Using Math in Real-Life Situations

When possible, I want the students to learn mathematical concepts in a real world setting.  This allows them to make connections between the classroom, and what they will be doing in life.  When the work is relevant, it engages them to want to learn more!  The student-led food drive has been such a huge success with the Sharks.  Everyday, they are anxious to collect, sort and graph daily totals.  The kids are keeping a variety of graphs.  One student today calculated her totals on my computer to keep track.  Below is a video of the students adding several large numbers together to find the total number of donations to date.

Here are some ways the Sharks are collecting and keeping data.  We noticed that there have been other graphs around the school that show a variety of different data.  The students have been keeping track of there food drive goal.

I continue to use math games as a way to motivate students to practice math skills.  I introduced a popular game, "Mrs. Van's Snack Shack."  This allows the students to act out eating in a restaurant, and begin learning how to make change.

Lastly, I encourage the Sharks everyday to look for patterns in math as they write mathematical equations.  Below, here is one example how CH has found a pattern in subtraction to reach the same difference.  These are fun to watch as they have been increasing significantly in difficulty as the year has progressed.