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Math Sites to Count On!

Are you looking for new and exciting activities to liven up your math curriculum? Searching for fresh ways to challenge or reteach individual students? Wracking your brain for a word problem you haven't used 100 times before? Education World searched the Web with you in mind, and we've come up with some sites that will add to your lessons, subtract from your workload, divide your time, and multiply your effectiveness. Check them out! Then use some of the suggested activities to relate these math sites to your other curriculum areas.

1 - 2 - 3 BEGIN!
MATH SITES FOR PRE-K TO GRADE 3

At Math Resources, you'll find activities and lesson plans to help build math awareness for kids at every skill level.

Even place value can be fun at Base Ten Count from Education by Design; kids form groups of ten to find a total.

Students who are still struggling to count or add on their own can visit More Counting at Cynthia Lanius' site.

Related Math Activities

Read Aloud/Art. Read aloud to students a story involving the number 10, such as Ten Bears Go Marching by John Richardson or Random House's Ten Fat Hens. Encourage students to count the animals in the story as you read. Have children illustrate their favorite part of the story and number the animals in their pictures.

Shapes. Provide children with a variety of shapes cut from colored paper. Ask them to use the shapes to create a monster they might invite to a birthday party. Encourage children to name the monster, using the names of the shapes they used to create it.

IT'S ELEMENTARY!
MATH SITES FOR GRADES FOUR THROUGH SIX

You'll find games for older kids as well at Math Maven's Mysteries. Here students in grades four to six can test their math skills and solve the mysteries.

At Funbrain.com, students can play Change Maker: The Cash Register Game and learn to make change for amounts less than $1 or less than $100. Also at Funbrain, kids can practice addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division as they play Math Baseball -- where every correct answer scores a homerun.

More real-life word problems can be found at Elementary Problem of the Week. Here, students in grades 3 through 6 are challenged to not only solve problems but to verbalize their solutions as well. They'll use their math skills to buy stamps, figure out the number of carpet squares needed to cover a classroom reading area, and much more.

Related Math Activities

Writing. Invite students to create their own word problems and then challenge their classmates to solve them.

Geography. Provide students with a map of Canada and help them locate Manitoba on the map. Ask students to research classroom, library, and online resources to learn more about Manitoba. Then have them compare that city with their own. Encourage them to include information about the history, climate, topography, people, and lifestyle of the two places. And ask them to be sure to include some comparisons that involve math. Students might compare population figures, average temperatures, and more.

MULTIPLY THE FUN!
MATH SITES FOR MIDDLE AND HIGH SCHOOLERS!

For true Web-based problem-solving activities, encourage students to visit Mrs. M's Math Mania. There, kids click to go to an informational Web site and then solve problems based on the information they obtain. The sites visited feature sports scoreboards, chocolate chip cookie recipes, roller coasters, and more!

Finding it hard to convince skeptical middle school students that math can be fun? Encourage them to play the Absurd Math Odyssey Game at Absurd Math. This fascinating site is packed with things to see, do, and think about.

Related Math Activities

Science. Arrange students into groups and ask each group to create an absurd Math game set in their own solar system. Remind them that the relative sizes of the planets and the distances between them should be correct. Encourage them to utilize accurate information, such as the lengths of the days or years, the planets' distances from the sun, and the topography of each planet, in planning their game.

Geography. Provide students with a map of Japan and ask them to plan a trip to that country. Encourage them to research online resources to learn more about that country and have them include the information in their plan for the trip. For example, ask students to tell what clothes they will bring with them (and why), what places they might visit along the way, and so on.

INFINITE POSSIBILITIES!
ADDITIONAL MATH SITES -- SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE!

The sites below provide problems and activities for students at more than one grade or skill level. Check them out to find activities suitable for your students.

Kids can use the online flashcards at Flashcards to practice addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Students at junior, mid, and senior levels can then test their newly honed skills at Automaths' Test Your Math Skills.

At A+ Math, students of all ages can play Matho, a combination of math and bingo, with addition, multiplication, division, and geometry problems. They can also solve hidden picture problems and play a Concentration-style game.

Students in grades 5-12 will enjoy the word problems at Word Problems for Kids. The problems are fun and different and the site includes hints for solving them. This is a Canadian site, however, so problems involving weights and measures utilize metric units. The Math Forum provides additional math problems, puzzles, tips, tricks, and activities for students ages five and up.

Students can study the clues to solve the Mystery Number Rhyme, figure out how much money Talia has, or answer many other head-scratching questions at Brain Teasers. These puzzling posers are appropriate for students in grades three through seven and up.

Invite students to use the Measurements Converter to convert weight, capacity and volume, length, area, speed, pressure, temperature, circular measure, and time.

What do you do if students get stuck at one of the above sites? At Ask Dr. Math, students and teachers can find the answers to many K-12 math questions.

GAMES FOR MATH WHIZZES

Students may enjoy a trip to Bike Math, where they'll find lots of bike links and ideas for incorporating bikes into the math curriculum. More traditional problems can be found at Fibonacci Numbers and Nature, which includes lots of interesting word problems to solve.

MORE RESOURCES FOR HIGH SCHOOL AND ABOVE

Older students will enjoy a journey to Zona Land, where they can explore such fascinating places as The Function Institute, The Geometry Section, and The Trigonometry Realms. Or invite students to learn about The Mathematics of Rainbows as they explore information on reflection and refraction and learn about the mathematics of science.

The Largest Known Primes provides lots of information on prime numbers, including Euclid's Proof of the Infinitude of Primes.

Encourage your best high school students to visit the Fairfield High School AP Calculus Home Page for an explanation of calculus and its uses. Created by and for high school kids, this site includes challenging calculus information and problems.

MORE MATH RESOURCES FOR TEACHERS

At Interactive Mathematics Miscellany and Puzzles, you'll find lots of great puzzles and problems for kids to solve. The Math Forum Internet Resource Collection also provides an extensive collection of Math problems, puzzles, activities, and links. And at Mega Mathematics, you'll find activities for kids, with key concepts, background information, and evaluation suggestions provided for each activity.

You might also want to teach kids about the History of Mathematics or delve into the history of the abacus.

Additional sites provide a place for teachers to learn, share, and grow as well. Math Central includes a meeting place where teachers can exchange ideas and share resources and find answers to mathematical questions. The Eisenhower National Clearinghouse for Mathematics and Science Education also provides lots of information, links, and resources for teachers. And The Explorer provides a collection of educational resources, including instructional software, lab activities, lesson plans, and student created materials for K-12 mathematics and science education.

Finally, are you short of funds and materials? Visit the Mathematics Archives Collection of Software, Abstracts and Reviews to find (and download) public domain and shareware software. Links to other software/shareware sites are also listed.

Article by Linda Starr
Education World®
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