Lumberjack Math is comprised of an introductory history lesson and five associated math lessons. An interactive slideshow presentation and associated video activities introduce students to the lumber industry, and the workings of a turn-of-the-twentieth-century logging camp. With this knowledge in hand, students are then ready to begin their greenhorn year as a lumberjack working for the Northwoods Lumber Company.
Five sets of video clips introduce your student-lumberjacks to a variety of jobs within the lumber camp, each requiring them to apply math concepts and hone their skills. Engaging first-person video clips ask students to help the company’s timber cruiser, and the camp’s barn boss, cook, clerk, and foreman with everyday math required in the logging camp. Each lesson supplies students with worksheets (fillable PDFs or editable Microsoft Word documents) that have space to complete the math problems. Each lesson also includes a lesson plan that illustrates how the video clips and worksheets combine to meet the lesson objectives.
Meeting the needs of a range of learners is difficult to do in a set curriculum. To make Lumberjack Math as flexible as possible, you can download editable versions of the slideshow presentation, and all lesson worksheets. You can edit the contents to ensure that that every one of your students, from the struggling mathematician to the high achiever, can benefit from the interdisciplinary learning experiences offered here. Please note that using different computers and document programs to open the editable files may change the formatting. These were created on a PC using Microsoft Word.
We hope that Lumberjack Math will bring history to life for your students through interdisciplinary and multimedia problem solving. We believe the content and material included in Lumberjack Math will improve students’ general understanding of the economics and decision-making of a logging camp, and provide a unique opportunity for them to apply their math skills. We trust that Lumberjack Math can be integrated into your history, and/or math curriculum, and will provide much needed coverage of an important part of the American story.
TEACHING WITH LUMBERJACK MATH
One of the strengths of Lumberjack Math is the flexibility with which the materials can be implemented into your middle school math or history classroom. Depending on how thoroughly you are able to incorporate components into your existing curriculum, you can spend anywhere from several hours to several weeks of class time teaching with the slideshow presentation, video clips, and math lessons.
Preparing to Teach with Lumberjack Math
In preparing to teach with Lumberjack Math, you should familiarize yourself with the resources included, and the math skills developed in each lesson. First, view the introductory slideshow presentation along with the introductory video segments. Next, preview the lesson video segments in the order they are presented within each lesson (Timber Cruiser, Barn Boss, Cook, Clerk, Foreman). As you watch the video segments, look over the associated lessons plans for each of the sections. You can use the “Math Skills by Lesson” guide, which provides an overview of the math required in each of the lessons. Now that you are familiar with the contents of Lumberjack Math, you are ready to implement all, or select parts of it, into your classroom.
Using Individual Math Lessons in One or Two Class Periods
Regardless of how you decide to use Lumberjack Math in your classroom, we recommend introducing your students to the logging camp by showing them the introductory slideshow presentation along with the introductory video segments. You can choose to have your students complete the introductory lesson that uses the slideshow presentation and the video clips, or you can simply use the slideshow presentation, video clips, and a class discussion to introduce the historical context in which the math lessons are going to be presented.
Once students have an understanding of the workings of an early twentieth century logging camp, they will be better able to understand the context of the remaining lessons. Because all of the remaining lessons are designed to stand alone, you can then use the “Math Skills by Lesson” guide to pick individual lessons to present to your students at various points throughout the academic year. This approach allows you to tailor Lumberjack Math to fit nicely into your existing math or social studies curriculum.
Before implementing an individual lesson, spend some time reviewing the lesson plan, and making any changes to the worksheets provided. Each lesson plan includes vocabulary terms that you may need to review with your students before they begin work on the lesson.
Getting the Most Out of Lumberjack Math
While we designed each math lesson to stand alone, we designed Lumberjack Math, as a whole, in chronological order. By following the lessons sequentially, students learn about the lumber industry, and the individual jobs within a logging camp while developing their math skills. This approach also allows you to play the lumber baron, and make changes by adjusting schedules, employment levels, food, and supply orders, etc. If you choose to follow this model, you are able to adjust the math required in each lesson.
As with the individual lesson approach, we recommend beginning a more comprehensive use of Lumberjack Math with the historical introductory lesson. In this context, the lesson serves as an introduction to your student-lumberjacks’ first year in the logging camp. As the lessons unfold, your students will prove surprisingly mobile during their first year, and be asked to assist several members of the logging camp in their daily tasks. We recommend having your students travel through Lumberjack Math in this chronological order: Timber Cruiser, Barn Boss, Cook, Clerk, and Foreman.
Prior to introducing each of the remaining five lessons, it is a good idea to review the lesson plan, and make any changes to the math worksheets you feel would best serve your students. Each lesson also includes vocabulary lists that highlight industry-specific terms and language you may have to help your students to understand. Most lessons have extension activities that are easy to implement for the fast worker.
While we have presented implementation suggestions above, there is no one way to incorporate the teaching resources into your course. Please take time to watch the videos and read the materials so you can select the components that will work best with your students. However, you decide to utilize Lumberjack Math, we hope it engages your students, expands their understanding about the economics of logging, and helps address your academic standards or curricular goals.
MATH SKILLS BY LESSON
Lesson |
Math Skill |
Social Studies Skill |
|---|---|---|
| Introduction to Lumberjack Math | N/A | Development of industry |
| Timber Cruiser | Whole numbers Fractions Decimals Using variables Using formulas Using a table Solving application problems |
Decision-making Development of industry |
| Barn Boss | Whole numbers Decimals Measurement Using variables Using formulas Solving application problems |
Decision-making Reasoning skills Development of industry |
| Cook | Whole numbers Decimals Measurement Ratio Proportional relationships Solving application problems |
Decision-making Reasoning skills Development of industry |
| Clerk | Whole numbers Decimals Solving application problems |
Decision-making Reasoning skills Personal finance Development of industry |
| Foreman | Whole numbers Decimals Finding averages Solving application problems |
Decision-making Reasoning skills Microeconomic concepts Development of industry |
ACADEMIC STANDARDS ALIGNMENT
The teaching materials in Lumberjack Math will help you meet your curricular objectives and academic standards, whether they are content, or skills related. We have aligned standards and benchmarks from the collections listed below with each component in Lumberjack Math, and at each grade level (5–8). This way, standards connections are easy to access at every grade level addressed.
- Lumberjack Math Minnesota Social Studies Standards alignment
- Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards in Social Studies, published in 2011 by the Minnesota Department of Education.
- Lumberjack Math Minnesota Math Standards alignment
- Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards in Mathematics, published in 2007 by the Minnesota Department of Education.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
- Visit the Forest History Center in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, for a hands-on, early twentieth century lumberjack experience, to learn about Minnesota, and to explore the forest environment
- Minnesota Historical Society History Live Logging Class (IVC)
- Minnesota Historical Society Lumbering in Minnesota class at the Minnesota History Center
- Credits
Books and Articles Referenced in the Creation of Lumberjack Math
- Cassens, Daniel. Log and Tree Scaling Techniques. Purdue University, Forestry and Natural Resources, Timber Processing.
- Durbin, William. Blackwater Ben. Wendy Lamb Books, 2003.
- Edmonds, Michael. Out of the Northwoods: The Many Lives of Paul Bunyan. Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2009.
- Lasky, Kathryn, Illustrated by Kevin Hawkes. Marven of the Great North Woods. Houghton Mifflin, 2002.
- Larson, Agnes. History of the White Pine Industry in Minnesota. University of Minnesota Press, 2007.
- O’Meara, Walter. The Trees Went Forth. Crown Publishers, 1947.