March Madness is the big 68 team college basketball tournament that takes over our TV viewing during the weekends of March. School and office friends are filling out brackets. Engage your students in percents as they get excited about March Madness. Is getting a higher seed really an advantage? Use 30 years of data to help determine for which seeds it makes sense to pick an upset. Finally, students determine a general strategy for picking games in the first round.
YUMMY food for Passover
Passover will begin this year at sundown on Saturday, March 27th. Jewish families will gather to commemorate the exodus of the Children of Israel from slavery in Egypt. The celebration begins with a traditional meal, the Seder, where the story of Exodus is retold and special foods are eaten to remember that long ago passage.
We have two activities that involve traditional Passover foods.
 Coconut and chocolate chip macaroons Two activities: CCSS: 5.NF, 6.NS, 7.NS, 7.EE, MP7 , MP8 |  Mom's matzo ball soup Tripling fractions, adjusting proportions, and maintaining the ratios to create one humongous matzo ball. CCSS: 5.NF, 6.NS, 7.NS, 7.EE, MP7 , MP8 |
The Perfect Bracket
March Madness Men's and Women's Brackets
 Click on this image to see it larger in a new window. |  Click on this image to see it larger in a new window. |
How hard is it to find a 4-leaf clover? … and more for Saint Patrick’s Day
Shamrocks in Ireland are actually be 3-leafed white clover, trifolium repens. If you are lucky, you can sometimes find a four-leafed clover. How rare is finding a 4-leafed clover? How hard do you have to look? What size area of clover must you examine to find one?
How does starting Daylight Savings Time make you feel?
Class Opener
We know the saying "Spring forward, fall back".
- What does this expression mean?
Early Sunday morning, March 14th at 2 am, we will change our clocks to read 3 am and start Daylight Savings Time.
- Will you wake up and go to sleep earlier or later on Sunday?
- What kind of chart or picture could you draw to help you compare before and after Daylight Savings Time has begun?
- Will your Sunday seem longer or shorter?
- How do you expect that you will feel?
3/14 – Pi Day is almost here
8 Activities for π day !
Why do we have the clock set at this time? Click the image to find out.
Celebrate π in your school and in your math class with activities that demonstrate how π was derived; visually show why π makes sense; show a surprising place where π is used; increase students ability to measure and long divide; applauds the talent of people who can memorize large strings of numbers; and lets students just have fun.