Take a Trip with Math
By Jeffrey J. Kuntz

For Reproducible click here. PDF 133KB

To check out the "A Trip to the Mall" Math Journey click here

Are you looking for a creative way to integrate your curriculum? Have you been searching for opportunities to incorporate local and holiday celebrations into an already overloaded school year? If so, then it might be time to invite your students to take a Math Journey, a creative, mathematical trip centered around a theme. These themes can be holiday-related, easily integrated into your existing science and social studies curriculum or be completed as a math review activity.

Let's get started! All you need to design your own Math Journey is a copy of your curriculum and an idea. I like to begin with a topic or event that I already cover in my classroom and then add those skills that need review or extra practice. All of my journeys contain basic, multi-stepped computation as well as work with such concepts as elapsed time, measurement, decimal skills, averages, fractions, temperature, computing sales tax and eliminating unnecessary information, as well as general problem-solving strategies.

After deciding what mathematical concepts you wish to use, choose a current topic of study or an upcoming holiday celebration. I've used Math Journeys entitled "Weekend Trip to Washington, D.C." to correspond with a study of government, the city or President's Day. "Trek to Gobbler's Knob" is a sure-fire hit in my classroom every year near Groundhog Day. "A Trip Back in Time: Journey to Plymouth Plantation" is ideal when we study the colonization of America. Other journeys that I have used successfully include: "Journey to the North Pole," "A Trip to the Mall," "Home for the Holidays: Thanksgiving at Grandma's," "A Visit to the Statue of Liberty" and "A Tropical Vacation."

So many possibilities. Get creative with your Math Journey! I find that adding props, music, decorations and food are essential to student motivation. For example, with "A Tropical Vacation," my students wear inexpensive plastic leis and listen to tropical music while they solve problems. Then I stamp their "passport" for each correctly solved problem. For "A Trip Back in Time: Journey to Plymouth Plantation," students don pilgrim hats as they "sail" across the Atlantic. With "Journey to the North Pole," I allow students to work in pairs, add festive holiday music and serve cookies and milk at the conclusion of the event. I've found the possibilities for these "extras" to be endless.

Essential skills. Math Journeys are just yet another way to help intermediate elementary teachers have fun with their students while they master national, state and local standards and perhaps learn some science and social studies at the same time. In addition, being able to carefully read real-life problems, wade through necessary and unnecessary information and use mathematics to solve problems are essential skills for today's students. On the next page you'll find one of my own Math Journeys to help you on your way. Enjoy the trip!

For Reproducible click here. PDF 133KB

To check out the "A Trip to the Mall" Math Journey click here

Jeffrey Kuntz teaches fifth grade at West End School in the Punxsutawney Area School District in PA.

January, 2006, Vol.36, No.4