I am new this year and having a wonderful time learning alongside my students!
One of the things that I have learned from my own experience and from my years of experience as an educator is that it’s often hard to see the connection between math and real life.
To try to change that, the students and I have launched a cause this year called “Making Math Matter” and we are trying to find tangible ways to make the math we do in class matter for MORE than just a grade on their report cards.
Our first project was to participate in the Math-A-Thon to raise money for St. Jude Children’s Hospital.
We saw some videos and learned not only about the work this hospital is doing to find cures for childhood diseases, but we also met (via video clips) a few of the children who have benefited from the top-notch medical care and treatments that St. Jude had to offer them.
As a part of our campus’ and district’s commitment to the Capturing Kids’Hearts program, we have been emphasizing character traits such as empathy, self-direction, and teamwork, so the decision to make this our first project was an easy one. We definitely practiced all three of these traits as we worked math problems to help the children of St. Jude as they literally fight for their lives!
We signed up for and then received our materials from St. Jude. Students talked to family members, friends, and neighbors to gain sponsorship, asking for either flat donations OR per-problem donations (where someone might pledge 25 cents or $1 per problem that the student solved).
We set aside the week before the Thanksgiving break as our Math-A-Thon week, and the students used a majority of class time working the problems in their special booklets.
Right after the break, I tallied up the number of problems they solved and they brought in all of the money that was collected.
I am very pleased to announce that our 47 seventh graders worked a total of 1,224 math problems (7th grade level problems, too; they weren’t easy!) and brought in a total of $693.50.
Not only did they support the life-saving work of St. Jude Children’s Hospital, but they participated in “Making Math Matter” by joining in on a cause much bigger than themselves! Way to go, SSMS 7th Graders! Thank you for demonstrating empathy, self-directedness and teamwork and for MAKING MATH MATTER to other children!
We have already started on project #2 and it’s building great momentum. I will look forward to sharing that with you in the near future.