Educators concerned about student engagement often look for fun activities and themed lessons. Winter-themed math lessons help students master required concepts and celebrate the season. Sixth-grade lessons that include the use of technology, varied assessments and real-world applications hold students' attention while imparting math content.

How Much Water in Snow?
Kalispell Public Schools in Montana provide a measurement activity for middle school. Students collect various amounts of snow as assigned by the teacher. Cups of snow melt when left overnight or put on a hot plate. Each student measures his resulting volume of water and writes a ratio of water to snow. Similar results will occur throughout the class, culminating in a teacher-led discussion of the moisture content of snow. The lesson provides necessary formulas and expected outcomes.

All I Want for Christmas
Alabama teacher Leah Drauch offers this Christmas-themed math lesson to educators. Students create a "Santa list" of items they desire (although another holiday or generic wish list is an option) using Microsoft Excel. Students create columns labeled Item, Estimated Price and Actual Price, then research the answers using the Internet. The Sum formula tallies actual cost of listed items so students stay under the given budget amount. Students attempting this assignment need a working knowledge of Microsoft Excel, its Sum formula and Internet navigation.

Packing for Antarctica
Ohio teacher Marianne Kaput provides an excerpt from "The Antarctic Participant Guide" for student reading. Students make packing lists and "shop" online at llbean.com (or other teacher-provided link). Within a budget of $1,000, students choose items and create an Excel spreadsheet. The spreadsheet includes columns for descriptions and prices and calculates total purchase amount using formulas. Students format data as currency in selected columns. The lesson includes a packing checklist and scoring guide for teachers.

Snowflake Detectives
In this geometry lesson presented by Michigan Technological University, students gather snowflakes on black fabric stretched across needlepoint hoops. Groups examine their snowflakes under microscopes or magnifying glasses and sketch two-dimensional representations. Students examine each drawing and categorize using the teacher-provided crystal shapes chart and geometric descriptors. The class views similar experiments by experts at weatherunderground.com and compares its results.

Cold Enough?
The Illinois State Board of Education provides this data analysis and data display lesson for use during January. Students predict the number of days above 20 degrees (or other mark according to local climate) and then record outdoor temperature every school day during the month. After gathering data, students graph the results and compare with their predictions. Based on their accuracy and knowledge of changing seasons, the class makes predictions for February.