Back to School Math Review Task Cards for 6th Grade

About this resource

What's inside this resource

Back to School Math Review Task Cards for 6th Grade is a set of 28 task cards reviewing essential math skills for students entering grade 6. This teaching resource focuses on skills like division, word problems, expressions, and more to reinforce learning from the previous year. The 26 PDF pages contain 4 task cards per page. A recording sheet and answer key are also included. Educators can utilize these cards versatilely for small group instruction, math centers, SCOOT games, bell-ringers, and more to fit varying learning needs. Whether for whole class review, reteaching struggling students, or a homework supplement, the broad sampling strengthens skills needed for success in 6th grade math. The variety keeps students engaged while checking for understanding.

What's included

Title page headed "Back to School - Common Core Math Review: 6th Grade Task Cards" listing the fifth-grade CCSS strands reviewed (5.OA.A.1 & 2, 5.NBT.A.3 & 4, 5.NBT.B.5, 6 & 7, 5.NF.A.1 & 2, 5.NF.B.3, 4, & 7, 5.MD.A.1, 5.MD.C.5b, 5.G.A.1 & 2, 5.G.B.4)
An "Instructions for Use" page describing three formats: an independent or teacher-guided center, a timed Scoot rotation, and a paired "Math Maniacs" exchange with grouping and timing guidance
Twenty-eight numbered task cards, four to a page, mixing computation prompts (0.78 divided by 6; 4.3 - 2.737; 7.2 x 23.8; 9/10 x 4/5) with fairy-tale and nursery-rhyme story problems
A two-page student recording sheet with numbered answer boxes running 1 through 28
A two-page key giving the answer to every card, several with worked method notes ("Multiplication and division first, then add and subtract from left to right"; "Lowest common denominator is 12")

Resource types: Task Cards, Worksheets & Printables, Word Problems

In the classroom

Teaching tips & learning objectives

Learning objectives

Compare decimals to thousandths and judge whether statements such as 3.546 > 3.564 and 12.4 < 12.40 are true or false
Add, subtract, multiply and divide decimals, including 4.3 - 2.737, 7.2 x 23.8 and 0.78 divided by 6, and round a decimal to the nearest tenth
Solve fraction word problems involving unlike denominators, multiplication of fractions, and division of a whole number by a unit fraction (4 feet of ribbon cut into 1/3-foot sections)
Write numerical expressions that record a situation without evaluating them, and apply order of operations to 12 + 8 - 3 * 2 + 8 / 2
Name, plot and label points in the first quadrant, identify which of several points lies on the y-axis, and find the area and volume of rectangular figures from given dimensions

Teaching tips

Cut the seven card pages into quarters once and keep the deck in number order; the recording sheet's boxes run 1 through 28 to match the card numbers, so any subset can be run without renumbering.
For the Scoot rotation the instructions page describes, the suggested 45 seconds to one minute suits the single-step computation cards, but the multi-step cards (the eensy weensy spider's three fractions, the shoemaker's inches-to-feet-then-money problem) need the upper end of that window.
The instructions page recommends handing easier cards to students who need a confident start in the "Math Maniacs" pairing; cards 2, 3, 19 and 25 are the plain computation prompts and work well for that.
Card 11, where Jack answers 18 and Jill answers 10 to the same expression, makes a strong whole-class opener because the key explains the order-of-operations reasoning rather than only naming who was right.
The title page lists the fifth-grade strands each card set draws on, so a single strand can be pulled for targeted reteaching instead of running all twenty-eight cards at once.

Skills covered

Decimal reasoning and computation — students compare decimals to thousandths on card 1, then subtract, multiply and divide them on cards 2, 3, 19 and 25, and round 56.75 inches to the nearest tenth on card 26.
Fraction operations in context — students subtract 1/3 of a mile from 5/6, cut 4 feet of ribbon into 1/3-foot sections, split 1/2 pound of chocolate stars among five characters, and add 1/3, 2/3 and 3/4 of a foot.
Writing numerical expressions — cards 10, 16 and 20 ask students to record a situation as an expression (movie tickets plus a drink; sheep bought weekly then lost; water drunk three times over) rather than produce a numerical answer.
Coordinate plane work — students find the coordinates two blocks left and two down from (3,4), decide which of (4,4), (0,4) and (4,2) sits on the y-axis, and plot and label (2,0) and (5,6).
Area and volume calculation — students find the area of a 24.5-foot by 16-foot house, the volume of a 25 x 20 x 12-foot house, and the volume of a cube with 6-inch edges.

Good to know

Questions teachers ask about this resource

How is the deck meant to be run once the cards are cut?

The instructions page gives three formats. Students can work the cards independently or with the teacher at a center and record answers on the provided sheet; the deck can be spread one card per desk as a Scoot game with a 45-second to one-minute timer before students rotate; or students can each take a card in a "Math Maniacs" round where two facing rows of three solve one another's cards and the card's owner coaches anyone who gets stuck.

What holds the word problems together across the set?

Almost every story card is built on a fairy-tale or nursery-rhyme character: Humpty Dumpty counting rows of King's men, Paul Bunyan's ox Blue, Hansel and Gretel measuring the witch's house, Rapunzel's ribbon, Little Bo Peep's sheep, the tortoise and the hare, the Gingerbread Man's coordinates and the Little Mermaid's scalene triangle. The mathematics changes card to card while the narrative frame stays familiar.

How do students keep track of their work while they rotate?

Two recording pages carry numbered boxes running 1 through 28 in two columns, so a student writes each solution beside the number of the card they were holding. Because the boxes match the card numbers, a partial rotation still lands each response in the right place.

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Curriculum

Standards, concepts & topics

Standards

5.NBT.B.7 — Add, subtract, multiply, and divide decimals to hundredths, using concrete models or drawings and strategies based on place value, properties of operations, and/or the relationship between addition and subtraction; relate the strategy to a written method and explain the reasoning used.
5.OA.A.2 — Write simple expressions that record calculations with numbers, and interpret numerical expressions without evaluating them. For example, express the calculation “add 8 and 7, then multiply by 2” as 2 × (8 + 7). Recognize that 3 × (18932 + 921) is three times as large as 18932 + 921, without having to calculate the indicated sum or product.
5.G.A.2 — Represent real world and mathematical problems by graphing points in the first quadrant of the coordinate plane, and interpret coordinate values of points in the context of the situation.