Students enjoy this activity because they are often AMAZED by the answers they find. For example, one of the problems they solved has them realizing they get 9400 minutes of recess time each school year!!! Sometimes they are amused by the answers as one of the problems I had them solve asked about the amount of toilet paper they used in a school year (forgive me, but these are the questions that actually get my boys begging to solve the problem - you've got to do what works, right?).
I've liked this activity so much I wanted to make a back-to-school version (The Length of a Summer) that I could use during the first days of school. It would be a great diagnostic for me to assess my students' problem-solving skills, as well as their knowledge about different math concepts. It also gets the students working cooperatively, as I have them work in pairs to solve one of the problems. So, this weekend I took a break from working on my Interactive Math Journal resource (it's coming along well - I promise), and created the two activities below (the products contain both American and Canadian versions as some of the questions cover measurement concepts).
Click HERE or on the picture to preview the product.
The Length of a School Year - This real-life math application is a great end-of-the-year activity that gets your students thinking about how they spent their school year. The product contains 26 different word problems (in both American and Canadian version) that span the concepts of time, measurement, multiplication, division, fractions, and more. The resource also contains a problem-solving graphic organizer, calendars, and a way to display the work to make a fabulous bulletin board.
As a special treat for my blog followers, I uploaded a page from The Length of a Summer to google docs for you to try in your classroom. I included both the American and Canadian version of the page, so everyone can give it a try. Click HERE to download your little fun freebie. I hope you enjoy!!!
Happy Monday!!!
