Using math warm-ups that require critical thinking everyday is a great idea. Not only does it help students practice thinking at higher levels, but it can also serve as a review of tough concepts. When you start out a lesson expecting students to think at high levels, they will likely carry it through your lesson as well.
I have several go-to daily math warm ups that can be used with just about any grade level and any math concept. I use these math warm ups for 2nd grade, but they could easily be math warm ups for 5th grade, or even high school!
Which One Doesn’t Belong Math Warm-Ups
Math warm up problems like this type are excellent as there are many right answers. This math warm up allows for many students to share answers and to learn from each other.
I first learned about this math warm up exercise from https://wodb.ca/.
There are so many great examples on this site that range from math warm ups elementary students could use to ones for high school looking at complex graphs.
Students look at the four options and determine which one does not belong and why.
Just last week, I made my own in my classroom. We were working on addition and subtraction with regrouping, so I wrote these problems on the board:
I purposely used similar digits in several, even and odd answers, and had a problem that did not require regrouping. My students solved the problems on whiteboards and prepared to explain which problem did not belong in the set.
Cryptarithms for Math Warm-Ups
Cryptarithms are typically math arithmetic problems in which each number is unknown and they are replaced by letters. They can be very challenging, or very simple depending on how many unknown numbers are represented by letters in your problem.
A simple example is this one:
For a thorough explanation of this math warm up challenge as well as some more rigorous examples, click here. https://www.puzzles-to-print.com/math-puzzles/cryptarithms.shtml
You can easily take this algebraic concept and apply to any math concept by replacing numbers with letters. The conversations that come out of students talking about what numbers would make sense in various problems are so rich!
Warm-Up Math with The Answer Is…
As another one of the versatile math warm up exercises, the answer is strategy can become a permanent one in your classroom.
I previously wrote about this and shared how I keep it as a bulletin board in my classroom here.
You can put any number as an answer and students get as creative as they want to in finding a question to arrive there. If you ask students to connect it to your learning, this can also work as a great formative assessment!
This strategy gets more powerful each time you use it, especially when you have conversations about what makes certain answers more creative. Pretty soon, you’ll see students pushing themselves to come up with more and more creative and thoughtful questions.
Mathematical Questions
In 2nd grade, I’ve often found that students struggle with knowing how to ask a mathematical question. I show students an algorithm and ask them to come up with a word problem for it, and they struggle to find words that sound like the problems they are used to answering.
This math warm up exercise can help students improve in their questioning skills, and also encourages students to look at the world like a mathematician!
The teacher shows a picture to the class and asks them to come up with as many mathematical questions as possible. The questions don’t need to have answers, and the students don’t even need to possess the skills to solve the problems. It just requires students to start looking at the world with a mathematical mindset.
For this example, students could ask questions about the amount of product on the shelves, the amount of time it took to stock the shelves, how many vertices are on all of the boxes, how many more boxes the shelves could hold, or even how tall the boxes would be if they were stacked on top of each other.
The thinking that can come from a simple picture is incredible!
If you’re interested in trying this with your students, be sure to grab this freebie! I’ve got 20 pictures you can use to see what questions your students can come up with.
Same, But Different Math Warm-Ups
Same, but different math warm ups allow for lots of great math discussion. I have found many great examples on this website: https://www.samebutdifferentmath.com/
Students are called to look at two different examples of a very similar math concept. They find similarities and differences.
For some students, this kind of math warm up brain teaser helps build confidence in math as they deepen that number sense. For others, it’s a chance to investigate and observe the details and the challenge is highly engaging.
I hope you’ve found a few math warm up ideas you can use with your students to get them thinking.
Ready to Go Math Warm-Ups
If you love the idea of a rigorous math warm up, but don’t have the time to plan them check this out. I am working on a series of math warm-ups for each math topic, and the first one is ready for you! Check it out!
Read More
If you’d like to learn more, check out this blog post on math discussions from the amazing Mona at Mona Math. She’s got so many great ideas and a fantastic podcast, too!
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Keep those kids thinking!
Colleen Patton
