Kids & FF

Hi all,
I'm a teacher, planning for next year. I'm thinking about doing a FF season as a supportive activity for Math (and potentially other) curriculum. Elementary school (i.e. 5th grade). I've never played FF, so that's why I'm coming here to ask questions. Here is what I envision... tell me what you think:

I envision teams where the kid has to team up with an adult (e.g. father/daughter). If neither knows anything about players, I think (hope) that with FF being somewhat luck, it will balance itself out.

There is a curriculum guide I've found of a guy who has the students calculate all the stats. I don't see that as fun. I think I'd just prefer to use the free, online service provided by: Yahoo!, NFL, ESPN, etc. Where I think it would be worthwhile, is in data collection. I'm talking:
charts, pie charts, graphs
plotting graphing, mean/mean/mode'
estimation
algebra?

In the end, I envision a sort of folder that they'll keep (like a book report folder) of facts, information about their players. With this, they will make decisions for who to play, etc. along with their adult partner. Does this sound exciting, or reasonable? Does FF lend itself to use in the classroom? I would think yes, but again... haven't played it myself. Would love some feedback on its potential.

Here are some of the links I found:[url]http://www.amazon.com/Fantasy-Football-Mathematics-Resource-Teachers/dp/0787994448/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1401156776&sr=1-1-catcorr&keywords=using+fantasy+baseball+to+teach+math[/url]


This link uses the book above to teach with
[url]http://www.teamuptutors.com/resources/blog/2006/11/fantasy-football-math/[/url]


[url]http://www.educationworld.com/a_issues/chat/chat162.shtml[/url]


[url]http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=2680335[/url]


[url]http://www.k12.wa.us/CISL/EliminatingtheGaps/TeacherToolkit/footballmath.aspx[/url]


This only cost $8 and is geared for grades 4-8, developed by a teacher
[url]http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Teach-Math-With-Fantasy-Football-429963[/url]


[url]http://www.scoresreport.com/tag/math-teacher-fantasy-football/[/url]


[url]http://www.nhregister.com/sports/20131115/fantasy-football-math-teaching-addition-subtraction[/url]


Some other links:
[url]http://blogs.mtlakes.org/curriculum/2011/11/01/using-fantasy-football-to-teach-math/[/url]


[url]http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/schooled_in_sports/2011/10/how_to_teach_students_math_with_fantasy_football.html[/url]


A spend little curriculum program:
[url]http://www.fantasysportsmath.com/index.php[/url]


A blog using that above program:
[url]http://www.teachforever.com/2008/11/sports-statistics-using-fantasy.html[/url]


Sorry I cannot find the name of the Kindle book I thought I had.

This link is for baseball but could be a guideline for his sport and grade level:
[url]http://www-tc.pbs.org/teachers/mathline/lessonplans/pdf/msmp/fantasybaseball.pdf[/url]


Another book for grade 5 and up, again with baseball:
[url]http://books.google.com/books/about/Fantasy_baseball_and_mathematics.html?id=68G7sqs7a8wC[/url]


An article detailing a math teacher using this type of teaching method:
[url]http://www.smartbrief.com/04/24/14/pa-middle-school-uses-fantasy-baseball-teach-math#.U4P3kPldWSo[/url]


Some additional lesson plans/ideas (again baseball):
[url]http://seasonal.theteacherscorner.net/baseballShoe[/url]

Not sure if this will help or not

Thanks for the effort and replying, fordfixer. Do you have an interest in it (fantasy football or teaching)? I purchased that book that you listed, and I will certainly go through those links, many of which I think I've seen.

I'm curious to hear from fantasy football players themselves, in learning how much "math" they use in devising their teams week-to-week. One of the things I'm thinking of, is making many subdivisions within my League, so that players will have some tough decisions to make with regard to who to play. I think that may be the essence of it all, having data in a mathematical way (i.e. charts, graphs), with students keeping a sort of "little black book" of their team, and coming to conclusions based on their numbers. I just don't know how much "numbers" (as it relates to math standards) there are in the game.

No I have very little interest in FF but awhile back my wife was homeschooling my boys and was looking at using FF as part of the math assignment's.

I'm thinking about how I can make it a weekly supplemental activity for the math curriculum. I already know that I want to have a draft, where daughters & dads, sons, uncles, older siblings, can share a part of the school year with the kids. I would also simply like to use ESPN, NFL, Yahoo!, as the league itself (make it easy, let it compile the results. There is a curriculum guide, that has the students tabulate the scores every week. I may end up doing that, but to me, it seems tedious and less interesting for the kids.) What I would like, is for them to compile data (in the form of graphs, charts, tables), and make decisions about who to play each week. Maybe keep it all in a little booklet.

But I've never played. I don't know what I should have the kids track. For example: I could have them write in relevant statistics for each of their players, but then what? Can I have them compare that data with the rest of the league at that position? I'm just thinking out loud here...

I think I was in 7th grade when I was first introduced to fantasy football. We had a day at our school where we went around and did a handful of special activities that we signed up for outside of regular classes. Bowling, camping skills, crafts, etc...

One of my activities was fantasy football and it was run by my math teacher. We only did it as a fun competition and he posted scores and standings every week - there weren't any math lessons involved. BUT...he is a very creative math teacher and one of the best I had at getting students involved in unique ways.

[url]http://www.northallegheny.org/Page/5995[/url]

That is his contact information if you want to contact him and see if he has ever done anything further with fantasy football and math.


(thinking about this sure does make me feel old...crazy that it all happened 15 years ago and I still remember so much from that class.)

[QUOTE=D Rock;605301]I think I was in 7th grade when I was first introduced to fantasy football. We had a day at our school where we went around and did a handful of special activities that we signed up for outside of regular classes. Bowling, camping skills, crafts, etc...

One of my activities was fantasy football and it was run by my math teacher. We only did it as a fun competition and he posted scores and standings every week - there weren't any math lessons involved. BUT...he is a very creative math teacher and one of the best I had at getting students involved in unique ways.

[URL]http://www.northallegheny.org/Page/5995[/URL]

That is his contact information if you want to contact him and see if he has ever done anything further with fantasy football and math.

(thinking about this sure does make me feel old...crazy that it all happened 15 years ago and I still remember so much from that class.)[/QUOTE]

I appreciate that D Rock. Thanks! Maybe I'll just do a fantasy football league just for fun too (if I can't figure out a way to connect it to the curriculum).

[COLOR=#a9a9a9]
[B]*[/B][I]What would be an ideal number of teams in a league?[/I]

I two classes of kids (up to 60). I've seen how 12, 14 are considered ideal. Bear in mind, my goals are to have aspects of mathematics involved. So (in my way of thinking, having never played fantasy before), I would like kids to compare players, in making their rosters up. I want them to compile data (i.e. tables, charts).[/COLOR]

[QUOTE=Shoe;604190]Thanks for the effort and replying, fordfixer. Do you have an interest in it (fantasy football or teaching)? I purchased that book that you listed, and I will certainly go through those links, many of which I think I've seen.

I'm curious to hear from fantasy football players themselves, in learning how much "math" they use in devising their teams week-to-week. One of the things I'm thinking of, is making many subdivisions within my League, so that players will have some tough decisions to make with regard to who to play. I think that may be the essence of it all, having data in a mathematical way (i.e. charts, graphs), with students keeping a sort of "little black book" of their team, and coming to conclusions based on their numbers. I just don't know how much "numbers" (as it relates to math standards) there are in the game.[/QUOTE]

I play fantasy sports daily for money and honestly its not that much math. When you are constructing a fantasy lineup for football its purely based on matchups and player performance.