Interactive Math Websites for Students

Say goodbye to boring worksheets and drill and practice on paper. Times have changed and technology is everywhere. It is in our homes, libraries, schools, and virtually every public place we go to. Adults access technology daily and many of us use it at work on a constant basis. Children today know how to use technology surprisingly well. Hand a child a laptop, and she will be accessing a website within minutes, probably playing a game.

For this reason, interactive websites are a fantastic tool for students. They hold their attention, provide meaningful reinforcement, are abundantly available, and in most cases, cost nothing. While these websites may not provide the teaching component needed to promote conceptual understanding of new math skills and concepts, they do provide the practice component that students need after they have been introduced to a new math skill or concept.

Below is a list of interactive math websites, categorized by concept. I selected 5 concepts that I feel are important for understanding. Math builds on previous skills and concepts, and without a good sense of these concepts, harder math will cause much frustration. The concepts below are math facts, place value, rounding, fractions, and decimals. These interactive math websites can be used with elementary and middle school students.

Most students do not realize the importance of knowing their basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts. Teachers nowadays are emphasizing their importance in the earlier grades, so that students will be more successful when learning more difficult concepts that require quick recall. When students are required to understand equivalent fractions, create like denominators, complete long division problems, and solve algebraic equations, they can easily become frustrated if they are not able to quickly recall their basic facts. The sites below will help students get the practice they need to learn their basic facts.

Math Facts - Play Kids Games PlayKidsGames.com. Practice your math facts timed with dynamic difficulty levels.

Place value and rounding require a lot of repetition. They also are most easily understood when taught in a progressive fashion. For these two reasons, the interactive math websites below, are very effective. The games get progressively harder, and they are engaging and just plain fun for students. Students will want to play them over and over again and will get the practice they need while doing so.

Students seem very comfortable with name basic fractions. However, when it comes time to add or subtract fractions with unlike denominators, the understanding can quickly become blurry to a child. That is why children need a ton of conceptual practice before getting to this point. The interactive websites below will help to reinforce those skills required for success with the abstract concept of fractions.

Math Is Fun.com This site explains mixed fractions and then asks questions to check for understanding. It also includes many other links to more difficult fraction concepts.

It makes sense to move from fractions to decimals, teaching students the relationship between the two concepts. Students who have a thorough understanding of fractions, more easily learn the new concept of decimals. They've been learning about whole numbers for a few years, they've just learned about partial numbers and mixed numbers (fractions), and now it's time to introduce another way to name partial numbers and mixed numbers. The interactive math websites below will help students transition smoothly from one concept to the next.