How about a little NASCAR math?
By Liz Allison, Turner Sports Interactive
January 9, 2002
11:26 AM EST (1626 GMT)
COMMENTARY
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Liz Allison
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OK, everybody: Get out your pencil and paper and let's head back to school. It's time for some NASCAR math.
If only the teachers in my time would have taught math in racing facts. Wow! I probably would have made better grades and certainly would have enjoyed it more.
Melissa Hatcher at Sonoma Ranch Elementary School in Arizona has been a race fan for many years. She decided to share her love of the sport with her fifth grade students by coming up with a program using NASCAR that would get the kids excited about studying and learning math. She certainly did just that.
During the race season, every child picks a driver to keep up with and charts the driver's progress on Mondays. Some of the kids actually watch the race to keep up with their driver and others get their update in class when Melissa posts the race results.
The children tally the driver's points and winnings and keep track of this throughout the race season. They also use the tallied results to practice graphing and charting.
This is all takes place in a classroom decorated with racing memorabilia, including a checkered flag draping a section of the walls. Pretty cool stuff, I have to say.
To add a little more color to the learning experience, Mrs. Hatcher's class decided to have a classroom mascot who would travel the world over (hopefully) to bring in new experiences to share with the students.
How does this work? Pretty easy actually.
Their mascot just happens to be a stuffed frog named Dart. The students take Dart on trips and vacations in their suitcases. They also keep their ears open to special trips that Dart can make on his own. Like maybe a trip to the race track for a ride in a Winston Cup car. What would you give to be Dart?
Mrs. Hatcher contacted me about Dart's dream to ride in a Winston Cup car and asked if I could make this happen. Now how could I refuse a cute little frog?
I made arrangements to get Dart and take him to the track one day. Lo and behold, Dart, being the tough frog that he is, got himself strapped into a race car and took a few laps. If only Dart could talk!
I carefully charted Darts trip in the classroom book and mailed him back home to Arizona where he made it safe and sound.
At his arrival, Mrs. Hatcher had her children chart his mileage and what his travel expenses for the trip to the track might have been for lodging, food, etc.
Can you get anymore creative for your kids than that? WOW!
So there you have it -- from a teacher who has got this racing stuff in her system and who went that extra step to make learning fun for her students.
If only there were a few more Melissa Hatchers out there teaching our kids. Somehow, I think the national math average would go up.
NOTE: Liz Allison's column appears every Wednesday on NASCAR.com and the opinions expressed here are solely those of the writer. To reach Liz, you can contact her at alli65@aol.com.
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