Super Bowl Prediction Contest
Besides the “RIHANNA DAY” playlist that I played last year on the Friday before the Super Bowl to celebrate the half-time show, I typically do not do much to recognize the Super Bowl. I never had a fun or interesting activity that tied together the game and math, but I also did not seek anything out. This year, the teacher that I run the elementary school-high school math team collaboration with gave me an activity that he has used each year, and I really liked it!
It has 24 prediction questions related to the game as well as 3 tie-breaker questions. Students should complete the prediction sheet BEFORE the weekend begins, and then once I watch the game and fill out the sheet with what actually happens, I will be able to choose who had the best predictions. Anyone who completes this will get a couple bonus points on their next assessment, and the winner will get a special prize (still figuring out what this will be :) ).
I handed out the sheets today (Thursday) and a good amount of my students already turned in their predictions. Hopefully this will make watching the game more interactive and fun for them, and will expose those who don’t follow football to the big names in this years’ match-up. I already had an idea of which of my students were big football fans, but this gave me more insight into their level of interest. Handing this out created a buzz about the Super Bowl, and they had fun debating their answers as they filled out the sheets.
This sheet is easy to reuse each year and is easy to prepare - just make copies and hand it out! Now I just have to make sure I watch the game carefully enough to fill out the answers!
THOUGHTS POST-ACTIVITY: Here are my reflections and other prediction questions I want to add next year when I do this again:
Which quarterback will be sacked first?
Which team will get the first penalty?
There weren’t any coaches challenges - consider removing this question
Which commercial will be aired first? (give a list of companies famous for their Super Bowl ads)
Add questions related to the half-time show, such as which song will the performer sing first, will they have a guest sing with them, etc.
The above two questions will appeal to students who don’t necessarily love football
Fix wording on #6: Instead of saying “which team will have the 1st turnover,” say “which team will give up the 1st turnover”
On another note, yesterday was the 100th DAY OF SCHOOL. I wish we acknowledged this more in high school, and to be honest I completely missed it. I only knew about it when the elementary school math teacher (whom I referred to above) mentioned it today.
