K-8 Math Resources for School Closures

Looking for simple math resources for your kids because of COVID-19? This is the ultimate collection of math resources for school closures available for grades K-8.

Most days I can’t even keep up with the latest developments surrounding the COVID-19 health crisis. Even though I was already a homeschool mom (and so, less affected by school closures than others have been), I have felt overwhelmed as I watched so many lives turned upside down overnight. As I thought about all the families who are ‘suddenly homeschooling’ and all the teachers scrambling to put together lessons and resources for their students, I was desperate to help in some way.

There are a lot of things that are out of my hands and out of my control right now. But one thing I can help with? Providing you with math resources to make the transition out of the classroom easier.

And so whether you are a parent looking for ways to continue your child’s education at home during the school closures or a teacher looking for lessons and games to send to your students and families, this list is for you.

Encouragement for Parents and Teachers:

Whatever your personal circumstance, let me encourage you in this: it will not last forever. These days may be long and hard, but it will pass. You are doing the best that you can with what you have, so give yourself grace. And give your kids grace.

And so my encouragement for you is to keep things simple. If you’re a parent who has no idea how to teach math, that’s ok! You don’t have to become an education expert overnight. You have enough on your plate right now!

Instead, look through the math resources below and plan on a simple routine that will help your kids to build number sense and give them a little daily practice so that they don’t get behind. And that’s enough.

If you’re really ambitious and you want to do more? Great! Do it! But don’t feel like you have to create your own curriculum from scratch and learn math teaching methods and spend hours prepping activities and games.

If things calm down a bit and you want to learn more about how to teach math, or you want to find additional games that require a bit of prep, that’s great. There are copious amounts of resources available online right now to help you do that.

But if not? Don’t stress. Do the best you can with what you have and be ok with it.

Math Resources to Use During COVID-19 School Closures:

Below you will find a growing list of free and discounted resources for various grade levels. Some are online math resources, some are printable resources, some are digital resources that work with Google classroom.

While so many classes are moving to e-learning, I realize that for many, many families that is simply not possible. They don’t have the technology resources at home to log on. Or they don’t have enough devices to go around because they’re a large family.

So many of these resources are things you can print out and distribute to families or have them pick up at the school. Or parents can print them from home.

On the other hand, you will also find online resources and digital resources that can be shared via Google Classroom. If that works for your situation and your students, great!

If you would like to convert a printable pdf file to use digitally, my friend Becky has a great post with some tips for this. Read how to convert printable files for distance learning here.

And if you have a free math resource to share for a particular grade level that I could add to this resource list, please share! Send me an email with all the details to–> mathgeekmama(at)gmail.com.

Ok, onto the resources!

Kindergarten Math at Home:

In Kindergarten, I would encourage mostly learning through play. This doesn’t have to be fancy or time consuming…15 minutes each day is plenty! The resources below will help you find easy ideas.

First, grab this huge, FREE Kindergarten math pack from Angela at Teaching Mama. This covers tons of essential math skills.

Also, check out this great post from Anna at The Measured Mom. It includes free resources for all kinds of topics and subjects for your Kindergartner.

You can also search the Kindergarten resources here at Math Geek Mama. I have tons of FREE games and activities in my shop here.

If you’re looking for some additional hands on practice, you may like this Skittles Math Pack to practice a variety of early math skills.

First Grade Math at Home:

For first grade math, although the skills are a little more challenging at this point, I would still encourage mostly spending time playing games. 15 or 20 minutes is plenty to provide consistency and review.

Here are some ideas to get you started!

Grab this huge, free First Grade Math pack from Teaching Mama. This covers a variety of first grade math skills.

Again, Anna at The Measured Mom has a great list of free resources to help you come up with a plan for your first grader.

You can also scroll through the first grade resources in my shop, most of which are FREE.

Second Grade Math at Home:

If you want a ‘done for you’ plan for second grade, I’ve got you covered! This plan includes detailed instructions, a simple daily math routine, links to additional help if your child is struggling and answer keys to make this super easy for you.

The basic plan with this is to do 3 simple things each day:

A number sense building activity (5 minutes)
Skills practice and review (10-15 minutes)
Play a game (10 minutes or more, depending on how many times you play)

On Fridays, I would encourage you to skip the skills practice and instead do some error analysis. To do this, pick 1-2 problems your child had trouble with during the week. Watch a video to help them learn what went wrong and then have them correct their mistake and discuss what went wrong and why.

Then, pick their favorite game from the week to play again. And that’s it!

Some days, if you just want to play one of the included games, that’s ok too! Some math is better than no math at all, and these games are designed to reinforce essential skills and build number sense and critical thinking. 😉

Learn More About the 2nd Grade Math at Home Plans HERE

Want to create your own plan or supplement what a teacher has already sent home? Scroll through the FREE math resources for 2nd grade in my shop here.

3rd Grade Math at Home:

Again, for 3rd grade, I have a similar math at home plan, designed to provide structure, simple review and a daily routine that would be meaningful, but not overwhelming.

The basic outline is the same, but the skills are geared towards 3rd grade students.

