Why We Built Interactive Slides for Illustrative Mathematics (and a Free Lesson for Every Unit)

If you teach 5th grade with Illustrative Mathematics, you already know two things: it’s a strong, rigorous curriculum, and it moves fast.

We’re Jan and Paul, and this is the story of why we started building our own interactive slides for every IM lesson, and how you can try them in your classroom for free.

The problem: a great curriculum with tough pacing

A few years ago, Jan’s district adopted Illustrative Mathematics. We love a lot about it. The tasks are rich, the math is deep, and students are asked to really think. But Jan kept seeing the same thing in her classroom: many of her students were struggling to keep up with the pacing.

Some days the lesson was over before the big idea had clicked. The students who needed one more look, one more example, or one more chance to try it themselves were the ones who got left behind.

Why stale slides weren’t cutting it

Paul spent years teaching in self-contained special education classrooms, where he used technology every day to individualize instruction and meet students where they are. When he retired from the classroom, he suddenly had a lot of time on his hands, so he started looking for ways to support Jan’s math block.

The usual options, PowerPoints and Google Slides, mostly put the textbook on a bigger screen. Students watched. What they needed was to see the math move, and to try it themselves.

What we built instead

So we built interactive lessons that follow each Illustrative Mathematics lesson step by step: the warm-up, the activities, and the cool-down. Every lesson is tested in Jan’s classroom first. Here’s what’s inside:

• Runs in any web browser. Just open the file. There’s no app to install and no account to log into.
• Slides button. See the whole lesson at a glance and jump to any moment with one click.
• Notes button. Keep your talking points beside the slides, then print the whole lesson, notes and all, as a ready-to-go sub plan.
• Pen tool. Mark up any slide on the fly, no separate whiteboard needed.
• Tweaks. Switch to seasonal themes or your school colors, change the fonts, and add your school’s tagline and logo.
• Teacher Shortcuts. Hotkeys for confetti, a drumroll, timers and more, for those moments when the room needs a little energy.
• A matching worksheet, as a printable PDF and an editable Word file.

Try it free: Lesson 1 of every unit

The best way to see if these lessons fit your classroom is to teach one. Lesson 1 of every unit we’ve built is free:

• Unit 1, Volume: What Is Volume?
• Unit 2, Fractions: Share Sandwiches
• Unit 3, Multiplying and Dividing Fractions: One Piece of One Part
• Unit 4, Multi-digit Multiplication and Division: Estimate and Find Products
• Bonus for social studies: Case File #006, What the Land Gives You

Sign up below and we’ll send you a link to all of them. You’ll also get new free resources and store updates now and then.

Ready for the whole unit?

Every lesson is also available on Teachers Pay Teachers, and the unit bundles save you money:

• Volume Unit Bundle (Unit 1, 12 lessons)
• Fraction Division & Multiplication Bundle (Unit 2, 17 lessons)
• Multiplying & Dividing Fractions Bundle (Unit 3, 20 lessons)

Want to know more about us? Read our story, coffee mugs and all.

Keep teaching, and stay caffeinated! ☕
Jan & Paul

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Illustrative Mathematics® is a registered trademark. Teaching with Coffee is not affiliated with or endorsed by Illustrative Mathematics. Our lessons are original materials designed to be used alongside the curriculum.