Welcome to Day 5 of the Twelve Days of Mathematics for Christmas:
These activities were inspired by one of my grandsons’ favorite Christmas songs: the Twelve Days of Christmas. There are activities for K-3. Intermediate – MS (grade 4 – grade 7), and Secondary (Grade 8 –Grade 12) and correlated to the number of the day. Check below for the links to the FREE resources for both TES US and TES UK.
The Twelve 
Days of Mathematics
Day 5: Five Golden Rings
On the fourth day of Christmas my true love gave to me five golden rings, four calling birds, three French hens, two turtledoves and a partridge in a pear tree.
Five golden rings offer a variety of activities focused around circles! (Pun intended!) There are various writing opportunities for both beginning mathematicians to upper level mathematicians. Secondary teachers be sure to check out the Intermediate/Middle School activity. There is also a scavenger hunt, activities for composing and decomposing numbers framed in decorating a Christmas tree with ornaments (circles of course), a discrepant event involving circles, and a look at a classic packing problem with circles and squares. There is something for everyone so be sure to check out all of the activities.
For further study or extensions for five students can look at tally marks and their history as well as the places that five occurs in the world. We have five fingers and five toes, there are five senses, and there are five elements in nature that have been associated to the five Platonic Solids. See the Mac Tutor biography on Plato for more information about this:
http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/Biographies/Plato.html . Five is also the fifth number in the Fibonacci sequence. And the pentagon is one of the more visible shapes that occurs in nature. The major fifth is the most consonant harmony in Western music. Students can research other places where the number five is commonly used.
Enjoy the fifth day of Mathematics and check back Monday for Day 6!
Links for TES US:
The 12 Days of Christmas K – 3 Day 4: https://www.tes.com/us/teacher-lessons/twelve-days-of-mathematics-for-christmas-day-5-k3-11177814
The 12 Days of Christmas Intermediate – MS Day 4: https://www.tes.com/us/teacher-lessons/twelve-days-of-mathematics-for-christmas-day-5-int-ms-11177822
The 12 Days of Christmas Secondary Day 4: https://www.tes.com/us/teacher-lessons/twelve-days-of-mathematics-for-christmas-day-5-secondary-11177825
Links for TES UK:
The 12 Days of Christmas K – 3 Day 4: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/twelve-days-of-mathematics-for-christmas-day-5-k3-11177820
The 12 Days of Christmas Intermediate – MS Day 4: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/twelve-days-of-mathematics-for-christmas-day-5-int-ms-11177824
The 12 Days of Christmas Secondary Day 4: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/twelve-days-of-mathematics-for-christmas-day-5-secondary-11177832
