National Mathematics Day Tasks

Number tasks

Number splitting challenge (grades one to four)

This task focuses on place value, addition and subtraction and multiplication and division.

Think of a number between 70 and 90. How many different ways can you split the number into multiple equal groups? Discuss as a class.

Two minute counting challenge (Prep to three)

This is a rich task to help children notice effective ways of counting.

Materials:

One 0-9 die per pair of children

Large collection of unifix cubes, popsticks or beans etc.

Method:

Teacher uses sand timer or minute hand on clock to time.

Pairs of children play.

  1. First child rolls die. Partner gathers corresponding unifix. First child rolls die again and partner gathers corresponding unifix. Process continues until teacher calls out stop! Pairs estimate the total and then count collection. First team to count collection call ‘bingo’. Teacher allows time for others to finish.
  2. To the team who called ‘bingo’ first, teacher asks, “what strategy did you use?” Other questions might be, “How did you count your collections? What made it much quicker for you?, “Which strategies were efficient?”.

What’s the biggest number you know? (K- 4)

This task focuses on place value. In particular interpreting the quantity, the symbol and the number word.

Can you write it?

Can you make its quantity with materials

Can you smash it up? (partition). For example, we can partition 20 into 6 and 5 and 3 and 6, Or, 0.5 and 0.1 and 0.4 and 9 and 10 etc.

Investigations

1.Who are taller: people with blue eyes or people with brown eyes? (prep to two)

This task focuses on problem solving, working mathematically, probability, length measurement and data gathering, representation and interpretation

Ask children what they think the question is asking and come to an agreement. This may require the students to consider factors such as what size group we might consider and how to classify people.

Ask a question such as “How can we solve this problem?”. Children will then need to decide what data they will collect, how they will do this and what the collected data will tell them.

They also consider whether they can investigate further e.g., with their family and or others in the school.

2.Teddy Tubes (prep to two)

This task focuses on problem solving, working mathematically and capacity.

Pretend you are a toy maker who has to make containers for your toys. You want to make a container for ten teddies.

The task: Using pieces of paper, make cylinders that will hold exactly ten teddies

When a tube does not hold exactly ten teddies, children are challenged to alter their tube. They decide what changes to make and how to make them.

Children observe that cylinders can look different but hold the same number of teddies (that is, there is no direct relationship between shape and capacity)