Math Lessons

Using the Hudson River

Students waving at a ship on the river
Students can track boat movement on the Hudson River to
practice addition and subtraction skills.

These lessons use data from studies of the Hudson River and its creatures to construct word problems that require mathematics skills for their solution. A number of the lessons present information in tables or bar graphs that students must interpret to answer questions. Several also build geography skills through use of Hudson River Miles, a system which uses mile numbers to locate points on the river. Be sure to download a copy of the "Hudson River Miles Map" for these lessons.

A range of difficulty is presented in these lessons. "On the Trail of the Blue Crab," for example, focuses on subtraction skills and uses numbers no larger than two digits. "On the Trail of the Hudson's Migratory Fish," on the other hand, requires addition of as many as three figures, some of them three digit numbers. In the "Tens! Hundreds!! Thousands!!! Of Tons" lessons, students must calculate means using numbers in the tens of thousands.

The lesson content links to subject matter covered in other offerings from the Hudson River Estuary Program. "On the Trail of the Blue Crab," for instance, links to the English Language Arts reading "Blue Claw!" while "Tracking the Salt Front" links to the science lesson "Finding the Salt Front."

On the Trail of the Hudson's Migratory Fish

Students practice addition and subtraction skills by tracking the movements of migratory fish of the Hudson River estuary.

On the Trail of the Blue Crab

Students practice subtraction skills by tracking the movements of blue crabs in the Hudson River estuary.

Tracking the Salt Front

In this two part lesson, students use math skills and bar graphs of salinity data for the Hudson estuary to understand the movements of the salt front in response to storms and other weather events.

Teacher Section for "Tracking the Salt Front"
pdf of Teacher Section for "Tracking the Salt Front" (pdf, 160 kb)
Student Section: "Tracking the Salt Front" (pdf, 110 kb)

Add & Subtract with Hudson River Shipping

Students practice addition and subtraction skills by following the movements of ships, tugboats, and barges on the Hudson River estuary.

NEW! Big Boats Up The River - draft

Designed for younger students (Grades 2-3), this lesson requires students to interpret a table of information about ships and cargoes handled at the Port of Albany on the Hudson.

Teacher Section for "Big Boats Up The River"
pdf of Teacher Section for "Big Boats Up The River" (pdf, 190 kb)
Student Section: "Big Boats Up The River" (120 kb pdf)

NEW! Tens! Hundreds!! Thousands!!! Of Tons - draft

Aimed at Grade 5 and older students, this lesson presents data about the tons of cargo handled at the Port of Albany, and requires students to use estimation and to calculate means using numbers as big as tens of thousands.

Mathematics Lesson Package

Teacher and student sections for all of the lessons above in one pdf file, paginated to allow back to back copying.

Mathematics Lesson Package (pdf, 1 MB)

Hudson River Miles Map (190 kb pdf)*Note: This is set for legal (8.5 inches x 14 inches) paper to maximize legibility, but it will work on letter (8.5 inches x 11 inches) paper as well. To obtain legal size copies, you may need to use the options in your computer's print menu to specify printout on legal size paper.