Here Are The Only Free Back to School Math Worksheets You'll Ever Need

Are you looking for some fun, engaging, and free back to school math activities to share with your kids?

The first days of school are an exciting time for students, and sharing activities that channel your kids' enthusiasm into fun learning experiences is a great way to start the year off on the right foot.

That’s why I’ll be sharing fun Back to School Math Puzzles with my kids during each day of the first week of school this year.  Math puzzles and challenge problems give your kids an opportunity to think critically and deeply about mathematics, develop problem-solving strategies, and work through challenging problems.

And when math activities incorporate your kids' personal interests, their engagement will skyrocket!

So, go ahead and try these challenges and puzzles with your kids this back to school season. These free back to school math worksheets are perfect for warm-up and/or cool-down activities and are great for sparking mathematical discussions in your home or classroom.

The puzzles are perfect for students in grades 3 through 8.

How to Download: You can download any of the puzzles by right-clicking on the image and saving it to your computer or by dragging-and-dropping it to your desktop.

Would you like more FREE math resources in your inbox every day? Click here to sign up for my free math education email newsletter (and get a free math eBook too!)

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1.) Order of Operations Puzzle

Use your math skills to find the value of each icon and the '?'

Apple = 12

Notebook = 12

School Bus = 8

Pencil Sharpener = 4

? = 36

Hint: Since the apple and the notebook are equal to each other, they are interchangeable. 

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2.) Multiplication Table

Multiplication tables work like a Bingo board, where the value of each box represents the product of its corresponding row and column.

Apple = 1

Chalk Board = 3

Sneaker = 2

School Bus = 6

Notebook = 18

Looking for more free math challenges like this one to share with your kids? click here

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Are you looking for more daily math challenges and puzzles to share with your kids?

My best-selling workbook 101 Math Challenges for Engaging Your Students is now available as a PDF download.

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3.) Which One Doesn't Belong? (WODB)

WODB activities are meant to spark mathematical thinking and discussion and do not have a single correct answer. They work well as warm-up and cool-down activities.

Want to learn more about how to use WOBD? math activities with your kids? click here

Tip: Have your kids justify their thinking in writing!

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Are you looking for more daily WODB? math graphics?

You can now share 101 daily WODB warm-up activities for grades 1-9 with your kids with our PDF workbook!

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4.) Think-Notice-Wonder (Writing Prompt)

Writing about math encourages creativity, exploration, and communicating one's thoughts and feelings, which leads to deep and meaningful understanding of difficult math concepts.

Think/Notice/Wonder is a great strategy for getting your kids engaged in math writing every day.

Want to learn more about how to use TNW math activities with your kids? click here

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Want more? Download 101 Daily Think-Notice-Wonder Writing Prompts for Engaging Your Kids

You can now share 101 Daily Think-Notice-Wonder Writing Prompts with your kids with our PDF workbook!

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5.) Two Truths and One Lie (2T1L)

2T1L activities help your kids to develop reasoning skills, make logical arguments, express their ideas in words, and engage with visual mathematics—which ultimately leads to deeper and more meaningful understanding of challenging topics and concepts.

Answer: Statement 2 is a lie because any value divided by zero is undefined. 

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Looking to Share More 2T1L With Your Kids This Year?

You can now share 101 Two Truths and One Lie Math Activities for Grades 3-5 with your kids with our PDF workbook!

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What strategies are you using to engage your kids this back to school season? Share your thoughts and suggestions in the comments section below!

(Never miss a Mashup Math blog--click here to get our weekly newsletter!)

By Anthony Persico

Anthony is the content crafter and head educator for YouTube's MashUp Math and an advisor to Amazon Education's 'With Math I Can' Campaign. You can often find me happily developing animated math lessons to share on my YouTube channel . Or spending way too much time at the gym or playing on my phone.

Why is GEMS the Best Way to Teach Order of Operations?

Students who master the order of operations at a young age have a much better chance of excelling at higher levels of math than those who don't.

Many teachers rely on teaching the order of operations using popular PEMDAS mnemonic (and the played-out Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally catchphrase).

But many students fail to ever grasp a true conceptual and procedural understanding of how to correctly apply the order or operations, and PEMDAS is the likely culprit.

The following video shows you a more effective strategy for teaching the order of operations and it includes a free reference sheet and practice worksheet (keep reading to access the video and resources). The video focuses on using the GEMS mnemonic instead of PEMDAS and answers the following questions:

-Why is PEMDAS bad?

