5 great math-focused back to school activities for getting to know your students, and for them to get to know each other! Math Scavenger Hunt- hunt for students who know the answers to middle school math questions (answer key is included so that you can go over the math facts when the time runs out). Partner Interviews- a great way for students to get to know each other. I have students choose 2 or 3 interesting things they learned about their partners and have them introduce the other person to the class. 60 Second Challenge- fun challenges that students do in pairs! Have one student help by timing and counting, while the other student completes the challenge and vice versa. My Mathography- student choose numbers that best describe them and make illustrations about these numbers to create a numbers autobiography page. Numbers in the Room- students search for others with specific numbers (like the same birth month) in the room to get to know each other.

Great for decorating your classroom at the beginning of the year! Sample Quotes: “Go down deep enough into anything and you will find MATHEMATICS.” ~Dean Schlicter “The only way to learn mathematics is to DO MATHEMATICS.” ~Paul Halmos “Mathematics is the most beautiful and most powerful creation of the human spirit.” ~Stefan Banach “It is impossible to be a mathematician without being a POET in soul.” ~Sofia Kolvalevskaya “Math is the language of the universe. So the more equations you know, the more you can converse with the cosmos.” ~Neil deGrasse Tyson

Small group fun with Ratio and Proportions Board Game based on the popular board game SORRY! A fun and engaging way to review or practice ratio and proportions for middle school students! Game intended for 2-4 players plus one student answer checker. Great for stations and small group activities. Whiteboards or scratch paper recommended. Clock or minute time needed. How to Play: Students cut out cards and player pieces. Since part of the game play is based on color, if you print out in black and white, have students color the board and player pieces based on a color example before play begins. Groups decide who is the answer checker. This person is in charge of time limits and checking answers. Player pieces begin on ‘start.’ The youngest player goes first. This player draws a card, reads it and has 1 or 2 minutes to find the solution. If the player has the correct solution in time, then follow the directions on the card and move that number of spaces. If a game piece lands on the beginning of a slide, the student must slide to the end, except when they are on their own color. Two game pieces cannot occupy the same space at the same time. If a player slides, or lands on the same space as an opponent’s game piece, the player bumps the other player back to start. If a player slides, or lands on the same space as their OWN game piece, then they do not get to move. The first person to get both pieces home wins! Topics covered: Rates Ratios Equivalent Ratios Proportions Word Problems Be sure to check out my Expressions & Equations Board Game too!

A fun, engaging way to practice or review the distributive property for middle school students! Include Area Model Problems for conceptual understanding! Includes: 4 example problems (can be used as a warm up or guided practice) 18 cards to hang around the room Starting number cards Student recording sheet Answer key How to: Cut out and hang cards around the room. The top terms on each card are the ANSWERS to the previous problems. Assign small groups a starting answer to find first (you can do this verbally or you can cut out and hand each group a “Starting Answer” from the sheet at the end of this packet). Students search for their starting answer and then solve the problem below that number on the card, which leads them on a hunt to find their next problem. The solution to the LAST problem leads to the answer that they started with! Small Group Option: Make a set of integer cards for each group. Give every group the same starting number and have groups arrange the problems in the correct order, filling in their scavenger hunt worksheets as they go.

Product Description A fun, kinesthetic way to practice or review integer operations for middle school students! Includes: 20 cards to hang around the room, starting number cards, student recording sheet and answer key How to: Cut out and hang cards around the room. The top numbers on each card are the ANSWERS to the previous problems. Assign small groups a starting answer to find first (you can do this verbally or you can cut out and hand each group a “Starting Number” from the sheet at the end of this packet). Students search for their starting number and then solve the problem below that number on the card, which leads them on a hunt to find their next problem. The solution to the LAST problem leads to the number that they started with! Small Group Option: Make a set of integer cards for each group. Give every group the same starting number and have groups arrange the problems in the correct order, filling in their scavenger hunt worksheets as they go.

Easy to use, VISUAL graphic organizer for notes on number line integer addition and subtraction. A great way to introduce integer addition and subtraction! Perfect for folding and gluing into students’ interactive notebooks. Great to use with colored pencils, markers or highlighters!

