ART of the fun of being an educator is exploring new ways of approaching a subject. While teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) to pupils in France, I was personally known to leap atop desks to recite Shakespeare, conduct a square dance, and lead a sing-song taken from the score to Camelot. (All of which is somewhat ironic, given that I’m tone-deaf and look rather odd in tights.) However, if I taught elementary school math, I now know one tack I’d certainly take….

Students in Susan Hoffman’s sixth-grade class at Jacks Valley Elementary School got a math lesson Tuesday afternoon that they’re possibly not soon to forget. After all, the lessons the elementary school students were learning were … “elementary.”

“Mastering Math - A Sherlock Holmes Problem Solving Mystery” is a musical play, featuring several musical numbers including, He’s Mastering Math, I Just Want to Solve a Mystery, Guess and Check, Work Backwards, Draw a Table, Act It Out, A Picture’s Worth a Thousand Words, Find a Pattern and Four Steps.

Read the full story at the Record-Courier. Educators looking to order the play/CD package or sample the songs can find it at Bad Wolf Press.