In the mid-1800s, Englishman John Venn invented a type of diagram to help visualize logical relationships. A Venn diagram is simply a rectangular box with circular loops in it that overlap to show how objects are related. This article describes activities with Venn diagrams that can be a fun way to sharpen students' logic skills and develop number…

A hundreds chart is a simple 10 x 10 grid with the numbers 1-100. Here, the author discusses several activities for different grade levels using the hundreds chart. The activities are: (1) Chart tour (Grades K-2); (2) Mystery number (Grades 1-3); (3) Missing numbers (Grades 1-3); (4) Multiple patterns (Grades 3-5); and (5) Least common multiples…

Describes an activity involving six investigations. Introduces students to fractals, allows them to study the properties of some famous fractals, and encourages them to create their own fractal artwork. Contains 14 references. (ASK)

Presents activities to demonstrate some of the properties and relationships among the Platonic polyhedra. (ASK)

Mathematics truly is magical, especially for students with strong number sense and algebra skills. This paper describes a variety of mathematical surprises that will capture students' interest and motivate exploration of mathematical ideas. While the tricks themselves are fascinating, push students to think about the reasons why these stunning…

This brief article describes a few entertaining math "puzzles" that are easy to use with students at any grade level and with any operation. Not only do these puzzles help provide practice with facts and operations, they are also self-checking and may lead to some interesting big ideas in algebra.

Teaching K-8 is published eight times during the school year. Every issue of Teaching K-8 staff visits every school for there cover story, complete with pictures to provide a window into the life of school. Every issue has a curriculum focus with 3-5 features, written by classroom teachers, with detail lessons and best practice for using…

Negative numbers extend our number line and greatly simplify our calculations, but sometimes students struggle with the concepts. These fun activities will help kids to make sense of the "other half" of our number system.

Presents a classroom activity in which students build and learn to use their own abacuses. Describes the lesson that combines mathematics, art, and social studies. (KHR)

Introduces students to nonperiodic tiling and allows them to construct their own sets of kites and darts through a series of explorations, conjectures, and discoveries. (ASK)

As the class is learning new names and new faces at the beginning of the school year, it's the perfect time to have fun with names and learn some math concepts at the same time. This document describes examples of different number games that can be played with students.