September 25 is U.S. Math Storytelling Day. I know what you’re thinking. A holiday for math? Those two things don’t seem like they should go together. I don’t mind math, but I’m not wild about it. For me, I prefer math that has direct application to my life (such as comparison shopping in the grocery store) or to my work (using statistics to analyze data or calculus to predict population behavior). I even liked algebra because it was like solving mysteries and I’ve always liked mysteries.
But the one aspect of learning math that I disliked was the word problems. You know the ones about if a train leaves Chicago at 8:10 am going 70 mph and another one leaves Peoria at 9:23 am going 110 mph, at what time will they pass each other? Maybe if the subjects of the word problems had been more interesting, I would have liked them better. That’s why I’m celebrating Math Storytelling by telling my stories through math. After all, math does enhance our daily lives.
Organizers of this national day hope it is used to get children excited about math through stories, games of all kinds, jokes, and songs! I wish I had been taught math that way. The educator that developed my workbooks and activity sheets had already embraced this philosophy. Marilyn created word problems featuring… Iguanas, of course!
Here’s an example:
Mary volunteers for a charity that helps endangered animals. Mary helps round up stray cats and dogs that like to eat curly-tail lizards and other endangered animals. One afternoon, Mary helped catch 12 stray cats and 15 stray dogs. On the way to the shelter, 3 cats got away. How many stray animals in all did Mary take to the shelter?
Word problems can be simple or more complex for older grades.
Three male and five female iguanas were captured, weighed, and tagged by a small team of conservationists. One male weighed 8000 grams, a second male weighed 2030 grams, and the third male iguana weighed 7189 grams. Two of the five female iguanas each weighed 3730 grams. How many total grams did the male iguanas weigh?
Word problems can also introduce scientific methods. Scientists, in their efforts to conserve endangered iguana species, capture and measure members of the existing populations.
Here I am with Jill Jollay and Jen Moss measuring a Sister Isle Rock Iguana on Cayman Brac.
The snout is obviously at the end of the nose. The vent is the opening located at the lizard’s hips. It’s used for body waste elimination and reproduction. Seven iguanas were measured from their snouts to their vents. Their measurements were 13 cm, 53 cm, 46 cm, 12 cm, 53 cm, 38 cm, and 21 cm. Solve for the mean, mode, medium, and range using these measurements.
The concepts of metric and English measurement systems can be explored.
1 gram = .0022 lbs. Convert each iguana’s weight from grams into pounds. Show your work.
A male iguana weighs 80 grams. Find its weight in pounds.
A male iguana weighs 220 grams. Find its weight in pounds.
A female iguana weighs 3200 grams. Find its weight in pounds.
A female iguana weighs 100 grams. Find its weight in pounds.
Math can also be incorporated into the arts. In this paint-by-number picture, the artist must derive the correct answer to select the proper color. Notice how the scientific term carapace was snuck in as well.
So, on Math Storytelling Day, don’t hide from math…
Tell your story or enjoy mine through math!
Gladiola wants you to check out the workbooks and activity sheets at LyricPower.net.
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