Three fun pages! Add, subtract and add/subtract integers with this fun color-by-code activity. Students complete each problem, choose the solution and use the color listed to fill in squares on the grid to reveal the mystery picture! Includes heart, watermelon and donut pictures! Instructions: Each color section has two columns. For easy self-check, every solution in the left column has a matching solution in the right column. Students will locate their solutions on the grid and color those squares with the correct color to reveal a mystery picture! Note: Not all squares will be colored! Low prep and great for self-check! Perfect for math stations, classwork, homework, or sub plans.

Two pages of integer operations practice and coloring fun! Add, subtract, multiply and divide integers with this engaging color-by-code activity. Students complete each problem, choose the solution and use the color listed to fill in squares on the grid to reveal the mystery picture! Includes hamburger and ice cream pictures! Instructions: Each color section has two columns. For easy self-check, every solution in the left column has a matching solution in the right column. Students will locate their solutions on the grid and color those squares with the correct color to reveal a mystery picture! Note: Not all squares will be colored! Low prep and great for self-check! Perfect for math stations, classwork, homework, or sub plans.

Write equations in Point Slope Form with this fun color-by-code activity. Students complete each problem, choose the solution and use the color listed to fill in squares on the grid to reveal the mystery picture! Includes both fall and winter penguin themes! Includes the following skills: Writing equations given slope & a point, slope & the y-intercept, or 2 points Rearrange equations to find the slope & y-intercept Write equations given a graph Low prep and great for self-check! Perfect for math stations, classwork, homework, or sub plans.

Partners will write linear equations in slope intercept and point slope form, completing different problems with matching answers. Great for getting students talking and working together! Contents: Partner A worksheet (10 problems) Partner B worksheet (10 problems) Answer key How To: Partner A will write an equation given a table, graph, 2 points or a word problem. Partner B will solve a problem given different information with the same solution. The partners then compare their work. Matching solutions means continue onward! If the answers do not match, partners trade papers and look over each other’s work for mistakes.

Practice or review graphing slope intercept equations with a fun scavenger hunt! CONTENTS: 2 Warm Up Problems plus key 16 Cards to put up around the room Student worksheet Teacher Key Starting Answer sheet OPTIONAL VERSION: 16 cards WITH points on lines for scaffolded practice INSTRUCTIONS: Cut problem sheets in half so that there is one problem and one solution on each card. Post cards around the room. Hand out scavenger hunt worksheets to students. Assign starting answers to small groups of students by giving each group one of the “Starting Answers” at the end of this packet. This will ensure that students start at different locations. **Tell students that the answer they start with is the SAME ANSWER they should get for the final answer of the last problem they do. ** Students write the equation they find underneath their assigned graph in box #1 on their answer sheet. Then, they search for the graph that matches the equation on a new card. (The answer to the current problem will lead them to the card with the next problem.) Students should continue until they reach the graph they begin with. During this activity, students are encouraged to check in with the teacher if they get stuck, or get to the final answer prematurely. (I use the key to quickly check over their work and let the student know which problem to go back to and solve again.) Small Group: Give every group the same starting graph and have groups arrange the problems in the correct order, filling in their scavenger hunt worksheets as they go.

Three fun pages! Multiply, divide and multiply/divide integers with this fun color-by-code activity. Students complete each problem, choose the solution and use the color listed to fill in squares on the grid to reveal the mystery picture! Includes sun, cherry and cupcakes pictures! Instructions: Each color section has two columns. For easy self-check, every solution in the left column has a matching solution in the right column. Students will locate their solutions on the grid and color those squares with the correct color to reveal a mystery picture! Note: Not all squares will be colored! Low prep and great for self-check! Perfect for math stations, classwork, homework, or sub plans.

A fun, engaging way to practice or review integer operations for middle school students! Includes: 20 cards to hang around the room, starting number cards, student recording sheet and answer key How to: Cut out and hang cards around the room. The top numbers on each card are the ANSWERS to the previous problems. Assign small groups a starting answer to find first (you can do this verbally or you can cut out and hand each group a “Starting Number” from the sheet at the end of this packet). Students search for their starting number and then solve the problem below that number on the card, which leads them on a hunt to find their next problem. The solution to the LAST problem leads to the number that they started with! Small Group Option: Make a set of integer cards for each group. Give every group the same starting number and have groups arrange the problems in the correct order, filling in their scavenger hunt worksheets as they go.

