4th and 5th grade math activities for gifted students?

Question

I need some new ideas for motivating, fun math activities for 4th and 5th graders in math class. Any suggestions? I'd love suggestions from teachers, students, and / or parents. Thanks!

Answer 1

Well if I knew more info about what math u taught then I would be able to give more specific advice but in general, you could use more origami and food as motivation. If you like more help with specifics then call me at 858-538-4709... if you are in America .

Answer 2

When I was in the gifted program in 4th and 5th grade, we did things with logic, and everyone LOVED it. Just find some different logic puzzles, explain how to do them to the kids, and let them go work! Gifted kids love logic and being independent in their work.

Answer 3

I think you're looking for fun and practical suggestions.  Here's a few that you might like:

Measure the Height of Trees

  Explain how a 45-45-90 triangle can be easily used to measure the height of a tree.Sight along the 45-45 side until it aligns with the top of the tree then measure the distance from that point to the base of the tree - that's the height.

Tables and Data

Hold a paper airplane contest for distance (fun in itself) have each student record the distances in a chart, after having them put the data in order from shortest to longest distance, have them plot the data.  Have them figure out the average distance the airplanes could fly (5th grade)

Have kids time how long a paper airplane can stay up in the air, record all of the times, put these in numerical order and plot the times.  What is the average time for the airplanes to stay aloft?  What is the Mean Average?

Riches Now or Later?

A fun one I did when I was in the 5th grade was given as an overnight assignment.  I still remember it very well.  The teacher asked us to get out a piece of paper and write down our answer to the question, "Which would we rather have: One Million Dollars in Cash Today or have the bank give us  a penny that was doubled each day for thirty days?  For instance we'd have just one penny the first day, then the two pennies the second day, four pennies the third day and so on."  Have everyone sign their paper and turn it in to the teacher, THEN assign the kids to calculate how much money they'd have if they let the penny double for 30 days ($5,368,709.12)

Gas Prices

Have the kids track gas prices once each day for two weeks and then have them plot the data and have them predict what gas prices will be in 3 days, 5 days and 7 days.

It's Too Crowded In Here!

Have the kids measure their kitchens and figure out how many square feet of kitchen space they have.  If they had four people in the kitchen at once, how many square feet would each person have to move around? (Division concepts)  Have them estimate how big their kitchens would have to be to comfortably fit 10 of their friends over for snacks.

Making Change

Use basic examples and then move on to harder ones.

What Can I Buy?

You have earned $20 working hard for a neighbor clean up his yard.  Which of these items can you buy together?

4th Grade

Game:  $6.00

Video:  $9.00

Magazine: $5.00

Pet Toy: $3.50

Pet Brush: $6.50

Candy: $0.50

5th Grade

Game:  $5.95

Video:  $8.95

Magazine: $4.95

Pet Toy: $3.75

Pet Brush: $6.50

Candy: $0.55

How Long Has It Been?

How many days, hours, and minutes has it been since you were born?  Estimate your time of birth if you don't know it exactly. (Converting measurements of time)

How Far Does It Have To Go?

Measure the circumference of a car's tire.  How far will the car move if the wheel goes around one time?  How many times will the wheel turn around in one mile?

If you need more, I can edit my answer for you if you'd post a note.