Instruct students to use quarter-inch graph paper. Use the scale that each quarter inch on the paper equals one square foot. Ask students to use the scale and the graph paper and make a scale drawing of their bedrooms or the classroom.
Create an imaginary situation in which the class has been instructed to measure the amount of fencing needed for the school playground. Students need to leave 10 feet between the property line and the fence for mowing tractors.Have students make a scale drawing of the school playground, leaving 10 feet between the fence and the playground for the mowers. Students can measure the actual dimensions of the playground to determine the correct measurements.
Place an equal number of quarters, dimes, nickels and pennies in a zippered plastic bags. Separate students into teams. Give each team a bag. Tell the teams to calculate the probability that the combined value of the four coins randomly selected will be 41 cents. Tell students to express the answer as a fraction in the simplest form.
The Franklin Institute offers another fun activity:
Four friends buy 36 cookies for $12. Each person contributes the following amount of money:
Tom - $2
Jake - $3
Ted - $4
Sam - $3
Each person gets the number of cookies proportional to the money paid. Draw a circle graph to represent the amount of cookies each person gets. Draw another circle graph to show how many each would have if Ted gives half of his cookies to Tom.
Instruct students to participate in the following problem-solving activities.
Find three upper-case letters that look the same when they are rotated 180 degrees.
A boy ate 100 brownies in 10 days. Each day he ate four more than the day before. How many brownies did he eat on the first day?
Choose 10 random students from the classroom. Tally the number of vowels in each student's name. Use this to predict the results for the rest of the class, as suggested by Franklin Institute.
Draw a cat using only regular polygons. At least six different polygons must be used in this exercise titled, "Meow," suggested by the Franklin Institute.
Challenge your graph skills at Funbrain. This website allows students to choose their skill level---easy, medium or hard. This is a positive place for students to practice before a graph test.
On Math Playground Online, middle school students can practice graphing skills and ordered pairs by typing in the x and y coordinates of alien locations on a grid.