Mike Trout just signed a huge contract. He’ll be receiving $430 million dollars playing for 12 years with the Los Angeles Angels. Let’s take a look at some of the other big world sports’ contracts from the NBA, NHL, NFL, MLB…
Big bucks
Tag: 6.SP
Which car should I buy?
Presidents Day is also about car sales. Should you buy a hybrid car or an electric car to save money? Students create equations for finding the break-even points of these vehicles by mileage and years of ownership. They then work…
Egad! It’s already time for Hanukkah
Sunday evening, December 2nd, is the first night of Hanukkah this year. I think it was much later in December last year. Why isn’t it always on the same date? Students look at the Hebrew calendar and appreciate the incredible…
Who’s going back to school?
In this investigation students calculate the percentage of the U.S. population (current and historically) that are enrolled in K-12 schools. They are asked to draw conclusions from these variations. Finally, they use their calculations to predict the number of enrolled…
World Cup rankings
In December soccer teams with the strongest world rankings were chosen to play in the once-every-4-years World Cup. The World Cup competition has just begun and will continue through July 15th. The team rankings are calculated in a pretty complex…
Mother’s Day is coming up
Mother’s Day by the numbers – Mother’s Day is right around the corner and this means big business for the greeting card and floral industries. Let your students practice averages, percents, and large numbers while they analyze the statistics on Mother’s…
Saint Patrick’s Day
Green, green river – They’re doing it again. In Chicago, the local plumbers union “dye” the Chicago River emerald green. Students learn the meaning of PPM (parts per million) and attempt to figure out how much dye is used to sufficiently…
Days are getting longer
What’s your guess? How fast are the number of daylight hours changing each day? Will the changes be dramatic or subtle? Students make guesses; compute how long, on average, the change in daylight hours should be; play with a cool…
Tick time and Lyme disease
With the start of summer and wonderful outdoor activities, it might be good to examine the growth of Lyme disease occurrences in the United States. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has published maps for all of the…
Fidget spinners – fad or lasting trend?
Do you recognize what these are? Are you noticing students with these gadgets? Is this a forever toy or just the newest thing? Can you tell by looking at trend charts of Google searches how this phenomena will proceed? Let’s…
How high can a gymnastic score be?
front row: Laurie Hernandez, MyKayla Skinner, Simone Biles, Ragan Smith back row: Ashton Locklear, Aly Raisman, Alyssa Baumann, Gabby Douglas MyKayla Skinner, Ragan Smith and Ashton Locklear were named as alternates. Gymnasts have just successfully competed in San Jose, California…
Tornadoes
Tornadoes have devastated the Great Plains of the U.S. in the last few days. Oklahoma, Texas, Nebraska, Arkansas and Kansas have been brutally hit with these powerful events. Involve your students in a better understanding of the ranking and severity of…
2015 World Cup Cricket
The Cricket World Cup is being played now in Australia and New Zealand. This is a complex game that seems to be played with enthusiasm and humor. In this activity students learn about the game; watch a couple of videos…
Three great World Cup activities
World Cup ranking – Students explore the ranking formulated from each team’s previous 4 years of play in their geographical divisions. The formula is complex and weighted. Is it fair? 5.OA, 5.NBT, 5.NF.B, 6.NS.B, 6.EE, 6.SP, 7.EE, 8.F, 8.SP, HSA World…
Shamrock Shake
For Saint Patrick’s Day add a little nutrition math to your celebration. In this post we look at calories, carbohydrates, sugars, fats, and proteins to decide what would be left for our day’s meal allotment after we had lunch and…