Just Do It! Nike, DynaMath, and a Fun Subtraction Lesson

I like referring to DynaMath’s lesson plans for their discussion questions. For the Nike article, the lesson plan suggests asking students to think about how they would design a pair of tennis shoes.

I took this suggestion a step further and gave my students a few moments to actually design a shoe. I had a number of students focus on the artistic aspects of design, while others focused on increased functionality.

After the sneaker activity, we read the article online (though students were also able to follow along in their magazines). The DynaMath website is great because we can watch the videos as well. For example, my students loved this video (above) about how Nike tested their shoes.

Though I teach 5th grade, I do not assume that all students have the necessary prerequisite skills at the beginning of the school year. So I also had my students watch the Subtraction Strategies video (above), which includes a few mental math strategies for subtraction.

Then I facilitated a follow-up activity, where students worked with a partner to answer the questions from the article using the strategies they watched in the video.

As a math teacher, I want my lessons to engaging, relevant, and still effective. With DynaMath I save time because I don’t have to reinvent the wheel. They are so much more than a printed magazine for students to read independently.