When the weather turns colder and my kids start complaining about having to go outside for morning recess (yes, we need to have a talk about recess in Alaska in the winter), I know it’s time to start our MMM Challenges!  We are starting ours a bit early this year so they are completed by the time I leave for Alaska.  I figured this was above and beyond the call of duty for my sub!

MMM stands for Mathematical Morning Meal.  Each Monday the students are presented with a challenging math problem for them to work on for extra credit.  They take them home and have a week to try to come up with a solution.  On Friday morning during morning recess before school they are invited in to share their thinking and a doughnut while we go over the problem.

The problems are intentionally tough… I love to hear the kids talk about how their whole family discussed the problems at dinner or how a father thought one thing but the student had his own ideas.

My rule is that if they have given the problem an honest try, they can come to the breakfast.

This year the problems have an Iditarod twist!  I know… shocking right?

Even if you don’t want the students to do the problems at home, maybe they would make good problems of the day or week to hang in your room and discuss.

We had our first MMM this morning and half of my class joined in the discussion.  They all came up with essentially the same result with a few minor twists!

Enjoy!

MMM Iditarod Challenges