Loading preview...

Features

A table of the twelve days: gifts that day and the total so far, up to 364
Triangles of dots: the rule, two triangles that make a rectangle, odd and even
How many of each gift in all, from 12 partridges to 42 geese and 42 swans
A made-up price list: the cost of a day's gifts and of all the rings, geese and swans
Two patterns side by side, their ordered pairs and a graph
Multi-step story problems: birds, legs, gift lines sung and ornaments
Every page in color and in black and white
Answer keys included

Skills Covered

Extend a pattern and find its rule
Add a running total in a table
Notice features the rule does not say, like odd and even

Multiply 2-digit numbers
Graph two patterns as ordered pairs
Solve multi-step story problems

About the Twelve Days of Christmas

The Twelve Days of Christmas is a traditional song, first printed in England more than 200 years ago, about the twelve days that begin at Christmas. Each verse adds one new gift and then names every gift before it, back to the partridge in a pear tree, so the gifts pile up: 78 on the twelfth day and 364 in all, one fewer than the days of a year.

How to Use This Pack

Seven pages built on the gifts of the song. Page 1 is a table of the twelve days: students write the gifts given each day and the total so far, then answer three questions; the table reaches 78 gifts on day 12 and 364 in all. Page 2 draws each day's gifts as a triangle of dots: students draw the next triangle, see that two triangles make a rectangle (day 12 is half of 12 × 13) and find the odd and even pattern the rule does not say. Page 3 works out how many of each gift come in all: each gift comes every day from its own day to day 12, so the gold rings come 5 at a time on 8 days. Page 4 prices the gifts from a made-up price list, from the cost of one day's gifts to all 42 geese. Pages 5 and 6 put two patterns side by side, write their ordered pairs and graph them: the gift number and the days it comes, then the gifts that day and the total so far. Page 7 has six story problems, most with two or more steps. The first problem on every page is a worked example.

In the Classroom

Sing or play the song and stop after day 3: ask how many gifts came that day and how many so far. Build the first four days with cubes, one color a gift, to see the triangles grow. Pages 1 to 4 are 4th grade work; pages 5 and 6 graph two patterns for 5th grade, and page 3's totals help with page 5.

At Home

Count the gifts together as you sing the song. Ask how many gifts the eighth day brings, then check by adding 1 + 2 + 3 and on. Lay out a triangle of buttons for a day, then a second triangle to make a rectangle, and see that each triangle is half.

Tips for Success

Each day brings the gifts of the day before plus one new gift
The total so far adds the gifts that day to the total before
Two triangles of dots make a rectangle: day 12 is half of 12 × 13
A gift comes every day from its own day to day 12
Check a pattern's rule on every pair of neighbors, not just the first two

Common Core Standards Alignment

This pack supports the following Common Core State Standards for Mathematics:

4.OA.A.3 Solve multi-step story problems with whole numbers and all four operations, deciding what remainders mean, writing equations with a letter, and checking by estimating.
4.OA.C.5 Make a number or shape pattern from a rule and notice features the rule does not say, such as terms switching between odd and even.
4.NBT.B.5 Multiply numbers up to 9,999 by one-digit numbers, and two-digit by two-digit numbers, with place-value strategies shown in equations, arrays or area models.
4.NBT.B.6 Divide numbers up to 9,999 by one-digit numbers, finding quotients and remainders with place-value strategies shown in equations, arrays or area models.
5.OA.B.3 Make two number patterns from two rules, find how matching terms relate, form ordered pairs from them, and graph the pairs on a coordinate plane.
5.NBT.B.5 Multiply whole numbers with many digits fluently, using the standard written method.
5.G.A.1 Know a coordinate grid is two perpendicular number lines meeting at the origin, and an ordered pair gives the distance along each axis.
5.G.A.2 Graph points in the first quadrant to show real and math problems, and explain what the coordinates of each point mean in the situation.

Twelve Days of Christmas Math

4th – 5th Grade

Christmas math built on the gifts of The Twelve Days of Christmas, where every day brings all the gifts again plus one new one: 364 gifts in all. Students fill in a table of the twelve days, find the patterns in triangles of dots, work out how many of each gift come in all, price the gifts, graph two patterns side by side and solve multi-step story problems.

Download PDF

What’s Included

7 worksheets in color and in black and white, with answer keys (21 pages)
A table of the twelve days, and triangles of dots
How many of each gift in all, and a gift price list
Two patterns on a graph, and multi-step story problems

Can’t find what you need?

Tell us what to make next, or build your own with a worksheet maker.

Suggest a worksheet

Free to print and share

This worksheet is free to download, print, copy, and hand out in your classroom or at home. You do not need to create an account, and there are no watermarks on the PDF.