Solve It Strips® Math Puzzles

When math is hands-on, I have found that students will engage, no matter how difficult a math concept may initially seem. I have seen this over and over during my years in the primary classroom. Building math fluency, as well as student confidence in math, is critical in the early elementary years. In order to help my students be successful, as well as build those foundational math skills and fluency, I created this student-favorite activity…

 

 

Solve It Strips are a series of mental-math puzzles that are hands-on and fun! Students work through each set, focusing on specific math skills. These work perfectly as an early-finisher activity, or for an independent math center during guided math.

There are 15 different strips in each Solve It Strip set, and students are able to self-check their work as they go. Each student has their own Solve It Strip ring, so they can work on differentiated skills at their own pace.

Here’s how the activity works:

1. Get a Solve It Strip page to work on and cut the strip in half.
2. Then, cut apart the math puzzle pieces.

3. Place the START piece in the top rectangle. Solve the equation on that strip. Find the next strip that has the solution in the solution box.
4. Place the next solution strip in the rectangle below and then solve the equation on that strip. Continue solving and placing strips below one another until you reach the FINISH strip.

**Students will know if they have completed a strip correctly or not, because if there is an error, they won’t end up with the FINISH piece. Such an easy-peasy way to self-correct!

5. Glue down the Solve It Strips.
6. Color in the solution boxes.

7. Answer keys are included for double-checking.
8. Finally, color in a star on the “Stars for Strips” page to keep track of all the Solve It Strips that have been successfully completed.

When a student completes an entire set of Solve It Strips (all 15 strips), I staple them together and send them home for parents to see all of their great work!

This is a math activity in that once students are trained, they can independently do this activity all year long.

I have over 25 sets of Solve It Strips available in my store, as well as grade level bundles! Click here to check out the Solve It Strips® Bundles! 

Want to try it out for free? Here is a Solve It Strips Freebie Set! 

I can’t wait to hear how much you and your students love Solve It Strips®!