Please note this is a historical document from the year 2000. This list of links is not being updated.

Web Resources for Planning Elementary School Mathematics Lessons

Here are a number of links that are promising resources for elementary school mathematics. Each entry contains 6-7 references to other Web pages, some of which are actual lesson plans. Others are links to ideas or ways to view how the students will learn this type of mathematics. Further, with just a little more digging, one can uncover several related sites with more lesson plans, etc.

TrackStar

http://trackstar.scrtec.org

"TrackStar is an on-line interface that helps instructors organize and annotate Web sites (URLs) into lessons. The list of resources acts like a table of contents and remains visible throughout the lesson allowing the user/student to easily browse through the lesson and stay on track." This site holds a huge number of lesson plans and materials to use in classrooms for all levels and for a wide variety of subjects.

When I requested a search for "math" at only two school grade levels, there were so many hits that Web browser crashed. So, one should ask for fairly restricted searches, such as "multiplication" and for a single grade level. With a query about multiplication for grades 3-4, I got 399 "hits." Remember though, each "track" is a series of about 7 references to other websites.

One of the 399 "hits" is attributed to Angela Milam, who provides links to and descriptions of six sites. Of the six, four are simple text and done in a "standard" form (e.g., Overview, Purpose, Activities, and Tying it All Together). One website is a commercial looking page with advertisements for materials. The last is a rubric for how to look at the progress of students with their skills with multiplication.

http://www.youth.net/cec/cecmath/cecmath.06.txt

This lesson uses calculators to show students the relationship between numbers. It allows students to find multiples of other numbers. This is a good lesson to begin the teaching of the multiplication facts. It addresses higher level thinking by allowing students the opportunity to predict outcomes. Students will use the tools of technology to solve math processes.

http://www.col-ed.org/cur/math/math10.txt

This lesson helps students begin memorizing multiplication facts. The lesson focuses on numbers multiplied times themselves. It uses graph paper for students to see the squares of numbers formed. When the lesson is finished students will have a complete multiplication chart to be used until the facts are memorized. Can you take a piece of graph paper, look at the shaded areas and write a multiplication fact for the shaded areas? Students will use the multiplication graphs to gain an understanding of multiplication as an operation.

http://www.col-ed.org/cur/math/math02.txt

This lesson provides useful techniques to teach the multiplication facts. It breaks the facts into groups and addresses each group differently. The lesson takes several days to complete. It has been proven to help all students systematically learn their multiplication facts. Can you count by 5's and 10's using your fingers? Students will systematically learn their multiplication facts, practice, test, and celebrate their accomplishments.

http://www.creativeclassroom.org/jf99aplus/math.html

This lesson is a literature-based activity. It uses books to address the need to understand multiplication facts. It allows for discussion of multiplication and provides a springboard for working story problems. Students will enjoy helping the characters solve their math problems. Which has more panes--a window with 8 rows and 4 panes in each row or a window with 9 rows and 3 panes in each row? Students will describe their processes and solutions informally in written form.

http://www.ofcn.org/cyber.serv/academy/ace/math/cecmath/cecmath049.html

This lesson is a fun way to end a unit on multiplication facts. Once students have a good grasp of multiplication facts this lesson is fun. It is a wonderful way to reinforce the skills taught. Students develop listening skills by following directions and using prior learning of multiplication facts to score a bingo.

http://170.142.130.39/rubric/search.htm

Type in rubric number 7477 in the Rubric ID box. No user name is necessary. Click "submit" and the rubric for this track will come up. Do not make any changes to the rubric.

Columbia Education Center's Mini Lessons

http://youth.net/cec/

Here you'll see a list of lessons and lesson plans from the Columbia Education Center's Summer Workshops. "They were done by a consortium of teachers from 14 states dedicated to improving the quality of education in the rural, western, United States, particularly the quality of math and science education."

http://youth.net

"This server is a place where youth (of all ages) around the world can safely meet each other, and participate in discussions, interactive learning projects, and activities that meet their needs." The site includes:

• Interactive Projects for Grades K-12
• Youth Net's Life-Long Learning Program
• Youth Net Supporters
• More Information about Youth Net
• Resources and Other Projects for K-12 Educators and Students
• Homepages of Schools and Youth Net Participants

ThinkQuest 2000

http://www.thinkquest.org

Information about an international contest for students in grades 4-6 is found here.

Mathematics Lesson Plans (K-5)

http://www.col-ed.org/cur/math.html#math1

This site includes a long list of lesson plans specifically for grades K-6 math.

Academy Curricular Exchange Mathematics (K-5)

http://www.ofcn.org/cyber.serv/academy/ace/math/elem.html

More lesson mathematics lesson plans!

Note that all of these sites and resources were accessed via just ONE of the 399 tracks first found using TrackStar!

Now more even more sites of possible interest and usefulness. Happy digging!

Institute for Mathematics and Science Education (IMSE), University of Illinois at Chicago

http://www.math.uic.edu:80/IMSE/

This site is that of the Teaching Integrated Math and Science Project. This project has produced high quality materials for over 20 years. The developers of the project were among the earliest users of the Web and have vast experience and resources.

For an example of how thorough the materials are, click on "Math Trailblazers." Follow the links from "Unit Summaries and Sample Lessons." By scrolling down the page, you'll find "Grade 2, Sample Lesson, Marshmallows and Containers."

MegaMath

http://www.c3.lanl.gov/mega-math/index.html

This is a project of the Computer Research and Applications Group at Los Alamos National Laboratory. "The MegaMath project is intended to bring unusual and important mathematical ideas to elementary school classrooms so that young people and their teachers can think about them together." An example of what you will find at MegaMath follows.

http://www.c3.lanl.gov/mega-math/workbk/map/mpactiv.html

This is at link to the maps topology and coloring activities. Although it isn't a full-blown lesson plan, I recommend looking at it because it has advanced and interesting math in a relatively understandable format.

Word Problems For Kids (grades 5-12)

http://www.stfx.ca/special/mathproblems/

This web site has been established with support from Industry Canada and is located at St. Francis Xavier University. "This website contains word problems for students and teachers. The problems are classified into grade levels from Grade 5 to Grade 12. THIS IS NOT A TEST, but a set of carefully selected problems which can help you improve your problem solving skills if you try to carefully think about how you would solve each problem, and once you have found the solution, you make sure that you understand all parts of the solution. You can try any problem you like and if the problem is a little difficult you can get helpful hints by following the hints link."

MacTutor History of Mathematics

http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/history/

There's not a lot here for elementary education, but it is nevertheless and interesting site with cool information, graphs (e.g., http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/history/Curves/Curves.html), etc. One would not be ready to use the algebra until much later in school.

Mighty M&M Math

http://mighty-mm-math.caffeinated.org/main.htm

Just for fun, check this site out. It actually has more than a single lesson plan with a series of possible extensions for class activities.

The Algebra Project

http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/content/cntareas/math/ma1algeb.htm

This is an "...interactive curriculum designed to help inner-city and rural students better understand mathematical concepts." It was developed by Bob Moses, a mathematician and civil rights leader.

Ask ERIC Mathematics Lesson Plans

http: //ericir.syr.edu/Virtual/Lessons/Mathematics/index.html

This is an ERIC (Educational Resources on Instructional Curriculum) site. The lesson plans listed at this site look pretty good and they're easy to read and seem to have been edited.

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Office for Mathematics, Science and Technology, Mathematics Lessons Database

http://www.mste.uiuc.edu/ html.f/k12.html

You have to dig, but there are some good ideas here.

Classroom Connect's Lesson Plans

http://connectedteacher.classroom.com/lessonplans/lessonPlansBySubjectGrade.asp?subjectID=1&minGrade=0&maxGrade=6

This site offers an annotated list of lesson plans for math in the elementary grades.

FUNBrain.com

http://www.funbrain.com/numbe rs.html

Fun math games for kids and teachers too!

The Math Forum

http://www.mathforum.com/math.topics.html

The Math Forum is "an online community of teachers, students, researchers, parents, educators, and citizens at all levels who have an interest in math and math education." At the web site there are math resources pages categorized by subject and grade level, an Internet Mathematics Library, and a Problem of the Week site.

Math in the Kingdom

http://academy.LearningKi ngdom.com/math/

Math in the Kingdom (MITK) is a web-based arithmetic tutor. It teaches 1st, 2nd, and 3rd

grade material directly over the Internet. The services provided by this website are not free.

Eisenhower National Clearinghouse

http: //www.enc.org/professional/timesavers/lessonplans/math/

Go to the Eisenhower National Clearinghouse web site for annotated links related to various math topics, including counting, fractions, money, and word problems.

The MathNerds

http://www.mathnerds.com

Last, we can't help but mention a project of Dr. Valerio DeAngelis and others. (Dr. DeAngelis is also a faculty member in Xavier's Mathematics Department). "MathNerds is a free service offering assistance in many areas of mathematics . . . MathNerds has a strong commitment to inquiry-based education and does not contribute to the abuse of the internet by doing homework, take home tests, or school related projects. We help our clients by providing guidance, references, and hints, not answers."

Below are additional links that have been provided by Lusher school personnel.