-What does GEMS stand for in order of operations?

-Why is GEMS more effective than PEMDAS when teaching order of operations?

Click Here to download your free GEMS REFERENCE GUIDE AND WORKSHEET.

Learning Standard: 3rd Grade Operations and Algebraic Thinking

Solve problems involving the four operations, and identify and explain patterns in arithmetic.

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.3.OA.D.8
Solve two-step word problems using the four operations. Represent these problems using equations with a letter standing for the unknown quantity. Assess the reasonableness of answers using mental computation and estimation strategies including rounding.3

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.3.OA.D.9
Identify arithmetic patterns (including patterns in the addition table or multiplication table), and explain them using properties of operations. For example, observe that 4 times a number is always even, and explain why 4 times a number can be decomposed into two equal addends.

If you find the video helpful, please give it a thumbs-up on YouTube, leave a comment, and subscribe to our channel. Your support is greatly appreciated :)

(Never miss a Mashup Math blog--click here to get our weekly newsletter!)

By Anthony Persico

Anthony is the content crafter and head educator for YouTube's MashUp Math and an advisor to Amazon Education's 'With Math I Can' Campaign. You can often find me happily developing animated math lessons to share on my YouTube channel . Or spending way too much time at the gym or playing on my phone.

Check Out This Awesome Mean, Median, and Mode Activity!

Math students are more engaged and participative learners when they are actively engaged with what they are learning.

And one of the best ways to achieve this high level of engagement is through the use of hands-on activities.

So, when it comes time to help your kids gain a deep conceptual understanding of measures of central tendency (mean, median, mode, and range), you'll need a fun and engaging hands-on group activity.

If you are looking for a fun mean, median, and mode activity to add to your lesson plans, check out this awesome hands-on activity idea involving playing cards (and it includes a free lesson guide and worksheet!).

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Click Here to download your free LESSON GUIDE AND WORKSHEET.

Learning Standard: 6th Grade Statistics and Probability 

Giving quantitative measures of center (median and/or mean) and variability (interquartile range and/or mean absolute deviation), as well as describing any overall pattern and any striking deviations from the overall pattern with reference to the context in which the data were gathered.

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Do YOU need some fresh math resources? Access over 100 FREE K-12 Math Video Lessons and Animations on YouTube? Subscribe to our channel (100% free with your Gmail account) and access the full library!

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Read More Posts About Math Education:

If you find the video helpful, please give it a thumbs-up on YouTube, leave a comment, and subscribe to our channel. Your support is greatly appreciated :)

(Never miss a Mashup Math blog--click here to get our weekly newsletter!)

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By Anthony Persico

Anthony is the content crafter and head educator for YouTube's MashUp Math and an advisor to Amazon Education's 'With Math I Can' Campaign. You can often find me happily developing animated math lessons to share on my YouTube channel . Or spending way too much time at the gym or playing on my phone.

Jo Boaler Suggests These Awesome Visual Math Activities

Jo Boaler has started a math revolution that has likely already made its way into your classroom.

The Stanford Professor of Mathematics and author of Mathematical Mindsets is the co-founder of YouCubed.org, an organization dedicated to inspiring, educating, and empowering math teachers with the latest research on making math education both practical and accessible.

The site shares an extensive collection of brain science findings that help you to better understand how your students learn.

See Also: If you're not familiar with her work, her Ted Talk How you can be good at math, and other surprising facts about learning is a must watch:

In the YouCubed study Visual Math Improves Math Performance, Boaler shares: 

In a groundbreaking new study Joonkoo Park & Elizabeth Brannon (2013), found that the most powerful learning occurs when we use different areas of the brain. When students work with symbols, such as numbers, they are using a different area of the brain than when they work with visual and spatial information, such as an array of dots. The researchers found that mathematics learning and performance was optimized when the two areas of the brain were communicating.

Boaler goes on to say that "Mathematics is a subject that allows for precise thinking, but when that precise thinking is combined with creativity, openness, visualization, and flexibility, the mathematics comes alive."

When your students aren't thinking about math in a visual context, they are missing out on developing a deep understanding of the material.

So, how can you give your kids opportunities to think about math visually? Here are 5 resources suggested by Jo Boaler to get you started:

1.) Multiple Representations

Many students adopt a false idea that there is only one acceptable way to solve a math problem when, in fact, there's always several different ways to find a correct solution. By showing students multiple ways to represent concepts and solve problems, you make mathematics more accessible and equitable.

