Our friends at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute have created an interesting task where they share data they collected from Blue Whales. We send many thanks to the MBARI scientists and the American Museum of Natural History for creating and posting these wonderful resources. This collection of videos, text passages and interactive data graphs will light up minds as students explore data that has been collected to explain what goes on when a Blue Whale is under the surface of the ocean.

This task reminds us of Four 4Õs because students are practicing number combinations to get specific results.

This problem requires children to think about factors and multiples and, in particular, common factors, but it is not necessary for them to have met this term prior to having a go at the task. It offers opportunities for pupils to ask their own questions, find examples, make conjectures and begin to generalize.

Maybe some of you recall from childhood, discovering a set of 6 little cardboard cards filled with numbers that came as a prize in a Cracker Jack Box? I clearly remember the day I got this prize. I was fascinated that it always worked, playing it over and over again with anyone who would engage me. I carried the cards with me everywhere and eventually they ended up wet mush after spinning through the washing machine in the pocket of my pants. Decades later they were reintroduced into my life. It was Christmas day in London and everyone was excited about Òcrackers.Ó I didnÕt understand the excitement until Jo explained that it was a little game between two people where the winner got a prize Ð not food. Guess what prize I won? The 6 cards were back in my life!

This activity provides students an opportunity to go through the data cycle process focusing on a statistical investigative question based on something students would like to learn about themselves. In our day-to-day experiences we are surrounded by variability and this activity provides students an opportunity to formulate a question that can be answered with data, as they collect, consider, and analyze the data and then interpret and communicate their findings. We are thankful for Giorgia Lupi and Stefanie Posavec who shared their Dear Data journey with the world.

This task is an opportunity for students to think about why the rules of exponents work, so they can use them with that understanding, rather than trying to remember rules. The handout has a table with some sections already completed so students can complete the rest by noticing patterns and discussing them.

Many students in the US think of Pi as a number they should memorize, when the most important idea for students to learn is that Pi is a very cool relationship, that exists inside all circles in the world. In this task students will find that relationship themselves, through cutting and folding, and be asked to reflect on it.

This game provides students practice subtracting from 999. Students should be encouraged to check each players work and provide feedback for mistakes. Remember, mistakes are awesome and they make our brain grow!

At youcubed we are so excited to share this activity derived from a problem in Core-Plus Mathematics, Course 1. The problem included here is from Unit 3, Linear Functions, where students explore a small sample data set from the World Health Organization, Global Health Observatory Data Repository, faostat3.fao.org. We love the use of real data as students work, in this case, with linear functions and data.

This has become one of our most popular tasks and we are hearing about all sorts of creative adaptations. Some youcubians have made grids of 400 and added dice, others have adapted it to let the grid represent 100%. Please post how you use this task with your students.

Games provide a fun environment for supporting children in building number fluency. As children learn to play the games, speed should not be the focus. Encourage strategy and ask students to explain their thinking.

In this class activity, students find the missing number to complete a number sentence while also seeing different representations made by other students.

This is a really nice task as it is open to everyone, can be solved in different ways and can also extend to work in combinatorics Ð a nice way of organizing counting. Ask students to work on this task in groups, and to display their results on posters. Often we name studentsÕ different approaches and strategies.

Leo the Rabbit has become a youcubed favorite. It is a great problem for using creativity to illustrate and justify student thinking and it leads to rich class discussion.

Many parents use Ôflash cardsÕ as a way of encouraging the learning of math facts. These usually include 2 unhelpful practices Ð memorization without understanding and time pressure. In our Math Cards activity we have used the structure of cards, which children like, but we have moved the emphasis to number sense and the understanding of multiplication without any time constraints.

In Mouse Count by Ellen Stoll Walsh, a hungry snake finds 10 mice on the grass and puts them into a jar. The last mouse cleverly sends the snake on a fruitless hunt for an even bigger mouse and the other mice tip the jar over and escape. In this activity, children investigate the different ways that they ten mice could be arranged when some are in the jar and some are on the grass.

This is a great primary activity from one of our Youcubians, Deb Morton. It encourages class participation and discussion as students explore equality as they move around the room. Deb says, ÒThe students have fun looking at what they did and then realize math is all around us and in our lives everyday. And at the end I have a carpet seating chart complete.Ó