Mathketball & Speedy Spell Basketball Activities

I’m Chrissy Mason and I teach health and physical education at Linkhorn Park ES in Virginia Beach. In the lead up to March Madness this year we turned our basketball lessons into an all cross curricular unit, so the students must use their brains and bodies at the same time. We played both games with grades K-5.

MathKetball

Equipment:

• Basketballs
• Deck Rings
• Number poly spots
• Mathketball sheets

Set up:

Scatter the numbered poly spots around the basketball goal with lower numbers closer and higher numbers farther away. Teams line up along the sidelines.

Directions:

Each team has a Mathketball equations sheet and a basketball. The team solves the first equation on their sheet. The first person dribbles out to that number poly spot. He/she shoots from that spot and tries to make a basket. If he/she makes the shot, dribble back to the team, and together solve the next equation. When students miss, they dribble back and the next teammate tries from the same number. When a teammate does make the basket, the team moves on to the next equation. If a team finishes one sheet, they can trade it in for another version.

Speedy Spell Basketball

Equipment:

• Basketballs
• Deck rings
• Alpha bean bags
• White boards
• Markers (for adding up points)

Set up:

Bean bags with letters and point values are scattered on one side of the gym. Teams line up with their basketball on the opposite sideline.

Directions:

The first person on each team dribbles across the gym to bean bags scattered on the floor. They choose one bean bag letter and place it on the back of their non-dribbling hand. They dribble back while balancing the bean bag. If the bean bag falls, students must stop and reset the bean bag before continuing. As teams collect bean bags, they try to spell a word in the allotted time. At the end of the round, teams add up the numbers on each of their bean bags used to spell a word to determine their point score.

GRADES 3 -5: Play a round in which students dribble with their non-dominate hand and place the bean bag on their dominant hand.

About the Author:

Chrissy Mason (@LPESVB) is beginning her 2nd year as a teacher at Linkhorn Park Elementary in Virginia Beach, VA. She received a Bachelor of Science from Old Dominion University. Chrissy wants to teach her students how much fun it is to be physically active. Chrissy loves being a part of the Phys. Ed. community and how willing veteran teachers are to help other teachers so we can all do our best for the kids.