Give each student a postcard.  Ask students to find, or determine using math, the following information from the postcard: magazine name, regular subscription price, single magazine price, number of issues, and special subscription price.  Have students determine the savings per issue, the price per issue with savings, the annual price of the in-store magazine versus the subscription price, etc.

Get Your Class Up & Moving with these Fun Activities

Use these fun activities to get get your class up and moving this year. Your students will love the change of pace and gain the healthy benefits of moving around.

Math Races
Put math word problems on index cards. Split your class into teams of four. Take your class outside to the football field. Have each team of four split into twos so that two students stand lined up 30 yards across from the other two students in their team. Hand out an index card to each pair closest to you. On your "Go!" students race to their teammates with the question in-hand. As a group, the teams of four will work together to answer the word problem. As soon as a team has the answer, the second pair run the answer back to you. The first team back to you with the correct answer gets a point. Repeat!
Modify this activity by having students do lunges, skipping, or crab walks instead of running back and forth.

Reading Races
Similar to the game above, hand out short reading comprehension stories instead of a math problem. We suggest using our Specific Skill Builders--these short, high-interest stories are captivating and can be grouped by reading level. Plus the questions are already done for you. Have each team of four split into twos so that two students stand lined up 30 yards across from the other two students in their team. Hand out a story card to each pair closest to you. On your "Go!" students race to their teammates with the story and question in-hand. One student on each team should take a turn reading the story out loud to the group. As a group, the teams of four will work together to answer the comprehension question. As soon as a team has the answer, the second pair runs the answer back to you. The first team back to you with the correct answer gets a point. Repeat!

The Benefits of Playing Games in the Classroom

There's a lot of game playing going on in the classroom these days, and we think that's pretty awesome! Are you among the 67% of teachers using traditional and digital games in their classrooms?