Super Sleuth Summer Math Camp

One of my favorite things about tutoring math is the opportunity to host summer math camps. Kids get the feeling that math is a subject in school, one to be loathed and avoided if possible. But when these kids get the opportunity to play and have fun with math, their mindset changes!

Last year I invited 5 boys that finished 4th and 5th grade to explore math from a detective perspective. It was a BLAST. Each week we explored a different branch (in the teaching world we call them domains) of math, from the Base-Ten number system (otherwise called place value) to thinking algebraically. We looked for clues in story problems and identified key language that tells us how to set up the problem.

After a snack, we spent some time on indeividual skill building based on each of the boy's personal skill levels. I also provided a packet for practice each week, for which they were awarded a little prize the following week for doing their "homework."

The highlight of each session was the Break-Out room, or Escape Room. Here's an example of the first week. The Slueth cadet got a call from head quarters to check out an abandon wharehouse. A Theif was on the loose and that was last place he was seen. Upon walking into the "wharehouse" the power went out. They had to use their keen sense of direction and problem solving to find the clues to first get the power on, and then finally get the answers they we looking for.

Each clue was related somehow to the math we worked on that day, so they had fun solving the puzzles and solving the mystery. In the end they each got a little prize for solving the mystery!