10-week guided math course
Math Adventures
Ten weeks that turn the math kids already meet at school into something they build, play, and argue about - ending with a whole paper city they design themselves.
- Ages
- Grades 2-5
- Length
- 10 weeks
- Per week
- 45-60 minutes
- You need
- Paper & dice
No computer required, and nothing to buy beyond a ruler and some paper.
Ten big ideas, one per week, each one turned into an adventure.
What you'll cover
From reading numbers to running a city
A 10-week math course for grades 2-5 where each week turns a big math idea - number sense, operations, patterns, place value, fractions, measurement, geometry, time and money, and data - into a hands-on adventure, building up to a final project where students design their own math city.
- 10
- Weekly adventures
- 0
- Screens required
- Week 1 - The Number Detective Agency: cracking cases with number clues
- Week 2 - Four heroes on a quest: Add, Subtract, Multiply, and Divide
- Week 3 - The Pattern Machine: feed it a number, discover its rule
- Week 4 - Place Value City: every digit lives on its own street
- Week 5 - The Fraction Pizza Shop: every slice tells a story
- Week 6 - Measurement Mission: choose the right tool and unit for the job
- Week 7 - Geometry Explorer: mapping the world of shapes
- Week 8 - The Time and Money Challenge: run your day and your wallet
- Week 9 - The Data Detective: turning tally marks into answers
- Week 10 - The final project: design a city that runs on math
The path
Ten weeks, in order
Each week teaches one idea, then puts it to work in an on-screen activity and an off-screen challenge. Work at your own pace - your progress saves on this device.
- 01
Week 1
Number Detectives
Students become detectives who read the clues inside a number - how big it is, which digits it holds, and how it can be broken apart - to compare, estimate, and identify mystery numbers.
- Skill focus:
- Number sense, Comparing numbers, Estimating, Decomposing numbers
- Time:
- 45-60 minutes
- 02
Week 2
Operation Quest
Students meet the four operations as characters with special powers and learn to choose the right one for a story problem - joining, taking away, making equal groups, or sharing.
- Skill focus:
- Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication thinking, Division thinking, Choosing operations
- Time:
- 45-60 minutes
- 03
Week 3
Pattern Machine
Students find and extend patterns, skip count, and crack the hidden rule of an input-output machine, learning that a rule you can name lets you predict what comes next.
- Skill focus:
- Patterns, Sequences, Skip counting, Input-output rules
- Time:
- 45-60 minutes
- 04
Week 4
Place Value City
Students explore how ones, tens, hundreds, and thousands each have a 'street' in a number, write numbers in expanded form, and compare large numbers by checking the biggest place first.
- Skill focus:
- Ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, Expanded form, Comparing numbers
- Time:
- 45-60 minutes
- 05
Week 5
Fraction Pizza Shop
Students run a pizza shop to learn that a fraction names equal parts of a whole - the denominator tells how many equal parts the whole is cut into, and the numerator tells how many are used - and compare and find equivalent fractions with pizza and fraction-bar models.
- Skill focus:
- Fractions as equal parts, Numerator and denominator, Comparing simple fractions, Equivalent fractions
- Time:
- 45-60 minutes
- 06
Week 6
Measurement Mission
Students measure length, height, weight, and capacity, estimate before they measure, and learn to pick the sensible unit - you measure a pencil in centimeters, not kilometers.
- Skill focus:
- Length and height, Weight, Capacity, Estimation, Appropriate units
- Time:
- 45-60 minutes
- 07
Week 7
Geometry Explorer
Students explore 2D and 3D shapes by their attributes - sides, corners, faces, edges, and vertices - and discover lines of symmetry by folding shapes so both halves match.
- Skill focus:
- 2D shapes, 3D shapes, Sides and corners, Faces and edges, Symmetry
- Time:
- 45-60 minutes
- 08
Week 8
Time and Money Challenge
Students read clocks, figure out how much time passes between events, count coins and bills, make change, and plan a simple budget - the math people use every single day.
- Skill focus:
- Telling time, Elapsed time, Counting money, Making change, Simple budgets
- Time:
- 45-60 minutes
- 09
Week 9
Data Detective
Students collect data with tally charts, display it in bar graphs and pictographs, and read graphs to answer questions and compare categories - finding the story hidden in the numbers.
- Skill focus:
- Tally charts, Bar graphs, Pictographs, Interpreting data, Comparing categories
- Time:
- 45-60 minutes
- 10
Final project
Build a Math City
Students combine every skill from the course to design a paper city on a grid - geometric buildings with measured heights, a bakery that sells fractions, a bank that makes change, and a survey of residents shown as a graph - then present the math behind it.
- Skill focus:
- Geometry, Measurement, Money, Fractions, Operations, Data, Problem solving
- Time:
- 60-90 minutes
The rhythm
Every week follows the same six beats
So students always know what is coming. A full week takes about 45-60 minutes and splits comfortably across a few short sittings.
A story hook
A short story and a clear main lesson that introduces the week's idea in plain language.
Worked examples
Practice problems solved step by step, so students see the reasoning and not just the answer.
An interactive activity
A number line, a fraction model, a graph builder - something on screen that makes the idea concrete.
A hands-on challenge
An off-screen build or game using cheap, common materials, so the learning leaves the screen.
A checkpoint
Quick self-check questions and a reflection prompt that asks students to explain their thinking.
An extension
A tougher challenge problem and an optional stretch task for students who want to keep going.
Week 10 - Final project
Build a Math City
Over the final week, students design a paper city on a grid where every part uses math they have learned: buildings are geometric shapes with measured heights, a bakery sells items in fractions, a bank counts money and makes change, and a survey of the city's residents becomes a bar graph. Students present their city and explain the math behind three of its features.
Math the city pulls together
- Geometry
- Measurement
- Money
- Data
- Fractions
- Operations
- Logic
Students present the finished city and explain the math behind three of its features - which is where you find out how much actually stuck.
It is a real presentation
For grown-ups
You do not need to be a math teacher
You need about an hour a week and a willingness to ask questions instead of correcting steps. Here is what makes the weeks work.
- Each week is designed for about 45-60 minutes and can be split across a few short sessions instead of one sitting.
- Ask questions rather than giving answers. "How did you figure that out?" teaches more than correcting a step.
- Every week uses common, low-cost materials - paper, coins, a ruler, dice - and never needs a computer to complete.
- Each week ends with a checkpoint and a reflection question, so students practice explaining their own reasoning.
- Progress is saved on this device as students complete each week - no account or sign-in is needed.
- Weeks build on each other, so the order matters more than the pace. Slow is fine; skipping is not.
Running this for a group?
Parent & teacher controls
Progress is saved on this device only. By default each week unlocks once the week before it is complete.
Ready for Week 1?
Begin with Number Detectives and work through all ten weeks at your own pace, ending with Build a Math City. Your progress is saved on this device.