Learning Activities

In this activity, students will use a teacher-provided menu and generate a list of a three-course meal with all possible combinations containing one appetizer, one main course, and one dessert.  The students will work individually to start the lesson and then move to partner work. The students will work with a partner to determine the best way to create a complete list and answer follow-up questions.  Finally, the students will be asked to use the Fundamental Counting Principle to determine the number of outcomes instead of making a list. This learning activity is intended to be a Before Activity prior to a lesson on the Fundamental Counting Principle.

In this learning activity, students will learn to find the standard deviation and be able to find the similarities and differences in 4 data sets. These sets have the same mean but different ranges and standard deviations. Students will discover that the standard deviation increases when points are further away from the mean, even those in the middle. This learning activity is intended to be a During Activity for a standard deviation lesson.

During this learning activity, students will solve a real-life task that allows students to find the perimeter of several pools (polygons). Students will write equations and solve them to find the perimeter of several polygons. 

In this activity, students will practice generating a variety of ways to decompose a number and record their decomposition using pictures, numbers, or equations to build their understanding.

This activity results from the ALEX Resource Development Summit.

In this activity, students will sing along and dance with a video while counting objects in the video between numbers 1 through 10.  

This activity was created as a result of the Resource Development Summit.

Students will use a real-life situation to explore fractions on the number line. This Google Slide Show presents a scenario about students competing in a race in P.E. Students use that information to place fractions on a number line.

This activity results from the ALEX Resource Development Summit.

In this Desmos activity, students will explore the special relationships between the sides of a 30-60-90 triangle and a 45-45-90 triangle. This is intended to be a before activity for a lesson on the relationships of special right triangles and their connection to trigonometry.

This activity results from the ALEX Resource Development Summit.

In this activity, students will roll a die to fill in the prices of different ingredients for each meal on a menu. They will need to add, subtract, and multiply decimals to answer questions about the meals.

This activity results from the ALEX Resource Development Summit.

In this lesson, students will use the concept of finding the probability of an offspring having more than one genetic trait simultaneously. They will use a shortcut method to find the probability and they will use a Punnett square calculator to check their answers. This lesson can be used to teach genetics in a science classroom or a practical "real world" application of probability calculations in a math classroom.

This activity was created as a result of the GAP Resource Summit.

Students will discuss real estate properties for rent or sale in a target language city with a partner. Students will carry on a conversation in the target language, asking and answering questions with a partner about which property is their favorite and why, agreeing or disagreeing with their partner, and providing a reason for their opinion.  Students will be using the interpersonal mode of communication, as well as strengthening their understanding of products and practices of the culture.

This activity was created as a result of the World Languages COS Resource Development Summit.

While students are in pairs and without being able to see each other, student 1 designs and provides oral instructions to student 2 in order for student 2 to recreate a shape and/or structure only student 1 can see. Student 2 can ask clarifying questions, but that is all. This activity builds skills in sequencing, classifying, sorting, orientation, and relative position of objects. It also builds listening skills for oral comprehension and asking and answering concise questions.

This activity was created as a result of the DLCS COS Resource Development Summit.

This learning activity will be used to find components of a vector and is intended for an assessment activity. The students will complete the Where Is My Arrow Pointing Assessment to demonstrate mastery of how to find the components of a vector by subtracting the coordinates of an initial point from the coordinates of a terminal point. 

This activity was created as a result of the ALEX Resource Development Summit.

In this free learning activity from Illustrative Mathematics, students will be presented with a real-world problem involving Evan and his school bookstore account. Students will need to use the tricks they have learned about adding and subtracting positive and negative numbers to help Evan with his school bookstore account and justify their reasoning.

This activity was created as a result of the ALEX Resource Development Summit.

This activity will give students the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge of the properties of quadrilaterals. Students will match the quadrilaterals with the properties given in this fun shape matching game. This activity should be used at the end of a lesson on quadrilaterals to assess mastery of the properties of quadrilaterals.

This activity results from the ALEX Resource Development Summit. 

This printable worksheet will assess student mastery of transforming word problems to equations with an unknown quantity and solving the equation correctly. This resource also includes a modified assessment sheet. 

This activity results from the ALEX Resource Development Summit.

This introductory activity presents the topic of indigenous groups in Latin America. Through the use of a controversial Coca-Cola television advertisement from 2015, students will begin to discover and discuss the unique qualities of indigenous groups as well as issues they face in society. This activity builds upon prior knowledge of content, vocabulary, and grammar in the target language.

This activity is a result of the ALEX Resource Development Summit.

This lesson challenges students studying Spanish to examine their own culture and demonstrates the need to step outside of personal views and examine things from another perspective. Through the use of an authentic resource, Level 1 Spanish students will examine the word Americano. This word evokes passion and pride for those in the U.S., but it also evokes the same emotions for all people located on the American continent.  For this reason, the term estadounidense is much more culturally appropriate when referring to someone from the United States.

This activity was created as a result of the World Languages COS Resource Development Summit.

Students will discover how the Pythagorean Theorem describes the relationship between the lengths of the sides of a right triangle. By using this digital tool, students will understand the visual and algebraic proofs of the Pythagorean Theorem. Students will apply the Pythagorean Theorem to find missing lengths and to calculate distances between points on the coordinate plane.

This activity results from the ALEX Resource GAP Project.

