Who stole the principal's football?

This fun activity has students up and moving to solve a variety of addition, subtraction, 2-3 digit x 1 digit multiplication, division facts, customary measurement, time, reading a bar graph, multiples, order of operations,  money, adding and subtracting decimals, and picture equations- all with a fun Super Bowl and football theme. Students solve the problems and each correct answer gives them a clue in figuring out who took the football, where it is, and why it was taken.

Just print and go- hardly any prep, other than cutting out 10 problems or sharing the student copy of the problems with students electronically, is needed!

Included is a letter to the students about the mystery they have to solve, 10 problems that review a variety of math concepts, student answer sheets encouraging students to show their work, and answer keys for all the problems. Additionally, there is a QR code on the answer sheet that students can use to check their work when they have completed the activity if you have access to tablets in your room.

An electronic copy of just the letter to students, problems, and student work page is included in case you want to share it with students electronically as well.

I did this with a high level third, fourth, and fifth grade group and they really enjoyed it. My third graders took a little longer (about 1 hour) to solve the problems, whereas my fifth graders still had fun but finished more quickly (about 30 minutes). Students don't realize they are solving difficult word problems because they are having too much fun solving the mystery!