March Math MADNESS

I teach five sections of science in our daily sixth grade schedule, but I also teach one period of Math Intervention. As part of our Math Intervention (or Ace, named for our mascot, period, we have been working very hard all year on basic math skills. I wanted to create something for them that would be fun, while also educational because they have been working very hard for me all year, and doing a lot of boring things. I stole the idea to do March Madness from my friend, Tim, who did this with his students back in the dark ages when proficiency tests were in March. That said, I introduce to you, March Math MADNESS! I created a bracket using grades to seed the students.

Students go head to head at the white board doing 2 and 3 digit multiplication problems in order to move on to the next round.

I was actually really surprised by how excited the students were about this! Out of 29 students, everyone participated and NO ONE (SHOCKED!) complained. Students were even cheering on their classmates and could not wait to boo (they are only allowed to boo if both students competing get the problem wrong). The best part is, all the students were doing every problem on paper without realizing that they were doing work. This was a very happy accident! In the very first match-up, one of my students said, "how do we know if they get it right?", which gave me the idea to say, "I guess you have to figure the problem out too." All in all, today was a great first day for March Math MADNESS! I'm planning to post an update at the end of our tourney!