Maggie's Activity Pack

Maggie’s Activity Pack

Name ______

Date ______

Traveling to the Winter Olympics: Vancouver

Get ready! The world’s athletes will assemble in chilly Canada in February, 2010. Many fans and supporters will also make the journey to Vancouver. Some may stand in freezing temperatures to cheer on the bobsledders and snowboarders. Others will sit in ice arenas to clap and cheer for their favorite ice dancers or hockey teams. As you read each of the math problems below, you will discover more about the many venues that will host the competitors and spectators as the world gathers to share the joy of the winter games!

1. Want to watch the snowboarders as they flip in the air or bump along the moguls? If so, you can make the 30 minute drive from the city of Vancouver to Cypress Mountain. You are sure to gasp as you watch the aerial antics of the talented snowboarders.

If you leave your hotel in Vancouver at 10:20, stop for a 20 minute breakfast, and then wait for 15 minutes for the bus that will take you on the 30 minute ride to the snowy Cypress Mountain, what time will you arrive at this venue?

I will arrive at ______.

2. The Pacific Coliseum will be home to two skating events: the always popular figure skating and short track speed skating. It will take 50 people to transform the rink from a figure skating venue to a track for speed skaters. These workers will get the rink ready for events in many ways including putting up platforms and changing padding. It will take 15 minutes to make the major changes and then another 45 minutes to make sure all minor details are ready for the next set of competitors. Even the temperature needs to be adjusted. When figure skaters are gracefully spinning in the air, the coliseum should be 18 degrees Celsius. For the racing speed skaters, this needs to be lowered by two degrees.

If the figure skaters leave the ice at 10:30 pm on one night, what time will the Pacific Coliseum be ready for the speed skaters?

It will be ready at ______.

Think: A specialist will be monitoring the temperature at all times. Why do you think the thermostat can’t just be lowered to 16 degrees Celsius when it is time for speed skating?

______

3. The Whistler Sliding Centre may consist of several tracks for bobsled, luge, and skeleton racing, but it has another important distinction. It is a spiritual place, too. It was built on sacred land of two of Canada’s First Nation tribes. The place has won several awards for its construction and is sure to be a highlight of the Winter Games. The many tracks will draw large crowds to cheer the speeding men and women on their way toward the finish line. The men’s double luge track and women’s luge track is 1198 meters in length. The men’s single luge track is 1374 meters long, while the bobsled and skeleton track is 1450 meters in length.

How much longer is the men’s single luge track than the men’s double luge track?

The men’s single luge track is ______longer than the men’s double luge track.

4. The Richmond Olympic Oval will host many of the speed skating events. About 8000 spectators will be able to sit in seats around the 400 meter track. But this isn’t all that can be found in this huge building that covers 6.4 acres. There are fitness rooms, a childcare center, health facilities, and press rooms. The building is so large that four jets could be lined up inside it! Decorating this site are depictions of native Canadian fish along with abstract art showing the Chinese Dragon Dance.

If the average price for a ticket to a speed skating event is $50 and all tickets are sold for this event, how much money will be made on this one event?

A total of ______could be made.

5. If you like ice hockey, the Canada Hockey Place is THE place to be! This arena will hold 19,300 spectators as they cheer for their favorite world hockey team. This will be the first Olympic Games where the ice hockey rink size will be the same as it is in the National Hockey League. In the past, players have skated on a larger rink of 61 x 30 meters. In February 2010, players will take to the ice on the smaller rink of 61 x 26 meters.

Why do you think Olympic officials decided to make this change? Use math to help you write your answer.

______

6. The Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Vancouver Winter Olympics will take place in the BC Place Stadium. About 55,000 people can watch from seats inside this downtown venue. They may even want to visit here in the evenings as the nightly victory ceremonies are scheduled for the BC Place.

If there were events being held at the BC Place, the Richmond Olympic Oval, and the Canada Hockey Place, how many people would be spectators (if all seats were sold)?

There would be ______spectators.

Dear Colleague, It’s almost upon us once again – the Olympics! Be it the gymnastics of the Summer Games or the Curling of the Winter Games, Maggie’s Earth Adventures is here to help you use that natural enthusiasm your students bring to the classroom every morning after watching the exciting events during the previous evening. We always try to take this time to integrate as many subject areas as possible with the fervor for the athletes and their sports. In this activity we introduce your class to many of the venues that soon will be on the tip of all of our tongues once February arrives. As usual, we try to offer lots of facts, but not all of the numbers in the text need to be used to solve the problems. But that’s part of the activity, and of real-life math, as we want our students to learn to ignore unnecessary numbers as they arrive at conclusions. Intermediate students may not be able to multiply two-digit numbers yet, but they can use “the power” of 10 to arrive at an answer for Question 4. Primary teachers may want to take a look at this question and offer it as a challenge to those who finish quickly or to those who need an extension. With that, I am reminded that you do not need to be using both versions of an entire activity. Perhaps you will want to pick and choose problems to write on the board as extensions. You can also cut apart a primary activity to hand to any students who need to think about a question in simpler terms. To extend this lesson, ask children to make predictions as to what a building might look like. Allow them to sketch one or two venues before checking the official Olympic website to see pictures: http://www.vancouver2010.com/venues/ After examining this site, you may want your class to make a map of Vancouver showing all the sporting spots. Brochures could detail the travel time between places. What a way to integrate math and geography! Look for more meaningful Olympic curricular connections. And let us know what sports your students are interested in – we’d love to know how we can motivate them, using their athletic interests! Happy teaching, Kathy

Answer Key: 1. 11:25 2. 11:30 *Note that the number of people watching the event may affect the temperature! 3. 176 meters 4. $400,000 5. One of the reasons this change was agreed on is that there would be more room for spectators around the rink. Some children may use the figures to discuss this. 6. 82,300

Goals: Students will read about various venues for the 2010 Winter Olympics to be held in Vancouver, Canada. They will use the information in the text to solve math problems. The activity is available on primary and intermediate levels and correlates with the Number and Operations Strand and the Problem Solving Strand of NCTM’s standards.