One of the most common questions teachers hear from students is: "Why do I need to know this?" So I find articles to illustrate how most basic math skills can be drawn-out of features in USA TODAY, saying "here's where you can apply what you're learning in the real world."

An incredibly valuable aspect of USA TODAY is the natural interest that students have in a paper with so much color, art and graphics. I use the Weather Page and the SPORTS section to generate probability and statistics questions. Interest is easily sparked because we're dealing with current events that are appearing in a stimulating newspaper. Students are very interested in such topics as professional and college sports, celebrities and entertainment, and even some of the business endeavors featured in MONEY.

One of the standards for mathematical instruction is to utilize reading activities to teach math, and USA TODAY helps me to achieve that objective. It also helps me to integrate other curriculum areas, such as writing and researching, into a student's set of math skills, thus reinforcing the learning of essential math skills through hands-on activities.