NCAA Basketball Championship Lessons

This post could also be titled "How to teach during March Madness." 

I've mentioned before that college basketball is kind of a big deal in NC, so it should come as no surprise that teachers and students both can get pre-occupied during March tournament games.  Rather than fight for that attention, I choose to join it.

{Image Source: Murray State via Flickr}

Smallgood co-worker and I have compiled a selection of lesson plans (often cross-curricular) that could be taught in tandem with the championship.  Most have been published in some shape or form with the NCAA.  They aren't current (the most recent workbook I've linked up is from 2010), but the information is not presented in a dated format.

• Elementary School Math: This unit is intended for 3-5th graders.  While it is focused on math, students will also be gaining skills of reading data sets in the newspaper and going over the language of math (terminology and vocabulary).  Math computation skills are checked and the lessons of nets and courts taps into geometry knowledge.
• Middle School Madness: I love that this curriculum addresses all the core subjects (science, art, language, social studies, math, and PE/health) as well as separate lessons for sportsmanship.  The second thing to love about this curriculum is that each of the lessons are relatively short (none are over an hour).  A trivia game is also included.
• Sporting Geography: I've used a handful of these lessons and can happily say that I now know from where NCSU, Duke, and UNC's mascots derived (a great research project for kids obsessed with any sport).  Every lesson in this unit centers on understanding the history and geography of this sport better.  Even the math tasks are requiring students to set data based on what states generate the most players. 
• Create a New Game: After learning about the history of basketball and even reading entries in the Basketball Hall of Fame, students are set with the task of creating a new sport/game based off pre-set conditions.  This could be great for any age student and any size group.  
• Quick Math Lesson: Take a Chance! (Probability): This includes a bit of geography and focuses on probability.

And I wish all of y'all good luck on your brackets.

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