In Brittany Ferrel’s fifth grade math classes, students are invested in the basketball March Madness as they enter in their own March MATHness Unit. The inspiration for this activity came from Frenship instructional coach, Lindsey Driver. She shared a basketball review a few years back and it has grown into an all-out March MATHness review. 

March Mathness starts after the NCAA Selection Sunday and is a review geared to help students review concepts throughout the year to get ready for the Math assessments in the Spring.  

After Selection Sunday, students filled in a NCAA bracket with their picks for the NCAA Tournament. The students review math concepts with basketball themed activities as the students advance through each round of the tournament. 

Ferrel stated that even the students who aren't as familiar with basketball get excited. At the end of every round of the tournament, they update their brackets and students earn points and prizes. 

“The students love making brackets and tracking the college teams through the tournaments,” said Ferrel. “We talk about each team and what seed they are ranked in, basketball stats, top players, etc. We try to make as many connections between basketball and math as possible to make it fun and engaging for the kids. It is so fun to hear the students talk about each team from watching the games and talking to their parents.” 

Throughout March MATHness, students are reviewing concepts learned throughout the year to get ready for Spring assessments, but they are also learning about how sports and math connect. The class has a "question cam" and “free throw” questions every day to help students stay engaged when practicing questions.  

They relate every question to a basketball game. First, the students ask "what game are we playing" or what is this question testing us over. Then they ask "what play are we going to make" or what tool/strategy are we going to use. Next, the class tries to "get past our opponents and play offense" or take out the incorrect answer choices. Lastly, they "score" or find the correct answer to the question. 

Each class competes against each other to earn points for the top scoring percentages on exit tickets and being the class with the most team spirit. Each class has a team jersey that they get to put a sticker on for each point they earn and the top earning class at the end of March MATHness gets a prize.  

Similar to many fans this year, many of the student brackets completely busted. Many students get into it and even want to watch the games and then come back to talk about the games the next day.  

“I look forward to March MATHness review every year because the kids are really engaged and are excited to review concepts and earn prizes,” said Ferrel. “I see so many kids motivated by the connection to sports and the real-world with our March MATHness review.” 

The classes are highly anticipating the Final Four round coming up this weekend as they cheer on their top picks.