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robertsonprog.bsky.social
The Robertson Program
@robertsonprog.bsky.social
54 followers 160 following 76 posts
Collaborating with educators and researchers to create inquiry-based math and science resources. Part of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, U of T.
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robertsonprog.bsky.social
Students work in teams to determine the maximum, minimum, mean, median, mode and range of a group of playing cards. www.oise.utoronto.ca/robertson/le...
Card Collectors
Students work in teams to determine the maximum, minimum, mean, median, mode and range of a group of playing cards.
www.oise.utoronto.ca
November 27, 2025 at 8:24 PM
robertsonprog.bsky.social
Using a probability line, students will make predictions informed by the likelihood of selecting a domino that is greater, equal, or lesser to the one in their hand. www.oise.utoronto.ca/robertson/le...
Odds
Using a probability line, students will make predictions informed by the likelihood of selecting a domino that is greater, equal, or lesser to the one in their hand.
www.oise.utoronto.ca
November 26, 2025 at 1:08 AM
robertsonprog.bsky.social
Students practice one-to-one correspondence in this fun dice-rolling, bingo-dabbing game. www.oise.utoronto.ca/robertson/le...
Number Hunt
Students practice one-to-one correspondence in this fun dice-rolling, bingo-dabbing game!
www.oise.utoronto.ca
November 24, 2025 at 1:10 PM
robertsonprog.bsky.social
Students attempt to minimize the value of their hand in this competitive card game using addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. www.oise.utoronto.ca/robertson/le...
Golf
Students attempt to minimize the value of their hand in this competitive card game.
www.oise.utoronto.ca
November 20, 2025 at 5:00 PM
robertsonprog.bsky.social
Get your students in on some fraction action as they strategically create and compare fractions. The player with the most cards is the winner! www.oise.utoronto.ca/robertson/le...
Fraction Action
Get your students in on some fraction action as they strategically create and compare fractions. The player with the most cards is the winner!
www.oise.utoronto.ca
November 18, 2025 at 3:31 PM
robertsonprog.bsky.social
As an educator, has your student ever asked why they should be learning math? In this blog, we hope to inspire educators by exploring the relevance of math and introduce methods that can strengthen math teaching through a joyful approach.

www.oise.utoronto.ca/robertson/bl...
Seeing the joy in math | The Robertson Program | Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
Dr. Julie Comay explores how learning math is filled with joyful possibilities. In her message at this year’s meeting of the National Council for Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), president Trina Wilker...
www.oise.utoronto.ca
November 14, 2025 at 2:08 PM
robertsonprog.bsky.social
Primary students use directional language and describe the attributes of 2D shapes to identify and communicate the location of a shape on a grid.
Free lesson + printables: www.oise.utoronto.ca/robertson/le...
Collect the Shapes
Children collect 2D shapes on a grid by giving directional instructions and answering questions on shapes attributes.
www.oise.utoronto.ca
November 12, 2025 at 2:44 PM
robertsonprog.bsky.social
Students recreate images composed of base ten blocks using base ten blocks and calculate the sum of the blocks used in this teacher led activity. www.oise.utoronto.ca/robertson/le...
Base Ten Block Quick Image
Students recreate images composed of base ten blocks and calculate the sum of the blocks used.
www.oise.utoronto.ca
November 11, 2025 at 3:02 PM
robertsonprog.bsky.social
3 paper “snakes” and “magic pellets” are at the centre of this story-based, early years patterning lesson. What theories do children come up with for how many pellets each snake must eat? Do they recognize the patterns created?
Free lesson + printable: www.oise.utoronto.ca/robertson/le...
Growing Patterns
Through a story about magical snakes, children think about numerical patterns.
www.oise.utoronto.ca
November 7, 2025 at 6:11 PM
robertsonprog.bsky.social
Of all the early assessments, a child’s ability to accurately map numbers onto a number line is a robust predictor of their achievement in mathematics," @oise prof Zack Hawes. Number lines support children’s understanding of ratio, proportion and scaling.
www.oise.utoronto.ca/robertson/bl...
The Power of the Number Line: A Model that Scales | The Robertson Program | Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
Number lines make explicit and build upon pre-existing spatial-numeric intuitions, support children’s growing understanding of ratio, proportion and scaling, and help students to construct and interna...
www.oise.utoronto.ca
October 31, 2025 at 12:29 AM
robertsonprog.bsky.social
Get students using spatial language at the beginning of math class with this quick activity you can use over and over again. Students improve visualization and communication skills over time!
Free slides with prompts in presenter's notes for teachers: www.oise.utoronto.ca/robertson/le...
Can You Draw This?
Students are briefly shown a series of designs inside a square and must recreate them from memory.
www.oise.utoronto.ca
October 30, 2025 at 12:21 AM
robertsonprog.bsky.social
A 2-part lesson from @JackmanICS lab school that gets students practicing how to measure height, circumference & weight. Non-standard measurements pave the way for standard units.
Free lesson plan w Ontario curriculum connections! www.oise.utoronto.ca/robertson/le...
@OISEUofT #mathteacher
Pumpkin Math: Part 1
A 2-part lesson exploring the relationship between a pumpkin's circumference, height, and weight.
www.oise.utoronto.ca
October 24, 2025 at 1:43 PM
robertsonprog.bsky.social
This easy-to-set-up partner game gives primary-level students practice working with 2-digit numbers. Who can strategize to fill in a row or column on their 100-frame first?