Learn More About the 3rd Grade Math at Home Plans HERE

And if you’re simply looking for a handful of ideas to supplement what your teacher has already provided, you can scroll through all the FREE math resources for 3rd grade in my shop here.

You can also grab a free set of word problem samples from a collection from Operation Smile here.

4th Grade Math at Home:

I also have a set of plans for 4th grade, with the same structure, but more advanced math skills. This could also be used with 5th graders who need some review with the fundamentals, especially fraction operations.

Learn More About the 4th Grade Math at Home Plans HERE

And if you’re looking for freebies, definitely check out the FREE printables for 4th grade in my shop!

5th Grade Math at Home:

I also have a math at home pack for 5th grade. Again, this follows a simple daily math routine to build number sense, play meaningful games and practice essential skills.

Learn more and grab the 5th Grade Math at Home Pack HERE

First, check out the FREE printable downloads in my shop. There are tons to choose from!

If you’re looking for something digital, you might like this collection of resources from Mandy at Teaching with Simplicity. (this includes more than just math)

And no matter what grade you teach, I encourage you to grab this FREE Fractions Kit from ShillerMath. This includes a variety of downloadable tools, including fraction songs, lesson plans and diagnostic tests. This is FREE until April 30, 2020.

And if you teach grades 2-5, you may want to try one of Shelley Gray’s real life math projects. This might be the perfect time to do some problem based learning! See all the projects available here.

Lastly, you can currently grab FREE math downloads for grades K-5 from K-5 Math Teaching Resources. These are available free through April 20, 2020.

Each grade level includes 5 activities. Grab each set here.

Hand2Mind is also putting together resources for parents and teachers on their site, Hand2Mind At Home. This includes videos for math and literacy lessons for grades K-5. See all that’s available here.

You may also be interested in these free resources from Family Math Night. This company usually hosts math nights at elementary schools. With schools being closed, they put together this page of resources for families to do math together at home.

6th/7th Grade Math at Home:

If you’re looking for middle school math resources, you might start by checking out my pages of free printable worksheets.

Obviously, I wouldn’t want kids doing worksheets every single day, with nothing else, but this may be helpful to supplement during this unique time (remember, give yourself grace!)

And then, of course you can go through all the additional FREE printable activities in my shop. Here you may find more real life math, hands on activities and investigations.

8th Grade Math at Home:

Find FREE ‘done for you’ daily lessons from a fellow teacher in this document. These are digital lessons that you can send to your students to keep them learning.

If you’d like to give your students an engaging project to work on a little at a time, my ‘Build Your Own Amusement Park’ project might be a fun option.

And for additional printable lessons, investigations, games and more, see all the FREE printables for middle school in my shop here.

FREE & Discounted Online Math Resources for School Closures

Lastly, if you’d like to provide your kids with some online math lessons and games time, these options might be useful! Please note that some of these are *limited time* deals, so get started or signed up today!

Sign up for a FREE month of Beast Academy (ages 8-13) when you use the code FlattenTheCurve. The monthly fee is $15, so this coupon code will make the first month free or save you $15 on a yearly subscription. This deal expires April 30, 2020.

Teachers and parents can also sign up for FREE access to ST Math, a visual math learning program. There is no credit card required for signup, and parents can access the materials until June 30, 2020. Learn more about ST Math here.

Sign up for a free 90 day trial of DreamBox. You must sign up for this offer by April 30, 2020.

Another online math resource, Boddle, is offering their platform free for educators and parents who are affected by school closures. Learn how to use this for distance learning here.

Provide differentiated online math lessons, allowing your child to work at their level on Freckle. Read more about using Freckle at home here.

Find engaging online games for a variety of grades and subject areas from BreakoutEDU here.

Find engaging lessons from Illustrative Mathematics here.

Have your students complete the FREE math mindset course from Jo Boaler at YouCubed. This course is free all the time, but with students home and needing meaningful math lessons, now might be the perfect time to encourage your kids to watch the videos! 🙂

Find more FREE tasks (search by grade level) from YouCubed here.

Middle & high school teachers, you can use DeltaMath to assign math problem sets to your students remotely. This is always free. Learn more about DeltaMath here.

MangaHigh is offering FREE access to schools that are closed. This site offers math games and videos for upper level math. Read more about how to get access here.

Do your kids need help with specific math concepts? Find engaging and helpful videos teaching all sorts of math concepts from MashUp Math on YouTube.

Or if you want a fun change of pace to explore math concepts, try learning some math songs from NumberRock on YouTube here.

This is not math specific, but I thought it was a really cool resource-let your kids listen to stories read aloud by astronauts from space! There are so many great books to listen to, encouraging a love of science and STEM in your kids. My kids LOVE these videos. It’s so fun to see the astronauts floating in space!

I hope this collection of resources is useful for you. If your school extends their school closure to the end of the year, bookmark this page and return to it often. As deals expire or new deals become available, I will update it.

And if you have a free math resource that parents or teachers might find useful for distance learning, feel free to send me an email!

Fun teaching resources & tips to help you teach math with confidence

K-8 Math at Home: Resources for School Closures

Encouragement for Parents and Teachers: