"Amazing Attributes"

The lessons in this unit plan use a variety of materials, including electronic examples from the NCTM Principles and Standards for School Mathematics. Students collect data using objects, pictures, and symbols, and then organize the data by sorting and classifying in different ways. Students display data using multiple representations and engage in such skills as problem solving, reasoning and proving, communicating, connecting, and representing fundamental ideas about data.

http://illuminations.nctm.org/LessonDetail.aspx?id=U29 

"Paper Pool"

The interactive paper pool game in this Illuminations unit provides an opportunity for students to further develop their understanding of ratio, proportion, similar figures, and multiples. This investigation includes student resources for the Paper Pool project, preparation notes, answers, and a holistic-by-category scoring rubric with guidelines for how it can be used to assess the project. Samples of two students' work and a teacher's comments accompany the suggested rubric.

http://illuminations.nctm.org/LessonDetail.aspx?id=U165 

"Cubes"

This Illuminations Math Tool is an interactive geometry investigation that helps students explore the volume of a cube by considering a single row (longs) of unit cubes or a single layer (flats) of cubes. Cubes, rows, and layers can be added to the box, and the size of the box can be adjusted by changing the width, depth, or height fields and then clicking on the "Change Box" button.

http://illuminations.nctm.org/ActivityDetail.aspx?ID=6

"Geometric Understanding through Tangram Puzzles"

Describing figures and visualizing what they look like when they are transformed through rotations or flips, or are put together or taken apart in different ways, are important aspects of geometry in the lower grades. Problem-solving tasks that involve physical manipulatives as well as virtual manipulatives afford many students an entry into mathematics that they might not otherwise experience. In the first part of this unit, Tangram Puzzles, students can choose a picture and use pieces to fill in an outline. In the second part, Tangram Challenges, students can use tangram pieces to form given polygons.

http://illuminations.nctm.org/LessonDetail.aspx?ID=U120

"Geometric Solids and Their Properties"

In this interactive geometry investigation, students will explore geometric solids and their properties. Investigating and then reasoning about the relationships within and between three-dimensional shapes is important for students in grades 3-5 as they continue to develop understanding of geometry and spatial sense. The interactive figure in this investigation is designed to allow students to virtually explore the relationship between the number of faces, corners, and edges of a solid.

http://illuminations.nctm.org/LessonDetail.aspx?ID=U122

"The Factor Game"

This lesson engages students in a friendly contest in which the winning strategies involve distinguishing between numbers with many factors and numbers with few factors. Students are then guided through an analysis of game strategies and introduced to the definitions of prime and composite numbers. The Factor Game and the Product Game work well together because they help students to see the relationship between products and factors.

http://illuminations.nctm.org/LessonDetail.aspx?ID=L620

"The Product Game"

The four lessons in this unit engage students with the Product Game, an Illuminations resource that teaches multiplication skills in a game format. In the Product Game, students start with factors and multiply to find the product. The Factor Game and the Product Game work well together because they help students to see the relationship between products and factors.