Integrating Math and Literature

Integrating subject matter makes learning fun! My class has been working on writing longer responses to questions (complete with evidence and citing). They've been making great progress, but constructing responses was getting to be a real drag.

In math, we were just ready to begin perimeter and area. "Why not merge math and literature?" I thought. It was simple, really. I took a common perimeter and area problem and wrote simple scenarios involving characters from our novels, Hatchet and Strider.

Students warmed up with problems from WorksheetWorks.com then continued with these novel-based problems. Free graph paper can be generated at Incompetech.com. (I chose the square graph paper with grid spacing of one line per centimeter.)

Interdisciplinary teaching seems like a blast from the past, but there's no time like the present to liven up literature and make math meaningful.