Word problem focused task cards are great for practicing writing and solving systems of equations! Contents: 10 total problems, including 6 word problems Student worksheet Answer key Small Group: Each group gets a set of task cards and each student gets a handout to record their answers on. Give students time to solve each problem. It can be fun to assign each group one or two problems that they are in charge of explaining to the class after completing the activity. Around the Room Activity: Post task cards around the room and give each student a handout. Give students time to circulate in small groups to solve the problems. When using this method it can be helpful to assign each group a starting number to ensure that groups begin the activity at different task cards. Whiteboard Games: One of my favorite ways to do this activity is as a small group competition with whiteboards. In this case, no handout is needed. I show a task card under the projector and give a time limit. Every student (or pair of students– sometimes it works better for them to share one board per two people) in the group has to have the correct work and solution to score a point for their group. The group with the most points at the end wins.

A fun, engaging way to practice or review integer operations for middle school students! Includes 20 task cards to hang around the room, starting number cards, student recording sheet and answer key. How to: Cut out and hang cards around the room. The top numbers on each card are the ANSWERS to the previous problems. Assign small groups a starting answer to find first (you can do this verbally or you can cut out and hand each group a “Starting Number” from the sheet at the end of this packet). Students search for their starting number and then solve the problem below that number on the card, which leads them on a hunt to find their next problem. The solution to the LAST problem leads to the number that they started with! Small Group Option: Make a set of integer cards for each group. Give every group the same starting number and have groups arrange the problems in the correct order, filling in their scavenger hunt worksheets as they go.

Product Description A fun, kinesthetic way to practice or review integer operations for middle school students! Includes: 20 cards to hang around the room, starting number cards, student recording sheet and answer key How to: Cut out and hang cards around the room. The top numbers on each card are the ANSWERS to the previous problems. Assign small groups a starting answer to find first (you can do this verbally or you can cut out and hand each group a “Starting Number” from the sheet at the end of this packet). Students search for their starting number and then solve the problem below that number on the card, which leads them on a hunt to find their next problem. The solution to the LAST problem leads to the number that they started with! Small Group Option: Make a set of integer cards for each group. Give every group the same starting number and have groups arrange the problems in the correct order, filling in their scavenger hunt worksheets as they go.

Get kids up and moving! Practice or review integer operations with a fun scavenger hunt! Includes: 20 cards to hang around the room, starting number cards, student recording sheet and answer key How to: Cut out and hang cards around the room. The top numbers on each card are the ANSWERS to the previous problems. Assign small groups a starting answer to find first (you can do this verbally or you can cut out and hand each group a “Starting Number” from the sheet at the end of this packet). Students search for their starting number and then solve the problem below that number on the card, which leads them on a hunt to find their next problem. The solution to the LAST problem leads to the number that they started with! Small Group Option: Make a set of integer cards for each group. Give every group the same starting number and have groups arrange the problems in the correct order, filling in their scavenger hunt worksheets as they go.

Develop conceptual understanding of the distributive property using area models! I find that area models give students a concrete way of envisioning the distributive property, helping them grasp why the outer term is distributed to terms inside of the parenthesis. Great for practice after an introductory lesson or as a review. Includes several ideas for activities using task cards. Contents: ~2 Example Problems with key ~16 DP task cards ~Student recording sheet ~Answer key

Easy to use combine like terms graphic organizer for notes on vocabulary and guided practice. Teaches students how to identify and color code terms. Great to use with colored pencils, markers or highlighters! Includes a Combine Like Terms with Distributive Property option!

Great for practicing rates and unit rates in small groups! Contents: 14 task cards 2 options for student handouts Answer Key Instructions for Use: Small Group: Each group gets a set of task cards and each student gets a handout to record their answers on. Give students time to solve each problem. It can be fun to assign each group one or two problems that they are in charge of explaining to the class after completing the activity. Around the Room Activity: Post task cards around the room and give each student a handout. Give students time to circulate in small groups to solve the problems. When using this method it can be helpful to assign each group a starting number to ensure that groups begin the activity at different task cards. Whiteboard Games: One of my favorite ways to do this activity is as a small group competition with whiteboards. In this case, no handout is needed. I show a task card under the projector and give a time limit. Every student (or pair of students– sometimes it works better for them to share one board per two people) in the group has to have the correct work and solution to score a point for their group. The group with the most points at the end wins.