How to Find the Treasure

             I’ve thought about what kind of homework I had as a kid that I enjoyed the most. A lot of it was simply projects that I could do at home with my family. When I was learning to read, I first had to learn my letters. One of the most entertaining homework assignments that I can remember simply involved a newspaper and pen. My teacher had me choose one article in a newspaper and circle all the a’s I could find. In my childish eyes, it was a lot like Where’s Waldo, and trust me, I loved those books!

So why don’t we have those for math lessons? They actually do exist! They are known as scavenger hunts though. Teachers basically make them up with any lesson they are doing at the moment. They can have the kids find whole numbers, fractions, and repeating decimals. It’s also a good way to tie math into any lesson having to do with years and important events. Here is what these scavengers may look like:

Math Scavenger Hunt #1   See if you can find each of these in the newspaper.  Write what you found and the page on which you found it.   A fraction that is more than one-fifth (1/5) Page____ A money amount less than $1 Page____  A date other than today’s Page____ A five-digit number Page____ A decimal that is not an amount of money  Page____ A store giving a discount of 20 percent or more Page____ An ad larger than half of the newspaper page Page____  A temperature higher than 40 degrees Page____ A stock that has gained more than one point Page____

                 Obviously the scavenger hunts would be different depending on what grade you teach. Third graders aren’t going to understand what a stock is. Hopefully the parents would be more than willing to help their children with their homework if they were to need it, but sadly not all children have that luxury. I know for myself personally, I feel proud when my sister feels comfortable coming to me for help with her homework. I can only hope that parents feel the same way and help them the same that I help my sister.

                Doing math this way allows students to connect math to an actual real life thing. Reading a newspaper they can understand people doing, it’s not as foreign to them as learning a new math concept. So if you pair the two together, learning a new concept may become less stressful. It may even seem normal then because it’s something you do in everyday life and don’t even realize it! Children need something concrete to build their math skills on. Something as simple as finding numbers in a newspaper or even magazine! May just do that! It’s like finding a hidden treasure. Exciting and fun for most children. I remember my mom sitting down next to me and my sister, all of us taking turns in circling the letters. I’d always find them, but I loved to share the joy in circling the letters up until the very end.