Math Monday: Basketball

Basketball is a great topic for studying various areas of math.

Counting

- Younger students can practice counting by ones, twos, fives, tens, etc.  Dribble a basketball or bounce it back and forth with a partner, counting each time it bounces.

- Learn how to keep score in basketball.  Watch or play a game and keep track of the score.

Geometry

- Print out a diagram of a basketball court (high school court or NBA court)

• Measure the lengths of the various parts of the court.  Determine the perimeter and/or area of the court itself, half of the court, the free throw lane and for more advanced students, the center circle. (Here is a diagram to identify the different parts of the basketball court.)
• Identify the different types of lines found on a basketball court (parallel, perpendicular, horizontal, vertical) and the parts of a circle (arc, circumference, diameter, semicircle)

- When shooting a basket, take note of the angle of your elbow as you start your shot.  Try starting with your elbow at different angles and see which angle you have the most success with. 

Algebra

- Watch a game or go out and shoot some hoops.  Keep track of how many times you (or a certain player or one team) attempts to make a basket, and how many times you/they succeed and miss.  Now, determine the percentage of shots made.

Word Problems

Word problems can be made with a basketball theme for many levels.  My samples use the student as the subject, but you could easily substitute a favorite team and player.  Here are a few samples:

- Your team scored 15 points in the first quarter.  The other team scored 17 points.  How many points were scored in all?

- Your team scored 87 points in the game.  You scored 18 of the points.  How points did your teammates score?

- During your last basketball game, your team scored 4 3-point shots, 8 foul shots, and 35 baskets inside the 3-point line.  How many points did your team score in all?

- You took a total of 42 foul shots last year.  You scored with 35 of the shots.  What percentage of foul shots did you make?

There are also some online games to practice math facts with a basketball theme.

Math Facts Basketball (Basic math facts)

Hoops (multi-step word problems)

There are also several math related books about basketball.  (Disclaimer: the following are affiliate links.  This simply means I may receive a small commission if you purchase from the site.  This does not cost you anything extra.)

- Basketball: The Math of the Game (Currently available free through kindleunlimited)

- Basketball Math: Slam-Dunk Activities and Projects for Grades 4-8

- Fantasy Basketball Math: Using Stats to Score Big in Your League

- The Math of Basketball 

- Basketball: Math on the Court (Currently only available for free on kindleunlimited)

Math Monday: New York State

The New York State Fair opened this past Thursday and will run through September 2nd. In honor of the state fair, I have chosen to study New York state this week.

The Erie Canal is a manmade waterway that connects the Hudson River (which connects to the Atlantic Ocean) to Lake Erie. Governor Dewitt Clinton broke ground for the canal in 1817 and it was completed in 1825. How many years did it take for the canal to be completed? How old is the Erie Canal today?

This October, the Colonial Belle, will be offering Fall Foliage boat cruises down the Erie Canal. The cruise will leave Pittsford, NY at 12:30PM and returning at 4:30PM. How much time will the tour take? (You can also use this to have the child show time on a clock)

The Maid of the Mist is a boat that takes visitors up to the base of Niagara Falls for an up close look at the roaring waterfalls. An adult ticket costs $12.50 each, children's tickets for ages 6-12 years of age cost $7.50 each, and children 5 years old and younger are free. How much money would you need to take your family on the Maid of the Mist?

New York is known for its tasty apples. Ask several people their favorite way to eat apples (fresh, applesauce, apple juice, baked, pie, etc) and make a bar graph (or pictograph) showing the results.

Use measuring skills to make an apple recipe. Here is one for Taffy Apple Salad

There are 2000 miles of hiking trails in the Adirondack Mountains. If you hike 10 miles a day, how many days would you need to hike to hike all of the trails?

Math Monday: China and the 2008 Olympics

So this week's unit is in honor of the Olympics and will be focused on China, specifically Beijing and the 2008 Olympic games. For math this week, we will be doing the following:

Basic arithmetic, Counting, and Graphing
Olympic medal tracking: Click here for events and results
Choose an event and then click on the results
-how many medals did each country earn? (the younger ones can practice counting and those who are adding can add up the total number of gold, silver, and bronze medals a certain country has won)
-Make a bar graph of medals won

Distance Measuring, Timing, Number Places, Ordinal Numbers
Hold your own Olympics
Long jump = measuring
100 yard dash = timing and measuring
Use a stopwatch for the race and/or measure the distance jumped and then take their time/distance and use it to show number places.
Can also teach younger ones about ordinal numbers

Measuring, Fractions
Cook a traditional Chinese dish (this also ties in with social studies). Here are some recipes I have found:
Chinese Sponge Cake
Won Ton Soup
Fried Rice

Math tools
Abacuses are still used today for arithmetic in China. Practice using an abacus for adding and subtracting, but also for teaching number places.

Money
Chinese currency is called Renminbi and is made up of dollars called yuan or kuai. Pronunciations can be heard and pictures of the currency can be seen here

Time
-Print out clock template here
Attach hands with a paper fastener
-Have the children move the hands to set the time of various Olympic events. You can search the Olympic schedule here
Click the event(s) of your choice and then you will see the times of the matches.

Word problems
(with the exception of the first word problem, the others contain actual trivia/facts about China and Chinese culture):

Sun Li loves egg rolls. Her grandmother made one dozen egg rolls for lunch. Sun Li ate 3 by herself. How many egg rolls are left?

Chinese New Year is celebrated for 2 weeks plus 1 day. How many days are spent celebrating Chinese New Year, each year?

The Beijing Subway has 4 lines above ground and 5 lines underground. How many lines are there in all?

It costs 1000 yuan for the best tickets to the final Men’s basketball game and medal ceremony. The best tickets to the final Men’s volleyball game and medal ceremony cost 600 yuan. How many more yuan does it cost to see the basketball game?

One American dollar is equal to about 7 yuan. If I have 10 American dollars, about how many yuan would that be?

Can you think of any other ways to incorporate China and/or the Olympics into elementary math?