Free lesson + print-out: www.oise.utoronto.ca/robertson/le...
100 Frame Bingo
Students will practice arranging place value to compose two-digit numbers in this variation of Bingo.
www.oise.utoronto.ca
October 22, 2025 at 8:09 PM
robertsonprog.bsky.social
Get students using spatial language at the beginning of math class with this quick activity you can use over and over again. Students improve visualization and communication skills over time!
Free slides with prompts in presenter's notes for teachers:
www.oise.utoronto.ca/robertson/le...
Can You Draw This?
Students are briefly shown a series of designs inside a square and must recreate them from memory.
www.oise.utoronto.ca
October 21, 2025 at 3:55 PM
robertsonprog.bsky.social
Common manipulatives, such as popsicle sticks and wooden cubes, serve well as symbols for mathematical ideas! Learn about the 4 guidelines for using manipulatives in classrooms developed by Laski and colleagues to improve student learning.
www.oise.utoronto.ca/robertson/bl...
Math Manipulatives: How do they aid student learning? | The Robertson Program | Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
How do they aid student learning? With insight from practicing teachers, Dr. Julie Comay explores how math manipulatives — both physical and virtual — may help and hinder mathematical development .
www.oise.utoronto.ca
October 16, 2025 at 6:18 PM
robertsonprog.bsky.social
All you need is a few decks of cards and you can challenge your students to create an equation that is closest to a target number. Differentiation options let you modify this game for both primary and junior students! www.oise.utoronto.ca/robertson/le...
Going for Gold
Students use three cards to try to get as close to 15 as possible without going over.
www.oise.utoronto.ca
October 15, 2025 at 8:45 PM
robertsonprog.bsky.social
Check out our recent monthly challenge exploring order of operation word problems! Easy activities that can be implemented in classrooms to assess addition, subtraction, multiplication and division skills for primary and junior students! www.oise.utoronto.ca/robertson/mo...
Monthly Math Challenge
Each month, we are offering sets of engaging math challenges tailored for both primary and junior students. Designed to ignite classroom discussions and foster deep mathematical thinking, these challe...
www.oise.utoronto.ca
October 9, 2025 at 11:47 PM
robertsonprog.bsky.social
All you need is a deck of cards for this cooperative game! Students work to get rid of all their cards by devising math statements that equal 7. Start w/ addition/subtraction for primaries; challenge juniors to include multiplication/division.

Free lesson: www.oise.utoronto.ca/robertson/le...
Lucky 7s
In this collaborative game, students create math equations with various mathematical operations to achieve target outcomes.
www.oise.utoronto.ca
October 9, 2025 at 1:55 AM
robertsonprog.bsky.social
Learn about the importance of symmetry in play and development, in spatial reasoning, and resources that can be implemented within the classroom to improve understanding. www.oise.utoronto.ca/robertson/bl...
Symmetry: A foundational concept in STEAM | The Robertson Program | Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
The drive for symmetry is already apparent in the play of young children, who show growing inclination and ability to create spatially regular and patterned forms with art or construction materials an...
www.oise.utoronto.ca
October 3, 2025 at 1:57 PM
robertsonprog.bsky.social
Once students can multiply numbers between 1 and 6, challenge them to expand their skills with “Evens & Odds.” This 2-person game extends into multiplying larger numbers, exploring probability, and recognizing prime and squared numbers.
Free lesson: www.oise.utoronto.ca/robertson/le...
Evens and Odds
A collaborative game encouraging students to recall and demonstrate multiplication facts in order to remove all their game chips before their opponent does it first.
www.oise.utoronto.ca
October 1, 2025 at 12:57 PM
robertsonprog.bsky.social
We love the math possibilities found in a deck of cards! 99 is an adding/subtracting game challenging students to determine a strategy to keep their total score under – you guessed it! – 99!
* All you need: A deck of cards
www.oise.utoronto.ca/robertson/le...
99
In this collaborative game, students try to keep the cumulative total under 99 until the deck runs out.
www.oise.utoronto.ca
September 29, 2025 at 3:21 PM
robertsonprog.bsky.social
Water provides many paths to learning, including earth sciences, chemistry, geology and biology. Grade One Teacher Zoe Donoahue is leading her students on an inquiry into water while sharing her journey with The Robertson Program.
www.oise.utoronto.ca/robertson/le...
Exploring Water: A Grade 1 Science Inquiry
Grade One Teacher Zoe Donoahue is leading her students on an inquiry into water and she is sharing the journey with The Robertson Program.
www.oise.utoronto.ca
September 18, 2025 at 2:01 PM
robertsonprog.bsky.social
Use math to gain new perspectives on the history and impact of residential schools. Combine data, maps, and personal stories to spark meaningful classroom discussions and deeper learning in our new blog. #TruthAndReconciliation #MathEd #IndigenousEducation
www.oise.utoronto.ca/robertson/bl...
Reflecting on Orange Shirt Day: Using Math to Deepen Understanding | The Robertson Program | Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
Use math to open new perspectives on the history and impact of residential schools. Explore lesson ideas that combine data, mapping, and personal stories to inspire meaningful discussion and learning.
www.oise.utoronto.ca
September 16, 2025 at 3:51 PM
robertsonprog.bsky.social
There are many ways to practice becoming fluent with place value and understanding the relationships between digits. But there is the only game you need to help children gain a conceptual understanding of numbers.
www.oise.utoronto.ca/robertson/bl...
The only game you need to teach place value | The Robertson Program | Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
There are many ways to practice becoming fluent with place value and understanding the relationships between digits. But this is the only game you need to know to help children gain a conceptual under...
www.oise.utoronto.ca
September 11, 2025 at 6:31 PM
robertsonprog.bsky.social
Students learn to sort, classify, and display a variety of concrete objects, and begin to explore the concept of probability in everyday contexts using beads and pipe cleaners.
www.oise.utoronto.ca/robertson/le...
Beading and Graphing
For students to sort, classify, and display a variety of concrete objects, collect data, begin to read and describe displays of data, and begin to explore the concept of probability in everyday contex...
www.oise.utoronto.ca
September 10, 2025 at 3:22 PM