New Year's Activities

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New Year's Activities
By ConnieWI

I just did an activity in Everyday Math that I plan to save next year and then do it after winter break. It is called "How many minutes old are you?"

How Many Minutes Old Are You?
--Predict how old you are in minutes:
10,000 minutes to 100,000 minutes
100,000 minutes to 1,000,000 minutes
1,000,000 minutes to 14,000,000 minutes
--What was the date of your last birthday?
--How old were you on your last birthday? (ex. 8 years old)
--How many days old are you? (ex. 8 x 365 = 2,920)
--How many hours old are you? (ex. 2,920 x 24 = 70,080)
--How many minutes

old are you? (ex. 70,080 x 60 = 4,204,800)
--Challenge: How many seconds old are you?
--Challenge: Which years, since you have been alive, have been leap years? (ex. 2 days x 24 hrs. x 60 minutes = 2,880...4,204,800 + 2,880 = 4,207,680)

Calendar for 2008:
Another thing you could do is have your students make a calendar for 2008. Include family and friend's birthdays, holidays, etc. Use mini-pictures instead of writing this info.
--Count the number of Sundays, Mondays, etc. next year and compare them.
--Make a graph of the number of days each month. Write about your findings.
--Count the number of Sundays, Mondays, etc. each month, graph them, and compare. Write about your findings.

Counting on the New Year (An AIMS activity):
--Write each digit in 2008 on a separate card. How many ways can you arrange the cards to produce different four-digit numbers? Write the numbers.
--How many different numbers can be made from the digits in 1999? Write the numbers.
--How about 1987, the last year when all four digits were different? Write the numbers.
--What is the next year all four digits will be different?
--What conclusions can be drawn from this activity?

Here are two possible (short) writing activities:
My New Year's Resolutions
I promise to do
I promise to improve
I promise to practice
I promise not to do
I promise to stay away from

Happy New Year!
This year, I want to learn
I want to read
I want to make
I want to change
I want to visit
By the end of 2008, I want my friends to know

I am also attaching two reader's theater scripts.