I encourage creative writing and multistep solutions for students who are motivated to write complex problems. A cheetah named Speedy runs 70 miles an hour. His friend, Sam, the hyena, lives 210 miles away. Mathematics activities are integrated into all units in my class. The following list describes problems and activities that students address in a thematic unit on birds.
Students invent recipes for bird treats and mix the ingredients to create different combinations.
Write your recipes using fractions. After studying data, students make graphs to illustrate birds' weights, wingspans, egg sizes, wing beats per second, distances traveled during migration, flying speeds, and so on. Students measure and compare students' arm spans to birds' wingspans. Students write word problems using data from problem 2. They share their problems with other students in the class.