Fantasy Basketball and Mathematics: A Resource Guide for Teachers and Parents, Grades 5 and Up

A great new way to getall kids excited about math!

Fantasy sports are a hit worldwide, and now teachers and parents can take advantage of this phenomenon to give students a reason to look forward to doing math. The games and activities in Fantasy Basketball and Mathematics will get kids excited about learning and practicing math, even if they're not big sports fans. With this fun-filled educational resource, you can teach one math concept or many and plan lessons that can last for a week or a whole season.

Here's how it works. Students create fantasy teams by picking real-life professional basketball players, following their players' statistics, and calculating their team's total points using algebraic or nonalgebraic methods specifically designed to complement the math skills they are learning. The instructions are easy to follow, and the dynamic hands-on games address all learning styles and abilities. The book includes more than 100 scoring systems that give you the flexibility to customize the content according to your students' skill levels.

In addition to the basic Fantasy Basketball game, the book contains easy-to-use lesson plans, reproducible worksheets for extra practice on 46 different math concepts, graphing activities, quizzes, a pre- and post- test, and an answer key. More than just a fun way to learn math, the book's activities also support the NCTM Math Standards.

Review:

"The beauty of the Fantasy Sports and Mathematics programs is that while all the students are busy having fun, enjoying the competition, and building better relationships with sports-minded parents, they are, much to their surprise, learning to love math."
--Ryan D. Verver, math teacher,Southwest Chicago Christian School

"Students were eager to be the first in their math class to tally their scores and begin working with their team's stats. It was great to see boys and girls who were working both above and below grade level fully engaged in using their math skills and learning new ones."
--Sara Suchman, Harvard Graduate School of Education, former middle school director

About The Author:
Dan Flockhart, M.Ed., is a former middle school math teacher who incorporated fantasy sports into his math curriculum. He presents his innovative method of teaching at conventions and maintains a Web site for the series at http://www.fantasysportsmath.com.