Lesson 3: Thematic Springboards Part I: Subject Unit Study Ideas
3-5 Math
Math is not often considered a foundational subject for unit studies, but we did have several recurrent favorites based on it. One involved the game Wonder Numbers. The game board is a set of 100 squares, one for each number from 1 to 100. Listed on each square are the numeric attributes which apply to that number. For example the number 3 would be a prime, odd number, and multiple of 3. The spinner lists each basic attribute. You get to put your marker on a square matching the attribute you spin. While the usual object of the original game is to get five markers in a row, we came up with a number of variations.
In one game, we would decide the winner after one player got five in a row by using each of our marker numbers in a set of math problems, juggling the numbers into different positions to get the highest possible score. We created problem cards to decide what math problems to use. As we played the game, certain squares would have one of these cards on them. We tried to get as many of these squares as we could. When a player got five markers in a row, we would lay out our problem cards and use every number we had marked in the course of the game to fill in the variables of every card. Each number could be used multiple times but every number had to be used at least once.
For example, one card might read:
( A - B ) * C = ?
If you had markers on the numbers 5, 44, and 50 (among others) the highest answer would be using 5 for B, 50 for A and 44 for C. You can go through a lot of brain-bending math to reach that solution when you have 10 or 20 numbers to choose from. Calculators are very helpful at this point . . . or keeping the problems simple.
After plugging the numbers into the equation, the answer would be written down in a column, added to all the answers for all the equations a player had. Whoever had the highest sum of answers was the winner. Sometimes for fun we'd make the lowest sum the winner. It was a creative and fun, mind-stretching game we played many times over the years, expanding our problem set into more and more intricate problems to match Jen's math studies.
We added art, music, social studies, religion, or language arts elements alternately with another set of cards laid on the board squares. In these cases we would cut out and paste large images (like famous paintings) or elegantly printed quotes (like famous person's words, famous story phrases, or music lyrics) on colorful posterboard, different colors for different subjects. Then we cut each board into a set of 4-8 squares, essentially creating a puzzle out of each picture or set of words (If you've ever watched the show or played the game Concentration, I think you can see where we are heading with this one.) We place a subject/color set of pieces face down on random board squares. As we select numbers with the puzzle pieces on them, we place the piece face up in front of us. The object of this game is to collect all the pieces for one puzzle. Sometimes we make trades to improve our chances. Other times we try to guess the quote or painting name/artist with as few pieces of the puzzle as possible.