In this activity, students will practice comparing three-digit numbers by playing a game. The students will work with a partner to draw three cards, arrange the cards to make the largest number, and then decide which student has the largest number. This learning activity will help the students understand place values and the words "equal to", "less than", or "greater than."

This activity is a hands-on inquiry math lesson where students are asked to prove how many sugar cubes are in a box.  They will measure the volume of a rectangular prism by counting non-standard units and make a connection to multiplying the three edge lengths in the standard formula.

In this learning activity, the students will work together taking turns to add small quantities encouraging counting on rather than recounting the set from one each time. It engages the students by using the number cubes to produce numbers and collect counters.  It will help students to count and organize numbers more efficiently.

This activity results from the ALEX Resource Development Summit.

In this learning activity, students learn how to perform operations with numbers expressed in scientific notation, including problems with both decimal and scientific notation. The students will use scientific notation and choose units of appropriate size for measurements of very large or very small quantities (e.g., use millimeters per year for seafloor spreading). Finally, they will interpret scientific notation that has been generated by technology.

This learning activity can be used as a stand-alone activity or a During Activity. The Before and After activities can be found in the Notes or Recommendations section.

In this learning activity, students will learn to solve multistep problems posed with positive and negative rational numbers in any form (whole numbers, fractions, and decimals), using tools strategically. The students will apply properties of operations to calculate numbers in any form; convert between forms as appropriate, and assess the reasonableness of answers using mental computation and estimation strategies. This learning activity can be used as a stand-alone activity but is best used as a During Activity, the Before and After Activities can be found in the Notes or Recommendations section.

In this activity, students will create equivalent expressions using an online tool. Students are provided two expressions and asked to find the value of the variable to make the two expressions equal. Then, students are provided an expression and a value of the variable and asked to generate a different expression equal to the original expression. Through the online digital tool, students are able to substitute values and develop strategies for creating equivalent expressions. This provides a great opportunity for students to investigate how to solve problems using multiple methods.

Balancing Act Student Response Page

In this activity, the students will practice one to one correspondence by counting the objects on the picture cards, regardless of their configuration, and practice sequential ordering of numbers 0-20.

This activity results from the ALEX Resource Development Summit.

Students will review collecting data and bar graphs by watching a BrainPOP video. After a digital read-aloud of the book Insect Pollinators digital book, students will choose which insect that he/she thinks would make the best pollinator. Students will represent the data collected by creating and drawing a bar graph.

This activity was created as a result of the ALEX Resource Development Summit.

In this activity, the students will play a game called "Scramble, Scramble" to understand that a number represents a quantity. The students will indicate the number of students in each group or set.

This activity results from the ALEX Resource Development Summit.

This activity should be used at the end of a lesson or unit on the division of whole numbers. This activity should be used as an exit slip to check students' understanding of how to find quotients of larger numbers using strategies based on place value. 

This activity results from the ALEX Resource Development Summit.

The learning activity What the "f of x"? will be used during the lesson on function notation to evaluate functions for inputs in their domains and interpret statements that use function notation in terms of a context.

This activity results from the ALEX Resource Development Summit.

Students will watch a video on the history of the quilters of Gee's Bend, Alabama. After watching the video and discussing the lifestyle of the citizens of Gee's Bend, the students will create a classroom quilt that reflects their personalities and lifestyles. The class will have to use factor pairs to decide the best way to assemble the quilt. 

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

In this learning activity, students will watch a video to review right, acute, and obtuse angles.  Students will create various angles using strips of construction paper.  Finally, students will measure their newly created angles with a protractor.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

In this activity, students will use a digital device to access the "Add to Ten" from ABCya, use input devices (mouse, touch screen, and/or keyboard), and Google Sheets in order to demonstrate finding the number that makes ten for any number from one to nine.

"Add to Ten" from ABCya provides a fun and educational interactive game that helps students demonstrate finding the number to make ten for any number given between one and nine. "Add to Ten" is very visual, provides feedback, and scaffolds instruction when students answer incorrectly. 

The Google Sheets template, "Count to 10 - Decomposing Numbers" will allow students to apply their skills of finding a number to make ten for any number given between one and nine. The Google Sheets template provides immediate feedback for students.

The application activities will allow students to demonstrate the mathematical skills as well as digital literacy skills of using input devices, locating letters and numbers on a keyboard, and using digital devices both independently and collaboratively.

This activity was created as a result of the DLCS Resource Development Summit.

This learning activity is designed to activate students thinking about perimeter and area. Students will work together to answer writing prompts about a rectangle that has an area of 36 inches.

In this learning activity, students will learn to add or subtract two vectors. The activity will teach the students how to add and subtract vectors in 2D. Vectors can be represented by line segments with a specific length (magnitude) and directions. Students will use this information to help visualize vector addition and subtraction. The scope of this learning activity will only consider vectors in two dimensions; however, the methodology described can be extended to vectors in three or more dimensions. The teacher will recall that a unit vector is a vector with a magnitude equal to 1 and that the unit vectors in the 𝑥- and 𝑦-directions are denoted by  ⃑𝑖 and ⃑𝑗 respectively. This learning activity can be used as a core lesson activity. 

Students will be working with a partner to generate benchmark numbers (to the nearest ten, hundred, or thousand) for number cards.  They will use the benchmarks to round the number using place value understanding.  The students will be standing at the front of the class to create an embodied number line using teacher and peer support.