Illuminations NCTM Interactives

Resource – http://illuminations.nctm.org

Review by Cindy Elkins, OK Math and Reading Lady

This is a math resource I absolutely love! It is a product of the National Council for the Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM). This site includes lesson plans and interactive activities. Search in several ways: by topic, by standard, or by grade level. Need some strategy games? Check out “Calculation Nation” (some of which can be played against other players), and “Brain Teasers.” I have just added this link to my Resources page (on my blog home page).

Many of the lessons connect to exploration projects and literature. The interactive features are outstanding!! These are perfect for the smartboard, on laptops, or tablets. Once you are on the home screen, click the Interactives box (right side) and then the desired grade level. There are dozens of great applets, but here are a few you might really like. I have linked them for easy reference, so just click on the  title and you’ll be there:

Dynamic Paper: Customize graph paper, number lines, spinners, nets, number grids, shapes (to include pattern blocks, color tiles, and attribute blocks), and tessellations. You can also choose inches or cm. These can be customized, saved and printed as jpeg or pdf. I created the spinner shown here.

Five Frame and Ten Frame tools: Geat activities to build number sense using five or ten frames. These may take 1-2 minutes to load.

Cubes: Build a rectangular prism one cube, or row, or layer at a time and then compute the volume or surface area.

Coin Box: Drag and exchange coins. There is also a feature I like (the grid at the bottom right corner), which puts coins in blocks (by 1s for pennies, 5s for nickels, 10s for dimes, and 25s for quarters). This really helps see the value of the coins. Want more info about coin blocks? Once on the Coin Box page, click on the “Related Resources” tab.

Equivalent Fractions: Build different fractions in circular or rectangular format. Compare them and see them on a number line. You can manipulate the numerators and denominators to see fractions change right before your eyes! Others for fractions: Fraction Models (which includes decimal and percent equivalencies) and the Fraction Game.

Geometric Solids: Create a shape (either transparent or solid) and swivel it around to see all of the faces, vertices, and edges.

For your graphing needs, check out the Bar Grapher, Circle Grapher, and Data Grapher. With these tools you can create graphs using any of your own data. Some of these need Java installed.

Enjoy these and so many more!!! Let us know if there are others you recommend.