Prime Factor Students decompose composite numbers and identify prime factors using factor trees.

Explore prime and composite numbers visually. Inspired by the board game Prime Climb, this lesson for junior and intermediate students uses factor trees and colorful circles to make finding prime factors an engaging puzzle. www.oise.utoronto.ca/robertson/le...

Investigating Birds in the Spring | The Robertson Program | Ontario Institute for Studies in Education Birds spark curiosity in everyone. You can explore how things fly, chart migration patterns across the world, or even design feeders to outsmart a squirrel. It’s a chance to take learning outside and ...

Be inspired by a set of bird inquiry activities you can bring to your students! Lesson ideas include book recommendations, a birding field trip and the construction of a bird feeder! #InquiryBasedLearning #BirdStudy #NatureInTheClassroom www.oise.utoronto.ca/robertson/bl...

Chain Game Students create a product that can be sold/traded on the “world market.” Soon enough, the market changes!!

Simulate the world market by creating linked paper chains! Price fluctuations will be observed where students will use addition and subtraction to calculate the cost of their product. #MarketSimulation #FinancialLiteracy www.oise.utoronto.ca/robertson/le...

Flip and Ponder Students are challenged to create, transform, and compare improper and mixed fractions.

Students are challenged to create, transform, and compare improper and mixed fractions in this small group activity, using a deck of cards. #Fractions #ImproperFractions #MixedNumbers www.oise.utoronto.ca/robertson/le...

Ladybug Patterns By using only one kind of material, students are challenged to think about making patterns in a different way.

Students are challenged to think about making patterns in a different way by recognizing, describing and comparing similar sequences. #MathPatterns #AlgebraicThinking www.oise.utoronto.ca/robertson/le...

Doubles Students organize doubles from 0 to 12 in a way that makes sense to them. This allows them to see number patterns.

tudents organize doubles from 0 to 12 in a way that makes sense to them through addition and subtraction, using a set of double cards. #EarlyMath #AdditionStrategies #SubtractionStrategies www.oise.utoronto.ca/robertson/le...

Zero: Mathematics Most Mysterious Number - Ideas for teaching “nothing” to students | The Robertson Program | Ontario Institute for Studies in Education Zero is a powerful number with a complex history and surprising significance in mathematics. Learn about how the brain interprets zero and the history of the number, along with ideas on how to start c...

Scientists are discovering how the human brain interprets abstract representations of zero. Read about the history of zero, why it's so complex and learn ways to help children grasp the concept of zero. www.oise.utoronto.ca/robertson/bl...

Base Ten Block Quick Image Students recreate images composed of base ten blocks and calculate the sum of the blocks used.

Students recreate images composed of base ten blocks and calculate the sum of the blocks used. www.oise.utoronto.ca/robertson/le...

Encountering Math, Science & Literacy in our Outdoor Classroom | The Robertson Program | Ontario Institute for Studies in Education For six years, the Kindergarten class at Mine Centre Public School has been using to their outdoor “camp” to explore and understand part of the forest just down the road from their school.

This blog explores the power of outdoor classrooms and shares practical ideas for bringing math and science to life in the great outdoors. #TeacherResources #NatureBasedLearning #ScienceEd www.oise.utoronto.ca/robertson/bl...

Code Breakers: Ojibwe Syllabics Learn code while using directional language to create Ojibwe syllabics that spell a secret Ojibwe word!

In this activity, students use spatial reasoning and Ojibwe terms like Ishpimiing (Up) and Niisi'I (Down) to navigate a syllabics chart and reveal secret words. Check out this free resource! #MathEd #Ojibwe #RobertsonProgram www.oise.utoronto.ca/robertson/le...

Strengthening Fraction Skills Through Play | The Robertson Program | Ontario Institute for Studies in Education Fractions are one of the most challenging topics in math. We’ve focused our latest research and game development on helping students build strong, intuitive fraction knowledge through play. Try out tw...

Our latest blog post explores how we are using game based learning to help kids master fraction magnitude and equivalence. Read more about our Online Playful Math program and try our new games. #MathEd #Fractions #TheRobertsonProgram #TeacherResources www.oise.utoronto.ca/robertson/bl...

Bird Gliders Take a peek at what the students learned about flight and how that informed their creative designs!

How do birds fly? This question led Early Years students to build and test their own bird gliders. Read about their hypotheses and creative designs in our latest lesson plan. #ScienceEd #EarlyLearning #TheRobertsonProgram #STEM www.oise.utoronto.ca/robertson/le...

Fill Two Students practice modelling ones, tens, and hundredths, as they race to fill in a grid.

Looking for a fun way to teach fraction and decimal equivalence? Check out Fill Two from The Robertson Program. It is perfect for Junior and Intermediate students to build number sense through play. #MathGames #OISE #MathEd #ClassroomIdeas www.oise.utoronto.ca/robertson/le...

Teaching Fractions through Baking: A lesson for primary/junior students | The Robertson Program | Ontario Institute for Studies in Education This three-part, hands-on lesson uses baking to teach students how to understand, compare, and work with fractions. Students measure ingredients, double and triple recipes to practice adding and multi...

Students practice adding and multiplying fractions by scaling real recipes in this 3-part baking lesson. Practical, tasty, and educational! #MathTeacher #LessonPlan #Fractions #EdChat www.oise.utoronto.ca/robertson/bl...

