Find and Explore Resources to Help Plan Math Lessons

Researching and finding materials for your lesson plans can be a time-consuming process. To speed things up for you, we’ve curated some of the best resources available on the Web to help you plan your lessons. Browse and explore the lists below for resources that can both help you save time and design highly effective lessons.

14 Lesson-Planning Resources

Sometimes, you might be looking for new ideas or inspiration for planning your lesson. The websites on this list offer a variety of lesson-planning resources, including complete lessons, curriculum resources, and general instructional strategies. Explore these sites to find new ideas to inject energy, engagement, and fun into your lessons.

1. Credit Donkey: This site provides a directory of resources targeting math and money for kids. Sections include how money works, counting money, buying, selling, and borrowing, and more. Resources include a mix of analog and digital items.
2. Estimation 180: This free site is dedicated to math lessons that build number sense, and it includes over 200 estimation tasks for students in grades 4 through high school Algebra and Geometry. Find estimation tasks, lessons, podcast episodes, and other resources.
3. EquatIO: This Google Chrome extension allows you to easily add math equations to Google Docs, Google Jamboard, and more. It’s very helpful if you are creating your own math activities or lessons. Teachers can get the premium version for free using this link.
4. AOA Graphic Organizers: Explore free graphic organizers at AVID Open Access. Some are math-specific, while others can be applied to multiple content areas (problem-solving, organizing, etc.).
5. K20 LEARN: This site provides a collection of lessons, resources, games, instructional strategies, and tech tools for math and science. Resources are filterable by content type and target preK through college undergraduates. The site is sponsored by the K20 Center at the University of Oklahoma. It’s mission is to provide “authentic lessons for 21st century learning.”
6. HippoCampus: Explore thousands of free learning objects (videos, simulations, activities) for a variety of subjects, including mathematics. Search by subject or by standard. Create playlists that you can share with your students. This site is sponsored by The NROC Project.
7. Illustrative Mathematics: This resource provides a math curriculum for grades 6–8 in both English and Spanish. Much of this material is based on problem-based curriculum models. Resources also include videos and lesson plans.
8. Math Central: This site is essentially a database of math resources. Browse by grade level (elementary, middle, and high school) and content type (resource room, queries, careers, and more) or search by keyword. It is created and maintained by the faculty and students at the University of Regina in Saskatchewan, Canada.
9. MathsBot: Here, you will find a collection of both online and analog tools for elementary teachers. Browse or search for math resources (like times tables), question generators, manipulatives, printables, puzzles, class starters, and digital tools.
10. Microsoft Math Solver: This free online tool from Microsoft gives you step-by-step directions for solving math problems. Topics include pre-algebra, algebra, trigonometry, and calculus. Specialized math calculators are embedded for each topic.
11. PBS Learning Media: This free site is sponsored by the Public Broadcast Service and includes a wealth of K–12 content-aligned videos, interactives, and lesson plans. Teachers can set up classes and assign work to students, who enter a code to join a class. Subjects include math, ELA, science, social studies, and more.
12. Project Zero: This free site is sponsored by the Harvard Graduate School of Education and is devoted to effective thinking strategies. While not math-specific, this site is packed with strategies that any teacher can use in their classroom to engage all students in quality thinking and achieve high-level academic performance. Choose a thinking type, subject, or project to get ideas for your classroom.
13. TeachersFirst: This teacher resource offers a library of classroom materials, instructional strategies, and professional learning. To find specific resources, you can search by grade level (K–12) and keyword (math). Many of the search results link out to related resources on other websites throughout the Internet.
14. Wolfram│Alpha: This site uses algorithms, a knowledge base, and AI technology to solve math problems. Enter a problem and get the answer. Step-by-step details are available with the premium version.

6 Sources for Math Videos

This list of resources contains collections of instructional videos. These can be used to flip lessons, to reteach concepts, and to help absent students catch up. Sometimes, it’s simply helpful for students to hear another person explaining a concept in a slightly different way. These videos can provide you with multiple instructional options and save you the time of creating them yourself.

 

1. Khan Academy: While this site offers a complete eLearning platform, you don’t need to use the entire product. Instead, you can harvest individual videos from this extensive collection to flip your own lessons or provide reteaching support. These videos are also available on YouTube.
2. MathTV: This site offers over 10,000 free math videos, ranging from basic math through calculus. Choose a topic, and then select from a variety of instructors. Students can view with closed captioning and adjust playback speed. Teachers can copy direct links to each video. Nearly 2,000 of these videos are available in Spanish.
3. PBS Math Club: This collection of appealing, student-friendly videos targets Common Core math standards for grades 6–9.
4. TeacherTube: Browse or search thousands of teacher-created instructional videos by content area. Videos are also organized into subcategories. For example, Elementary > Math > Measurement or High School > Math > Calculus. This site offers embed codes.
5. Virtual Nerd: This site offers over 1,500 free instructional videos focused on grades 6–12 math. The site is easy to navigate, and the videos are downloadable. You can find Common Core, ACT®, and SAT® alignments as well as alignment with Texas state standards.
6. YouTube: Conduct a search for the math concept, standard, or lesson of your choice, and you’ll likely find something here. Videos range in quality and length. Filters are available to help you narrow your search. Both embed codes and direct links are available.