Article Options
Teaching Resources

Turn Your Math Class Into a Basketball Team!

Motivate your elementary students with this fun March Madness activity for grades 3-5

March 2019
Headshot of a woman By Victoria J. Dixon, 5th grade math teacher

Victoria Dixon

 A Texas elementary teacher turns math practice into a fun, basketball-themed review.

When spring break approaches, I often struggle to keep my elementary students motivated. That is until I turned my math class into a basketball team!

Beginning last year, I created a basketball-themed bulletin board with a team roster of all of my 4th grade students. I recorded key statistics on the “players” (described below), and challenged them to become the MVP of the 3rd marking period. Many students love basketball and follow March Madness, so the activity is a perfect compliment to their real-world interests.

I’m happy to report that engagement increased when I challenged students to work toward a goal and engage in a friendly competition. Here’s how I did it in my classroom.

Assessing elementary math skills with different resources

Beginning in January, I told my students I would track them during the 3rd marking period by monitoring their homework completion, minute drills, and milestones on iXL.com. This would help me asses their understanding of grade-specific math skills.

Last year, my administration made homework optional. But I still wanted (or needed) my students to preview new skills and review previously taught skills. So I made an optional packet.  If students completed it, they would get 4 to 6 “basketballs.” The basketball decals served as students’ “statistics” that are displayed on the bulletin board.

Sometimes the homework included a multiplication fluency packet or review worksheets from a source like Scholastic DynaMath. Other times, it was a series of video accountability sheets they could complete as they watched a new skill being taught. 

Students get practice in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade math with DynaDashes available on the Scholastic DynaMath website.

Incorporating Scholastic DynaMath’s fluency drills into math learning

Next, I logged onto Scholastic DynaMath’s website and searched for the Scholastic DynaDashes, which are fluency-building worksheets for grades 3 through 5. If you have not checked out this resource, I would highly recommend it!

I would find a DynaDash that aligned with a skill we were working on, or something I wanted to review. Then, I would set my timer for a reasonable amount of time—often more than 2 or 3 minutes—to allow students to complete the drill. Math skills included multiplication, division, area and perimeter, fraction ordering, decimal and fraction equivalence, etc. For each accurately completed DynaDash, I would award them a basketball.

Finally, I tracked students’ progress on iXL. I rewarded milestones such as the number of questions answered, number of hours spent, and number of skills mastered. Each milestone earned a basketball, and if they completed the iXL classwork assigned, they earned even more basketballs.

Victoria Dixon

Incorporating teamwork and a basketball team into elementary math learning helped more students reach fluency.

Keeping students motivated in math with teamwork

By the end of the 3rd marking period, I noticed some students completed their homework packets, more students improved in their automaticity with their facts, and many worked on iXL at home or during free moments in school.

My top earners scored over 70 baskets! But some students needed more motivation.

So in the 4th marking period, I put students in teams of five. That’s so the top earners could motivate other students to earn more basketballs. Also, I added a new reward category for classwork, which I gave to students who followed directions, showed their work on each question of a test, added their name and date to an assignment, and turned in assignments on time.

As I continue this initiative again this year, I will look forward to more positive results. Score!

Do you have any strategies for increasing engagement during this time of the school year? Email our team at Scholastic and let us know!

Want more elementary math education tips and news? Check out Scholastic's archive.

Victoria J. Dixon is a 5th grade math teacher in Texas, with experience teaching grades 3 through 6. She loves math and works to make student learning relevant, engaging, and meaningful.

She’s written previous blog posts about her teaching strategies for Scholastic, including combining math and a black history lesson, multiplication and ice cream, subtraction and Nike sneakers.

Side Bar Promotion Image

Ready to try DynaMath?

Start your free trial. No credit card required!

SUBSCRIBE NOW

Exciting ideas and fun teaching strategies for using DynaMath in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade math classrooms

Check out Scholastic's archive and meet our elementary math team!

Text-to-Speech