Donna McPartland
SLM 521
Worksheets for Instruction
– Elective #4
Instructional
Activities, Worksheets, Quizzes, and Puzzles
Of the 35-40 interns with
whom I will be working next semester, ten are math majors. Therefore I have chosen math at the
middle and high school level for my search in instructional activities. Besides that, I really like math! I realize I have used links from the
same web site for three of these pages, but I truly think they are some of the
best that I’ve seen as I’ve been surfing these past few weeks. When I came across the same ones that
were cited on our assignment sheet, I didn’t use them although they
appear to be very useful and I would certainly share them with my interns as
well as the ones in this current list.
The categories in this list
of math activities are:
Math Problems
Lesson Plans
Worksheets
Games and Puzzles
Resources for Math Activities
Math Problems
Most Loved
Problems – There are only eight problems on this page but they are
really motivating and fun! They
would be great as warm-ups for any math class. The homepage links directly to
another page with 16 more great problems.
There is link for the answer to each problem but the student is asked to
try not to look right away. Date
visited – 6/03/06.
http://people.clarityconnect.com/webpages/terri/problems.html
National Council of Teachers of
Mathematics, Archived Middle School Weekly Problems – This page
contains links to over a hundred archived weekly problems from the NCTM web
site. These are word problems and
require thinking skills. These problems are excellent for any mathematics
middle school classroom, as would be expected of math problems found on the
NCTM web site. Solutions are provided for all problems. Date visited –
6/04/06. http://www.nctm.org/middle/archive.asp
National Council of Teachers of
Mathematics, Archived High School Weekly Problems – This page is the
same as the one cited above, except it is at the high school level. Date visited – 6/04/06.
http://www.nctm.org/high/archive.asp
Brain Food,
Mathematical Reasoning Puzzles - This page has 40 brain teaser type
problems which require math reasoning and logic to solve. They appear to be at a high school
level. They would be useful in the classroom
for problem of the week, or to have students work as partners to find
solutions, or for extra credit when appropriate. The problems cover a wide range of
topics. Date visited 6/04/06.
http://www.rinkworks.com/brainfood/p/math1.shtml
Lesson Plans
Internet
Math and Science Lessons – This webpage has links to great Internet
math lessons. In some cases the
lesson opens up directly from the link, but in some cases the students have to
go to other web sites to find the
activity. In other cases the
students have to visit other web sites in the process of solving the
problem. The grade levels for these
problems are grades 6-9, and the lessons are color-coded so you immediately know
the appropriateness of the problem for your grade level. Date visited – 6/02/06.
http://people.clarityconnect.com/webpages/terri/lessonspdf.html
Thirteen Ed
Online Lesson Plans – These are lessons that are based on PBS series
and use Internet resources for students to construct knowledge of the
subject. In each lesson students
are required to apply what they have learned to ultimately create something
new. For example, in the lesson on
patterns, students create a song using sound patterns. These lessons are very comprehensive and
include a lesson overview, procedures for teachers and organizers for students. The lessons are set up as three or four
45-minute class periods. This site
is included here because there are many good math Internet resources a teacher
could use, even if not doing the entire lesson. Date visited – 6/04/06.
http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/lessons/index_math.html
Worksheets
Make Worksheets,
Math Worksheet Maker – This site provides a dozen different
categories of worksheets, including basic problems, crossword, missing digits,
and graphing worksheets. It
includes a graphing paper maker, with or without work space. For each worksheet, which can be for any
number of problem types or math concept, teachers can choose their font size,
the minimum and maximum number used in the worksheet, number of decimal places,
etc. The site provides an answer
key to your worksheets. Date visited 6/04/06.
http://www.makeworksheets.com/samples/math/index.html
Tutorial World – This
site offers free worksheets in fractions, ratio, percentage, speed (word
problems), and circles. Students
are to solve problems and answer questions; some worksheets are word problems
only. An answer sheet is provided. These worksheets are listed as 6th grade
level. There are 6 other math strands listed on the page; however, there are no
links to these worksheets Date visited – 6/04/06.
http://www.tut-world.com/p6_maths.htm
Games and Puzzles
AAA Math Sixth Grade – This
web page has links to any 6rh grade math concept for which a teacher may be
searching. On the activity page the
process for solving the specific type of problem the teacher has chosen is
explained, and an example is provided.
The student scrolls down to an activity section for solving problems.
There is a choice of three games to play: one is the find out how many problems
the student gets correct in 60 seconds; the next gives extra time; and the last
is focused again on speed only this time the student is to find how long it
takes to get 20 more correct than incorrect answers. There are links on this page to do the
same kinds of activities with 7th and 8th graders. Date
visited – 6/04/06. http://www.aaamath.com/grade6.html
Printable Math Games - This webpage has links to printable
math games, although they are a little difficult to find amongst the other
clutter on the page. The games are
for middle school students and deal with probability, fractions, decimals and
percent, algebra, quadrants, and logic.
The student is required to think critically and use knowledge of math
concepts in playing these games. The games are motivating and well done, the
instructions are clear, and the teacher is informed of prior knowledge needed
to play the games. Some games are
for whole group or small group, and others are for small group only. The game recording sheets and other
necessary sheets for playing the games are provided and ready for printing out.
Most of the sheets that are provided would be very time-consuming and difficult
for a teacher to produce, making this a valuable tool for teachers. Date
visited. 6/04/06 http://www.digitallesson.com/id31.html
Resources for Math Activities
Statistics,
Where to Get Data on the Web for Your Math Lessons - This would be a terrific resource for
any math teacher. The information
is relevant and timely and would be very motivational to the students. These statistics could be plugged into problems,
or they would simply be interesting facts to post from time to time, or daily,
to discuss the use and meaning of numbers in our lives. Some of the statistical data is
National Library of Virtual
Manipulatives- This is a great site!
There are innumerable kinds of manipulatives for all grade levels (K-2,
3-5, 6-8, 9-12), providing opportunities for student exploration and problem
solving in numbers and operations, algebra, geometry, measurement, data
analysis and probability (aligning directly to NCTM Standards). For each manipulative there is a link
for parents and teachers stating objectives and providing brief lesson plans, a
link to activities for students, a link showing alignment to NCTM standards,
and another for instructions for using the manipulatives or solving the
problem. This site is valuable in
that math teachers can plug these into any lesson, providing interactive
learning tools to help students visualize the mathematical concepts being
taught. Date visited 6/02/06. http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/vlibrary.html