Can You Believe This is Math?
Can You Believe THIS is Math? is a collection of 20 units that can be used to enrich, supplement and complement the elementary mathematics curriculum. Each unit is comprised of 5 hands-on activities that represent “the best of the best” of the curriculum resources that were developed by teacher candidates as part of the Connect-ME shared repository and Mathematics@Home family math calendar that Dr. Lynda Colgan coordinated and managed between 2000 and 2008.
Curriculum correlations are provided for each activity (grades and strands). Special thanks to Adam Swanson (BEd 2010) for his enormous effort in sifting through hundreds of webpages and organizing the best resources into themes.
Unit & Theme |
Activity |
Download (PDF) |
| 1: History of Geometry | Pioneer Math |
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| Viking Navigation |  |
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Measuring the Area of a Triangle the Egyptian Way |
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| Yin Yang | |
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| The Game of Hex | |
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| 2: Tangrams | Making Tangrams | |
| Animal Tangrams | |
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Number and Letter Tangrams |
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| Double Tangrams | |
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| Flower Tangrams | |
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| 3: Origami | The Art of Origami | |
| Origami Puzzle | |
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| Origami Box | |
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| Folding a Paper Crane | |
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Making an Origami Sail Boat |
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| 4: Tessellations | Making Tessellations | |
| Printing with Squares | |
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| Islamic Art Tessellations | |
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| Magic Carpets | |
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| Stained Glass Symmetry | |
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| 5: 2D Geometry | Hidden Polygons | |
| Butterfly | |
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| Lines of Symmetry | |
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| The Blocks Puzzles | |
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| Toothpick Takeaway | |
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| 6: 3D Geometry | Traveling From 2D to 3D | |
| 3D Shape Safari | |
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Solid Shapes and Their Nets |
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Make Your Own Soccer Ball |
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| Make a 3D Star | |
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| 7: Math Magic |
A Fun with Math Card Trick |
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An Amazing Magic Dice Trick |
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Fascinating Magic Squares |
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| Math Number Tricks | |
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Seconds, Minutes, Hours and Days |
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| 8: Math and Nature |
How Much Water is on Planet Earth? |
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| Trash Math | |
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How do Maple Seeds Travel? |
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| Puddle Fun | |
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| Planning a Garden | |
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| 9: Animal Math | Measuring with Squirrels | |
| Shark Attack | |
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| Pet Pictograph | |
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| Your Life as a Dog | |
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| Lions Race to 100 | |
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| 10: Sports Math | Suiting Up | |
| What's Your Speed | |
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| The Soccer All-Stars | |
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| 100-Metre Dash | |
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Is the Stanley Cup Championship Rigged? |
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| 11: International Math |
Number Names from Around the World |
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| Mancala | |
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| Kwanzaa Place Mat | |
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| Mayan Math | |
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| Three Men's Morris | |
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| 12: Deep Space Math | The Great Space Scale | |
| Toilet Paper Solar System | |
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| Alien Communication | |
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Planets for Sale |
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| Making Craters | |
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| 13: Musical Math | Shake, Rattle and Roll | |
| Musical Volume and Pitch | |
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| Musical Fractions | |
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| Musical Triangles | |
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| Graphing Notes | |
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| 14: Money Math | Canadian Coins | |
| Money Bingo | |
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| Your Height in Money | |
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| Bathroom on a Budget | |
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| Heads or Tails | |
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| 15: First Nations Math | Model Igloos | |
| Measuring with Your Body | |
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| The Polar Bear | |
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| Game Sticks | |
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| The Legend of Bigfoot | |
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16: Math and the Human Body |
Golden Ratio and the Human Body |
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| Measuring our Bodies | |
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| Making a Model Arm | |
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| Napier's Bones | |
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| What is your Heart Rate? | |
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| 17: Traveling Math | The Penny Farthing Bike | |
| Paper Airplanes | |
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| Map of Sherwood Forest | |
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| Distance to the Horizon | |
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| Math on the Map | |
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| 18: Fibonacci's Math |
Amazing Fibonacci Numbers |
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| Fibonacci's Rabbit | |
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Fibonacci Numbers in Nature |
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| Fib Bee Nacci Puzzle | |
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The Golden Rectangle and the Golden Ratio |
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| 19: Probability | Dice Game | |
| Rock Paper Scissors | |
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| Tossing Shells | |
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| The Handshake Problem | |
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| Make Your Own Spinner | |
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| 20: Early Years Math | Dots and Fingers | |
| Counter Collectors | |
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| Crack the Secret Code | |
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Shapes All Around |
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Me as a Measure |
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