Two subjects at once?!

Mrs. Weber, “Tomorrow we are going to work on our basketball passing skills using math facts!”

“Two subjects at once?!  That’s crazy!” Leo (2^nd grader)

That is just one of the many responses I get when I tell the kids to do a little math during P.E.  I try to integrate simple math facts into P.E. as much as possible.  Whether it be adding up points from each round of a game, doing a problem to figure out how many exercises to do for our warm up, or to determine how many times we are going to practice a certain skill.  

The last way I just mentioned is what you will see in the video below.  My 1st and 2nd graders were working on basketball skills.  We were practicing two kinds of passes: Chest Pass and Bounce Pass.  Once we got the hang of the skill they were sent on their own to practice.  They had to run over to the bucket, grab a math fact, read it with their partner, solve the problem, go back to their spot and do either a chest pass or bounce pass that many times.  If they got a BLUE math problem, they did a BOUNCE pass and if they got a RED/ORANGE math problem (we had some confusion with this color, so we just used both!) they did a CHEST pass.

The kids got very excited when they knew the answer and couldn't wait to get back to their spot to practice the skill.  They seem to enjoy the extra challenge of doing basic math facts during our activities, plus it helps reiterate the fact that we use math (as well as other subjects) in all areas of our life.  

Also... Bruce Springsteen playing in the background is always good for the soul. :)