Observing the Moon: Part 2 Tracking the moon and sun.

From moonrise to percentage illumination, students gather real data in this hands-on Moon inquiry. A perfect way to use the scientific research process to visualize the lunar cycle! #SciChat #EarthAndSpace #DataLiteracy #Astronomy www.oise.utoronto.ca/robertson/le...

Seeking Sounds in Our Neighbourhood Students will learn that sounds travel differently depending on their environment and the materials and surfaces around them.

From echoes to muffles: Teach students that sound isn't static! Students explore how variables like environment and materials impact sound transmission. #STEMEducation #PhysicsClass #Sound #LessonPlan www.oise.utoronto.ca/robertson/le...

Block Party Using their spatial skills, students transform and relocate unique shapes on a coordinate grid, attempting to avoid their opponent's pegs.

Master the grid! Students combine strategy and spatial skills to relocate shapes and avoid obstacles in this coordinate plane challenge. #STEMEducation #MathGames #Coordinates #ActiveLearning
www.oise.utoronto.ca/robertson/le...

Observing the Moon: Part 1 Introduction to the moon and our solar system.

Challenge your students to think like researchers! Part 1 of this unit asks students to identify light-emitting vs. light-reflecting bodies and tackle their own questions about the solar system. #StudentLed #ScienceTeacher #Space #SolarSystem www.oise.utoronto.ca/robertson/le...

Beat The Odds Get students thinking about experimental versus theoretical probability as they try to beat the odds in this board game!

Get students thinking about experimental versus theoretical probability as they try to beat the odds in this board game! #MTBoS #MathEd #GameBasedLearning #Probability
www.oise.utoronto.ca/robertson/le...

Roll and Build Bingo Students practice reading and representing numbers through a fun bingo game.

Students practice reading and representing numbers through a fun bingo game. #NumberSense #ReadingNumbers

www.oise.utoronto.ca/robertson/le...

Learning basic math facts using playful memorization | The Robertson Program | Ontario Institute for Studies in Education When the Ontario government rolled out its new math curriculum in 2020, it was touted as a “back-to-basics” approach.

Math fluency isn’t just memorization or strategy—it’s both. This article explains how mental math, automaticity, and playful learning can work together to support all learners. #MathFluency #MentalMath #NumberSense #MathStrategies www.oise.utoronto.ca/robertson/bl...

Last Landing Students practice performing reflections and translations, whilst using cardinal directions.

Students practice performing reflections and translations, while using cardinal directions on a grid or chess board. #Transformations #GeometryClass #Reflections #Translations #CoordinateGeometry www.oise.utoronto.ca/robertson/le...

Pythagorean Theorem In these series of investigations, students explore and deepen their understanding of the Pythagorean Theorem.

Students explore their understanding of the Pythagorean Theorem through four small group investigations using tiles and tangrams to show a^2 + b^2 = c^2. #HandsOnMath #Manipulatives #Tangrams #MathTiles #InquiryBasedLearning

www.oise.utoronto.ca/robertson/le...

Introduction to Patterning Students learn to recognize and extend patterns in different contexts, as well as identify features that define a pattern.

In this group activity, students identify features that define a pattern and then use their knowledge to extend a pattern. All that's needed is a whiteboard and dry-erase markers! #PatternRecognition #MathLearning #ClassroomActivity www.oise.utoronto.ca/robertson/le...

Measuring the Depth of Snow Snowfall can be a learning opportunity when students measure and compare the depth of the fallen snow each week.

Kindergarten students use measuring sticks and Unifix cubes to track and graph changes in snow depth in this outdoor inquiry activity. www.oise.utoronto.ca/robertson/le...

Visual Multiplication Students learn about a way of visually representing the multiplication of multi-digit whole numbers.

Students learn to visually represent the multiplication of multi-digit whole numbers by using the area model. #Multiplication #NumberSense www.oise.utoronto.ca/robertson/le...

Junior Daily Math Discussion | The Robertson Program | Ontario Institute for Studies in Education Grade 4/5 Teacher Zoe Donoahue shares the Daily Math Discussion she’s developed for junior grades. Her students use the number of days in school to explore factors, prime and composite numbers, fracti...

Grade 4/5 Teacher Zoe Donoahue shares the Daily Math Discussion she’s developed for junior grades. Her students use the number of days in school to explore factors, fractions, place value and more! #JuniorGrades #NumberSense www.oise.utoronto.ca/robertson/bl...

Patterns with Beads Children are challenged to make multiple patterns with beads of different sizes, shapes, and colours.

Learn to make multiple patterns with beads of different sizes, shapes, and colours through this fun small group activity. #EarlyMath #Patterns #HandsOnLearning www.oise.utoronto.ca/robertson/le...

Dice War Players aim to collect all the dice in the game. They roll to get a score, and the highest roll wins all the dice.

Welcome back! Teachers can start off the year with this small group activity where students will roll high to take it all 🎲 One throw decides who walks away with every die. #DiceGame #WinnerTakesAll #Probability www.oise.utoronto.ca/robertson/le...

From all of us at the Robertson Program, we hope you have a restful winter break! We can’t wait to share more exciting content with you in 2026!