March Madness in the classroom can be an engaging theme with lots of high-level and rigorous activities! The students LOVE this theme and can review/learn so many things just by adding in this fun theme! Below I am going to share some easy and fun activities that you can complete during March Madness.
March Madness Book Challenge
This march madness activity is SO simple. Create a bracket on your board and pick read alouds to put on that bracket.
JUST READ the read aloud each day, without the thought of teaching something with it. Of course have discussions, but do this simply for the enjoyment of reading.
Then, students vote on their favorite read aloud until you come up with the best read aloud!
March Madness Reading Challenge
Ya’ll this is SO fun! Students get to become a March Madness basketball team, like a real one! Then, they read RIGOROUS reading passages and answer a high-level question about the passage. Two people will come up to face off. After answering the question they get to shoot the ball. Whoever makes it first moves on in the competition.
Then, the other students get points if they get the question correct. The points allow them to work towards becoming the MVP of the competition.
This can be done over a week or two periods of time. You are reviewing so many content standards and students are having so much fun doing so!
March Madness Math Test Prep Challenge
You can even bring math into the March Madness fun!
For this challenge, they will “face-off” against a different student for each round. If they win, they get to shoot the ball three times (if you have a hoop that is great, if not then you can just use a trash can). If they lose, they get to shoot once. They put their points on the scoreboard.
The player with the most points at the end of 5 rounds wins! You could do this every day for a week or all in one day!
How do they win the round?
They each answer a question on their own and then compare answers. If they are the same, they both get a point. If they are different, they come check the answer key and whoever is right gets the point. If at the end they are tied, they come up to the ref (you) and you get them a lightning question. Whoever answers it correctly first wins!
At the end of this challenge, we took the students to the gym and they had a shoot-off against high school players. This was purely for fun, but a great motivation for working hard during the challenge!
March Madness Read Alouds!
These are some great basketball themed read alouds to read during your March Madness themed unit! Click the book for the affiliate link
Long Shot by Chris Paul
Allie’s Basketball Dream by Barbra E. Barber
Salt in His Shoes by Deloris Jordan
Dino Basketball by Lisa Wheeler
I hope you can enjoy some of these March Madness activities in your classroom!
Hannah Wilde
I am so glad you’re here! I love helping 3rd-5th grade teachers by providing ideas, engaging resources, and professional development they need. I am a literacy coach who is here to help lessen the workload for teachers while making them more confident! I want students to be continually engaged in a rigorous environment!