Incorporating March Madness Classroom Activities can bring the excitement of basketball season into your language arts classroom. It is an opportunity to offer educational yet engaging experiences for your 4th and 5th grade students. Here are a few ELA ideas you can use in your classroom.
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1. Share Basketball Themed Picture Books
I absolutely love sharing read aloud with my students. Finding ones that match up to our theme is a fun way to integrate picture books into the classroom. Here are a few basketball read alouds you can share with your students.
- Salt in His Shoes: Tells the story of Michael Jordan as a young child facing challenges and almost giving up on basketball. (nonfiction)
- Basketball Belles: This book explains how three young women put women’s basketball on the map. (nonfiction)
- Hoop Genius: Explains how basketball was invented…in a classroom by a teacher and rowdy students!! (nonfiction)
- The Boy Who Never Gave Up: Against all odds, Stephen Curry, a small boy follows his dream. He not only makes it to the NBA, but becomes one of the greatest players to ever play the game of basketball. (nonfiction)
- The Legend of Gravity: A tall tale about a neighborhood basketball hero (fiction)
2. March Madness Book Edition
If you’ve been on social media, you may have heard off March Madness being implemented in the classroom using 16 books. They can be novels students have read throughout the school year, but most are done with picture books since they are easy to share and quick for students to read.
First, you choose 16 books and pair them up. Write the titles into a bracket. Next, as you or your students read each book, have students vote for their favorite amongst each pair. Go down the bracket. Finally, the class comes to the last vote and chooses a winner.
3. Grammar Game Review
It’s difficult to just drop everything and focus on basketball with testing season right around the corner. That’s why combining basketball and test prep is a great idea. It gets students reviewing for their standardized test as well incorporating and engaging activity.
This is how I used this resource:
- I bought a few basic things (balls, baskets, and themed shirts for me to wear)
- Students were given a ball, marker, and response board.
- Then, I displayed the PPT card on the projection board.
- We would read the information on the card, and students would write their answer on their response board. (Questions contained multiple choice answers to make it quick as well as prep them for standardized testing.)
- At the count of 3, students would hold up their responses.
- I would check their responses then display the answer card on the board. The answer card tells them to “take a shoot.” If they make it in, they get points.
My students absolutely LOVE these!
4. Basketball Idioms
“Get on the Ball” and use this opportunity to incorporate basketball themed idioms in the classroom. I created a resource that covers 5 different idioms related to basketball. It contains templates for students to fill out, basketball shaped idiom posters, a small set of task cards, quiz, and more.
What I love about these resources is that students love them, and they are extremely versatile. They work great as:
- Morning Work
- Center Activities
- Sub Plans
5. Basketball Puzzles
Puzzles make great early finisher activities as well as indoor recess and brain break activities. Having basketball themed puzzles available is another great way to incorporate March Madness classroom activities.
