Special Feature Lesson:

Wild Wetland Math

Overview:
Students solve math problems based on wetland plant and animal facts, using information such as their weight, height, classroom size, and so on.
 

Curriculum Focus:
science
math
 

Activity:
Here are 10 wild wetland facts from Special Feature, along with suggestions for turning them into math problems. You can modify them according to your students' skill level.

A bullfrog can jump 20 times its body length. Measure your height. Calculate how far a jump 20 times your body length would measure.

If a canvasback duck can travel 70 miles per hour, how long would it take to fly from your school to your house (you need to know how many miles from school your house is located)?

Wood duck ducklings jump as far as 60 feet from their nest (in a tree) to the ground. Lay down a piece of tape 60 feet long. How many students can lie head to toe along this piece of tape?

A beaver can cut down a five-inch wide tree in three minutes. How many inches per minute does the beaver chew through? How long would it take the beaver to chew through a tree one foot wide?

A one-pound ruddy duck may lay a clutch of eggs that weighs three pounds. If she lays six eggs in her clutch, how much does each egg weigh?

An adult moose eats more than 50 lbs. of food each day. How does this compare to how much you weigh? Find an object (or group of objects) that weighs about as much as a one-day supply of moose food.

An arctic tern travels 22,000 miles per year during spring and fall migrations. Find out how many miles across the widest point of your state measures. How many times would you have to walk back and forth across your state to travel as far as an arctic tern does in one year?

Ducks Unlimited has 700,000 members. How many people are in your class? How many classes would it take to equal DU's membership?

If cattails grow seven inches in one day, how many days would it take a cattail to grow from a seed to become as tall as you are?

Bald eagles have been known to build nests from piles of branches as high as a 2-story house. A story is the space between each floor of a house, and it usually measures 10 feet. How many people would have to stand on each other's shoulders to measure as high as an eagle's nest if each person were your height?

Extension idea:
Have students find their own wild plant or animal facts and make them into math problems they can share with the class. Or, have them make visual representations of some of the math solutions from this activity.