Celebrate National Taco Day with This Free Math Puzzle

Celebrate National Taco Day in Your Math Classroom with This Free Math Puzzle

Did you know that this Friday, October 4th, is National Taco Day!?

Most people (including myself) celebrate by eating tacos—lots and lots of tacos!

Why? Because everyone loves tacos.

In addition to eating tacos, you can celebrate National Taco Day in your classroom with a fun taco-themed multiplication table math puzzle.

Today's puzzle challenges students to use their math and reasoning skills to find the value of 7 different symbols contained within a multiplication table.

The puzzle works like a bingo-table where the icon in each box represents the product of its corresponding column and row.

Click here to download your puzzle as a PDF worksheet

*Keep reading to get the answer key.

*Keep reading to get the answer key.

This puzzle is a sample from my best-selling workbook 101 Math Challenges for Engaging Your Students in Grades 3-8.

The book is available as a PDF download and you can also get a hard copy on Amazon (Free Amazon Prime Shipping Included; pages are in black-and-white).

Taco Day Math Puzzle Answer Key:

Cheese=3, Avocado=0, Hard Taco=9, Pepper=1, Soft Taco=6, Tabasco=5, Onion=10

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Are Your Kids Ready for These Candy Shop Math Puzzles?

Candy Shop Math Puzzles for Grades 3-8

Are your students ready for a challenge?

The following free math puzzles and activities are samples from our best-selling PDF workbooks 101 Daily Math Challenges for Engaging Students in Grades 3-8 and 101 Daily ‘Which One Doesn’t Belong ?’ Math Activities. Enjoy!

Are you ready to channel your kids' enthusiasm for candy into learning math?

Working on math puzzles will give your students a unique opportunity to think creatively, critically, and deeply about math, which boosts the development of problem-solving skills and strategies.

So, go ahead and share these activities in your classroom and watch your student engagement skyrocket!

The activities are printable and make great warm-up and/or cool-down activities for students in grades 3-8.

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

Activity #1: Find the value of the '?'

Use your math skills to find the value of each icon.

Gummy Bear=16

Lime Gummy=0

Lolipop=16

Ring Pop=4

? = 36

Hint: Since the gummy bear and lolipop are equal to each other, then are interchangeable.

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Are YOU looking for some super fun daily math puzzles for your students in grades 3-8? Our best-selling 101 Daily Math Challenges workbook is now available as a PDF download!

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Activity #2: Which One Doesn't Belong? 

Remember that WODB? activities are meant to spark mathematical thinking and discussion and do not have a single correct answer.

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 ready to start using WODB math activities with your kids? You can now get our best-selling PDF workbook with over 100 printable WODB activities!

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How will you use these math puzzles with your kids? 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.

A Look Inside: The Big Book of Super Fun Math Puzzles for Grades 1-6

Are You Looking for The Ultimate Collection of Fun Math Puzzles and Activities to Share with Your Elementary Math Students?

After publishing our best-selling 101 Daily Math Challenges for Students in Grades 3-8 workbook, we received tons of requests from elementary math teachers for more fun and engaging math puzzles and activities for the lower levels. And we are super excited to share our brand new workbook with teachers of students in grades 1-6!

The Big Book of Math Puzzles for Grades 1-6

Our brand new PDF eBook is made specifically for students in grades 1-6.

The puzzles in the book are tiered by difficulty using the following system. There are over 100 puzzles for each level:

Pink Level Puzzles (Grades 1 and 2)

Blue Level Puzzles (Grades 3 and 4)

Green Level Puzzles (Grades 5 and 6+)

The workbook covers topics including:

-addition and subtraction
-multiplication and division
-order of operations
-multiplication tables
-area models
-math writing activities
-tons of math puzzles based on grade level
-make your own puzzles hands-on activity
-and much more!

It also includes a complete answer key and several useful templates.

You can access the entire Table of Contents by clicking here.

Looking for Some Sample Puzzles?

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Pink Level Sample Pages (for Grades 1 and 2)

Click the links below to access sample pages from the Pink Level section, which is geared towards math learning standards typically covered in grades 1 and 2.

This section contains over 100 different puzzles. Click here to view the full table of contents.

Pink Level Sample Pages (for Grades 1 and 2): Sample A | Sample B

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Blue Level Sample Pages (for Grades 3 and 4)

Click the links below to access sample pages from the Blue Level section, which is geared towards math learning standards typically covered in grades 3 and 4.

This section contains over 100 different puzzles. Click here to view the full table of contents.

Blue Level Sample Pages (for Grades 3 and 4): Sample A | Sample B | Sample C

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Green Level Sample Pages (for Grades 5 and 6+)

Click the links below to access sample pages from the Green Level section, which is geared towards math learning standards typically covered in grades 5-6 and up.

This section contains over 100 different puzzles. Click here to view the full table of contents.

Green Level Sample Pages (for Grades 5 and 6+): Sample A | Sample B | Sample C

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There are three puzzles per page and they include the familiar name/date/directions sections that are included in typical math worksheets, which makes them easier to print and share aswarm-up and exit-ticket activities, in lesson plans, and as extra credit and homework assignments.

Limited Offer! Use the promo code MATHISFUN at checkout to get 10% off your order!

Click here to get your copy of The Big Book of Super Fun Math Puzzles for Grades 1-6.

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Of course, sharing math puzzles with your students is just one effective strategy for boosting engagement in your classroom. Subscribe to our mailing list here to get more free daily resources, lesson plans, ideas, and insights for K-12 math teachers in your inbox every week.

