Mayflower Math: Voyage into history and math with our shipshape Thanksgiving theme unit, with a two-page Mayflower reproducible - Brief Article

On September 6, 1620, 102 passengers boarded a 90-foot boat and traveled 3,500 nautical miles over 66 days to find a new home. Help students make important connections as they learn about the fascinating Mayflower voyage.

Before You Begin

Gather books about the Pilgrims and the Mayflower voyage and bookmark relevant Web sites for your students to investigate and explore.

Begin by giving the Mayflower reproducible to your students and having them make ship's logs (see below). Explain that this drawing is called a "cutaway" because one side is removed, enabling us to see the inside. As you review the key to different areas of the ship, have your students make a list of questions and things they want to learn about the voyage. Using questions in this unit and those from students, write a new challenge on a sentence strip each day and post it for students to answer.

How Many Children Sailed on the Mayflower?

A surprising number of children emigrated on the Pilgrim ship, nearly one third of all passengers. Give each student 32 beans to represent the Pilgrim children and have them use the diagram as a math mat to solve the following problems:

* How many people are pictured in the Mayflower diagram? How many more passengers were there?

* When the weather was calm, children could run free on the upper deck. If 13 children were above deck, how many were below deck?

* Most of the passengers slept "tween decks." Some slept in the shallop. Divide the children evenly among these two spaces.

* There were no bathrooms on the Mayflower. Washing was done with seawater up on deck. If 9 children rose early to wash, how many were still sleeping?

* There were 21 boys on the ship. How many girls? Help students to calculate the ratio boys:girls in their ship's logs. How does the ratio compare with the numbers in your class?

Extend your activities on the Mayflower children by making paper dolls to decorate your classroom and use in counting and dramatic play. You can learn the names and histories of the Pilgrim boys and girls at http://members.aol.com/calebj

How Big Was the Ship?

Compared with ships today, the Mayflower wasn't overly large. In their ship's logs, let students calculate and record the length of the ship's hull using the scale on the reproducible. Help students compare the size of the ship with other spaces.

* Measure the length of your class-room. Is it larger than the Mayflower?

* Measure the length of the school parking lot. How many Mayflower ships could fit along its length?

* Measure the length of the school gymnasium. Find the difference between its measurement and the Mayflower.

How Long Was the Voyage?

For the passengers aboard the Mayflower, the time passed slowly. They read books and sang songs, but the harsh conditions made it difficult to endure. Finally, after two months at sea, they reached land. Copy the Voyage Time Line (at right) on the board, or make copies to give to your students as bookmarks.

* How many days passed before land was sighted? How many more days did it take for the ship to reach land?

* The Mayflower passengers and crew spent 66 days at sea. Convert this number into weeks and minutes.

* How many days have you been in school this year? Is the number greater or less than 66 days?

* During which season did the colonists spend their first night in Plymouth? Why might this have been difficult for them?

Mayflower Word Problems

* The Mayflower set sail for Plymouth, England, on April 5, 1621. How long had it been away?

SHIP-TO-SHORE READ-ALOUDS

End your mathematical journey with one last entry in your ship's log! Challenge each student to compose his or her own word problems based on mathematical data collected during the "trip." Invite students to exchange papers and use their "quill pens" to solve each other's problems.

* On the Mayflower: Voyage of the Ship's Apprentice and a Passenger Girl, by Kate Waters (Scholastic, 1999).

* Eating the Plates: A Pilgrim Book of Food and Manners, by Lucille Recht Penner (Aladdin, 1997).

* If You Sailed on the Mayflower, by Ann McGovern (Scholastic, 1993).

RELATED ARTICLE: Super Ship's Logs

* Up in the "round house" Captain Jones charted the progress of the Mayflower in a ship's log. Let students create their own ship's logs as they embark on this mathematical journey. Copy the Mayflower diagram, page 52, onto 11" x 18" sheets of paper to create covers. Place the diagram on top of several blank sheets and fasten together with a brad. Tape feathers to the ends of children's pencils to simulate the quill pens used in Colonial times. Use these logs to pose questions, record research, and solve math problems.

What Did the Pilgrims Eat?

Can you imagine eating the same food every day? One of the staples in the Pilgrims' diet was hardtack, a dry, hard biscuit made from flour and water. If possible, make hardtack and do a taste test and some recipe math with your students. Begin by having students copy the hardtack recipe into their ship's logs and record their impressions. Use the hardtack as edible (sort of) manipulatives as you pose math questions to your class. Example: If the 32 children on the Mayfolower each ate two biscuits per day, how many would they eat altogether?