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Bowling Math

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Subjects Educational Technology Mathematics Arithmetic, Statistics Physical Education Games

Grades 3-5, 6-8

Brief Description

Objectives

• learn the rules for scoring a game of bowling.
• use a work sheet to gain practice in figuring bowling scores frame by frame.
• use an online tool to practice bowling math (optional).
• get some exercise by bowling a string and keeping score.

Keywords

Materials Needed

• Bowling Math Work Sheet
• bowling pins (or empty plastic soft drink bottles)
• bowling ball (or a small kickball)

Lesson Plan

Share with students the Bowling Math lesson. Extend the lesson by providing each student with a copy of Education World's Bowling Math Work Sheet. The work sheet includes two different activities. Cut the work sheet in half so the students can do one work sheet now, one later; one with a partner and one independently; or one in class and one for homework. (The work sheet answer key can be found in the Assessment section of this lesson plan.)

Note: Since there are many opportunities for students to make errors as they calculate each bowling frame, you might provide students with the final total for each player. That way, if students get to the last frame and do not have the correct total, they can go back over their work and find their errors.

For more practice, get out the bowling pins (or empty soft drink bottles), play a string, and keep score while you play!

Additional Resources

• Bowling Score Generator Kids can spend hours doing bowling math with this online tool. (Note: This tool might not work in Netscape; you may have to use Explorer as your Internet browser.)
• Family Fun: Keeping Score
• Learn2 Score a Bowling Game
• Physics of Bowling
• Plan a Bowling Birthday Party for Kids

Assessment

Answer Key: The scores below represent the point totals that should appear in each frame on the bowling score sheet.

Bowling Work Sheet 1:

Bowler's Name	Frame
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Jeff	6	26	40	44	53	57	66	66	83	91
Lisa	18	26	35	55	69	76	85	87	96	105
Ellen	5	19	25	33	42	49	58	66	70	87

The winner of the game was Lisa.

Bowling Work Sheet 2:

Bowler's Name	Frame
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Kyle	20	31	35	44	52	59	64	70	81	84
Tanya	20	36	43	49	62	66	74	89	98	106
Josh	7	13	22	29	48	57	69	71	79	85

The winner of the game was Tanya.

Lesson Plan Source

Education World

Submitted By

Gary Hopkins

National Standards

• MATHEMATICS: Number and Operations GRADES 3 - 5
  NM-NUM.3-5.1 Understand Numbers, Ways of Representing Numbers, Relationships Among Numbers, and Number Systems
  NM-NUM.3-5.2 Understand Meanings of Operations and How They Relate to One Another
  NM-NUM.3-5.3 Compute Fluently and Make Reasonable Estimates

• GRADES 6 - 8
  NM-NUM.6-8.1 Understand Numbers, Ways of Representing Numbers, Relationships Among Numbers, and Number Systems
  NM-NUM.6-8.2 Understand Meanings of Operations and How They Relate to One Another
  NM-NUM.6-8.3 Compute Fluently and Make Reasonable Estimates