When I posted about Math Journals & Notebooks, I mentioned that I loved the idea of having children make covers relating math to themselves as Courtney shares at A Middle School Survival Guide. Ideally, I'd begin the lesson by reading aloud a book that relates math to everyday life. (I mention several suggestions here.)
When I first considered what might go on a cover, I didn't have a lot of ideas. I just thought about # of siblings or children, year of birth or age, height or weight, etc. But the more I considered, the more ideas multiplied! I'd definitely want to do this as a brainstorming activity with students rather than giving them a list. See what your collective brain energy can come up with! How is math related to our daily life? Here are some of the things we thought of:
- time you wake up/go to sleep
- # of favorite ____________ (sports, colors, hobbies)
- # of years _____________ (teaching, being a student, playing an instrument or sport)
- time each day that you ___________ (exercise, go to school, watch tv, read, play video games)
- # of _____________ that you own (pets, video games, books)
- # of years until you (finish school, turn 21, want to get married or have kids)
- cost of your favorite (restaurant meal, soda, candy bar)
- amount you spent per week on (lunch, snacks, coffee)
A follow-up post will show you how to turn this into a problem solving activity!!
