“Triple-A” Analogies: Challenges for Math (4th-8th):

If your students are fans of the 24 Game, they might enjoy “Triple-A” Analogies. While looking for some challenging math problems and puzzles, I ran across a type of analogy I had not seen, and even though the YouTube video was not narrated in English, I was intrigued by the math enough to try it … Read more

Choice Boards and Menus ~ Sample Activities Ready to Share

Many teachers are creating CHOICE BOARDS and MENUS for their students during this time of school closures. If you’ve never created one, there are several different ways you can do it, depending on how you’d like to share it with your students. For example, this video shows how to create one in Google Docs to … Read more

Learn a Card Trick ~ Explain the Math

If you like this lesson, you might also be interested in Mathemagic and Artichmetricks: Connecting Math Patterns to Magic or Learn a Calendar Trick ~ Explain the Math. Subscribe to the blog for updates and lesson ideas. Here are two “arithmetrick” challenges in which students learn to perform card tricks and then are challenged to … Read more

Beyond Sudoku: Kakuro and Futoshiki

Teachers, if you cannot access the puzzles or tutorials, please contact your district about approving this website or access through a personal Gmail account. Even if you “request access,” some of the school servers block access. MESSAGE if you have a question! It’s been a couple of decades since Sudoku first appeared in newspapers in … Read more

Mathemagic and Arithemetricks: Connecting Math Patterns to Magic

One way to engage students in math problem solving is to “perform” some math magic, then have students try to figure out the number patterns that make the tricks possible. Many books, videos, and lesson plans incorporate “mathemagic,” and there are many university studies promoting its effectiveness in the classroom. It’s the presentation that makes … Read more

Sideways Math! ~ Puzzling Problems to Riddle Math Masters

I always say a little prayer before reading this story to my fourth and fifth-grade gifted students. It’s one that I’ve seen almost drive kids to tears. Fair warning! If you’re familiar with the Sideways Stories series, but unfamiliar with Sideways Arithmetic (affiliate links), you need to know that the latter goes beyond offbeat and … Read more

Square Numbers and Square Roots

My G/T students always LOVED solving calculator riddles similar to these, particularly the third graders! At some point, they noticed the square root key on the calculator and wanted to learn about it. So, I began teaching square numbers and square roots and over the years found a few great resources to accompany the lessons. … Read more