Read More Posts About Math Education:

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By Anthony Persico

Anthony is the lead educator and founder of Mashup Math. He lives in Denver, Colorado and is also a YouTube for Education partner. Follow him on Twitter at @mashupmath.

Celebrate National Pet Day in Your Classroom With These Free Math Puzzles

Are You Ready to National Pet Day in Your Math Classroom with These Free Math Puzzles for Elementary School and Middle School Students?

Sharing fun math puzzles with your elementary and middle school students is a great way to boost engagement and provide your students with an enjoyable learning experience.

And you can celebrate your students love for their pets with today’s pet-themed math puzzles. Enjoy!

The following pet-themed math puzzles for elementary and middle school students are samples from my best-selling PDF math workbook: The Big Book of Super Fun Math Puzzles for Grades 1-6.

The puzzles are tiered by difficulty using the following color system used in the book.

Pink Level (Grades 1-2) | Blue Level (Grades 3-4) | Green Level (Grades 5-6+)

Free Pet-Themed Math Puzzles for Grades 1-6+

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

(answer keys to follow)

Pink Level Puzzle ( for Grades 1-2)

Blue Level Puzzle (for Grades 3-4)

Green Level Puzzle (for Grades 5-6+)

Wait! Do You Want More Fun Math Puzzles to Share with Your Kids??

If you and your students like these pet-themed puzzles, then you should definitely get yourself a copy of the new book, which shares over 300 kid-friendly, differentiated, and printable math puzzles and activities!

It covers differentiated topics including:
-addition and subtraction
-multiplication and division
-order of operations
-inverse operations
-adding and subtracting fractions
-multiplication tables
-area models
-math writing activities

And the book includes a really cool Make Your Own Math Puzzle hands-on activity requiring only scissors and glue to complete. 

It also includes a complete answer key and several useful templates.

Take a Look Inside

You can access the entire Table of Contents by clicking here.

And you can click the links below to access some sample pages:

Pink Level Samples (for Grades 1 and 2): Sample A | Sample B

Blue Level Samples (for Grades 3 and 4): Sample A | Sample B | Sample C

Green Level Samples (for Grades 5 and 6+): Sample A | Sample B | Sample C

There are three puzzles per page and they include the familiar name/date/directions sections that are included in typical math worksheets, which makes them easier to print and share aswarm-up and exit-ticket activities, in lesson plans, and as extra credit and homework assignments.

Click here to get your copy of The Big Book of Super Fun Math Puzzles for Grades 1-6.

And check out the solutions to the pet-themed puzzles below:

Pink Level (Grades 1-2): Hamster=5, Dog=3, Cat=6, ?=11

Blue Level (Grades 3-4): Hamster=4, Dog=9, Cat=8, Fish=11, ?=88

Green Level (Grades 5-6+): Hamster=4, Dog=4, Cat=22, Fish=23, ?=111

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Of course, sharing math puzzles with your students is just one effective strategy for boosting engagement in your classroom. Subscribe to our mailing list here to get more free daily resources, lesson plans, ideas, and insights for K-12 math teachers in your inbox every week.

Read More Posts About Math Education:

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By Anthony Persico

Anthony is the lead educator and founder of Mashup Math. He lives in Denver, Colorado and is also a YouTube for Education partner. Follow him on Twitter at @mashupmath.

10 Inspirational Math Quotes for Kids

The Best Inspirational, Famous, and Sometimes Funny Math Quotes and Sayings

A Post By: Anthony Persico

Some have been around for a while others have only emerged in recent years – but all have been selected as the best funny, famous, and inspirational math quotes for teachers to share with students in the classroom. Enjoy!

Inspirational Math Quotes

Share the following math quotes throughout the school year to keep your students inspired and engaged in whatever topic they are learning. You may also want to print some of them out to post in your classroom as a daily source of inspiration.

Which inspirational math quote will be your students favorite?

1.) Without mathematics, there’s nothing you can do. Everything around you is mathematics. Everything around you is numbers. –Shakuntala Devi

2.) Life is a math equation. In order to gain the most, you have to know how to convert negatives into positives. –Anonymous

3.) If you stop at general math, then you will only make general money. –Snoop Dogg

Looking to promote a growth mindset in your classroom? Here are 10 Inspiring Growth Mindset Quotes for Kids

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4.) Mathematics is, in its way, the poetry of logical ideas. –Albert Einstein

5.) Mathematics may not teach us to add love or subtract hate, but it gives us hope that every problem has a solution. –Anonymous

6.) Mathematics knows no races or geographic boundaries; for mathematics, the cultural world is one country. -David Hilbert

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7.) It's fine to work on any problem, so long as it generates interesting mathematics along the way - even if you don't solve it at the end of the day. -Andrew Wiles

8.) Mathematics is not about numbers, equations, computations, or algorithms: it is about understanding. –William Paul Thurston

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9.) Mathematics is the music of reason. -James Joseph Sylvester

10.) Mathematics is the most beautiful and most powerful creation of the human spirit. -Stefan Banach

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Read More Posts About Math Education:

• 17 Groovy Math Quotes to Post in Your Classroom

• 10 Inspiring Growth Mindset Quotes for Kids

• 21 Time-Saving Strategies, Activities, and Ideas All Math Teachers Should Know

• Free Printable PDF Math Worksheets for Grades 1-8

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Do YOU love these quotes? Access over one hundred printable Growth Mindset quote posters for your classroom in our brand new PDF eBook!

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Did I miss your favorite mathematics quote? 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.