For more examples of multiple representations, you can download the free YouCubed Visual Mathematics Activities paper.

2.) How Close to 100?

This activity lets students explore the different ways that they can represent the value 100. This practice helps students build number sense, which is the foundation of understanding mathematics.

3.) Squares and Cubes

Kids love using hands-on manipulatives to explore math concepts. Thinking about mathematical models in terms of squares and cubes is a great way for students to develop a strong conceptual understanding of a variety of math topics.

You can learn more about using squares and cubes as visuals for deep understanding here. 

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“I always look forward to getting my Mashup Math newsletter email every week. I love the free activities!” -Christina R., 5th Grade Math Teacher, Dallas, TX

Do YOU want free math resources, lesson activities, and puzzles and games for grades 1-8 in your inbox every week? Join our mailing list and start getting tons of free stuff (including a free PDF eBook)!

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4.) Focus on Fingers

"Many teachers have been led to believe that finger use is useless and something to be abandoned as quickly as possible. ," says Jo Boaler in her article Why Kids Should Use Their Fingers in Math Class in The Atlantic.

Recent brain science suggests that preventing students from using their fingers when they count could actually hurt their mathematical development. 

You can support visual math learning by encouraging finger counting among students and enable them to strengthen their brain capacity in the process.

5.) Learn Even More

Looking to go further down the rabbit hole? You can learn more about the importance of visual mathematics for our brain with the comprehensive essay Seeing as Understanding by Jo Boaler. The essay shares insights, brain science research, and more activities for you to share with your kids.

Do you have any unique experiences or ideas for teaching visual mathematics to your kids? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.

Get more free math resources in your inbox each week--click here to get your weekly newsletter

By Anthony Persico

Anthony is the content crafter and head educator for YouTube's MashUp Math and an advisor to Amazon Education's 'With Math I Can' Campaign. You can often find me happily developing animated math lessons to share on my YouTube channel . Or spending way too much time at the gym or playing on my phone.

Are you using these 5 awesome websites for free math worksheets?

If you’re like most math teachers, you pride yourself on creating your own materials. But every now and then, especially when time is limited, you need to use outside resources.

Having access to unlimited educational math content online can be both empowering and overwhelming at the same time. You want to find resources that will enrich your lessons and benefit your kids without wasting tons of time and energy surfing the web.

So, to make your life easier, here are 5 reliable websites that share useful, high quality, engaging, and easily printable math worksheets and activities for all grade levels:

1.) Engage NY Learning Modules

EngageNY shares a ton of printable, standards-based Pre-K through Pre-Calculus learning modules that you can use to structure entire lessons, differentiate existing ones, and to give your students extra practice. Another great feature of EngageNY is that all of their resources include scaffolding instructions for English Language Learners.

2.) Education.com/Resources

Education.com shares resources covering topics including arithmetic, geometry, money, time and measurement. Their learning resources are colorful, creative, and extremely popular with elementary and middle school math teachers 

3.) Kuta Software

When it comes to mastering math topics, practice is important. And while you're probably not a fan of teaching math exclusively through the use of high-volume, repetitive problem-solving, your students certainly need opportunities apply their skills. This need for practice is where Kuta Software's extensive library of K-12 topic-based math worksheets will save you lots of time and energy.

4.) Mashup Math

Our ever-growing collection of grade-specific pdf math worksheets (with answer keys) shares hundreds of free printable resources and activities. Click here to visit the website, then click on any grade level to access the free worksheets and answer keys.

5.) Eureka Math by GreatMinds.org

Eureka Math is more than just a library of math resources and activities, it's a free, comprehensive K-12 math curriculum that is quickly becoming top-rated and widely used nationally. You can download your free PDF version of the Eureka Math basic curriculum, which includes over 20,000 pages and features sequenced lessons, formative assessments, and fully integrated professional development for Grades PK—12 by clicking here.

Do you have any suggestions, insights, and/or websites that could be added to this list? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Get more free math resources in your inbox each week--click here to get your weekly newsletter.

By Anthony Persico

Anthony is the content crafter and head educator for YouTube's MashUp Math and an advisor to Amazon Education's 'With Math I Can' Campaign. You can often find me happily developing animated math lessons to share on my YouTube channel . Or spending way too much time at the gym or playing on my phone.