12 Activities for 12-12-12!

12-12-12 is only a few days away, and it won't come around again for another hundred years. What can you do with your students to celebrate? Try some (or all) of these fun ideas.

1.  Challenge your students to write a short story using twelve sentences that each contain exactly twelve words.

2.    Have your students come up with twelve different challenging equations that all equal 12.

3.    Incorporate the season by having your students solve these 12 free story problems based on the Christmas Carol, "The Twelve Days of Christmas."

4.    Have your students make a list of their twelve favorite books of all time.

5.    Surprise your students with a fun treat in twelves, for example, 12 Tootsie Rolls, 12 pretzels, 12 Skittles etc.

6.    Use a map to discover what lies 112 miles north, east, south, and west of your town.

7.    Have your students write about what they think their lives will be like in twelve years. Or alternatively, have them write about what they think the world will be like on 12-12 -2112.

8.    Choose a question with 3-4 more or less equal responses (e.g. which of these is your favorite Christmas treat.) For homework on December 11th, have each student query twelve different people and tally the results. Then use the results to create a class bar graph.

9.   Read twelve short poems out loud throughout the day. Or, tell 12 jokes.

10. In PE, do drills in twelves: 12 sit ups, 12 jumping jacks, 12 laps around the gym, 12 ball tosses, 12  seconds balancing on a balance board etc.

11.Play Dictionary Blitz (a game I just made up). Give each student or pair of students a dictionary. Set an alarm for 12 seconds. When you say the mystery word (which can be any word you want), students have to find the word before the alarm sounds. Just be sure to emphasize that students must still be sure to handle their dictionaries carefully (no torn/wrinkled pages).

12.Have your students complete this free 12-12-12 Challenge which involves a combination of writing, research, math, and creative thinking.