March Mammals (& more) Madness

 

It's time for another year of March Mammal Madness! It is similar to the NCAA basketball tournament, but with all types of animals and other organisms. This competition was created by Katie Hinde and the MMM Team at ASU with the help of many scientists, artists, and other talented specialist.

Go to their main page to learn more about the competition and find TONS of resources you can use to implement it into your classroom.  I first tried the March Mammal Madness competition in 2020 and loved it as much as my students did (especially with the online schooling as we dealt with COVID!)  Each year the competition gets better and better by challenging the students to do their research to make the best picks on their MMM bracket!  I always find ways to connect the tournament to concepts we've studied in class!  Even better, I love seeing my students make those connections and share them with me!

Official MMM Resources - Go to the link to access the Educator's Guide area of their webpage.  If this is your first year, watch their YouTube video and check out their bracket guide for information to help you make it a great activity for you and our students.  They also offer a slide deck that is ready to use to introduce the competition to your students.  This page also provides links to lesson plans (many subects other than science) and a link to an amazing list of resources created by teachers who love MMM!  Check the list before starting from scratch for MMM activities!

 

My Resources (links to official resources are included)

• Teacher Presentation (Google Slides) - Check out slides 2 -4 in the teacher presentation for more information about each slide/activity and a proposed schedule if this is your first time trying the competition. The other digital files that go with the presentation are listed below.

• Digital Bracket + Notes - Includes the official MMM bracket (on slide 3) along with an introduction slide to review the basics and sample battles for students to predict winners based on information provided by the MMM team. The offical bracket, notes page, and sample battles worsheet are also available in PDF format.

• 2026 Combatant Guide - This PDF file is a redesigned version of the official info slides. I rearranged the slides so each round 1 battle in on one page, which makes it easier for our students to compare the combatants.

• Classification Activities (Google Slides) - Check out this assignment for two classification you can use with the MMM project. We usually started the year with a unit on classification, so this is used as a review of important topics from those lessons. Teacher information, digital slides for student notebooks, and slides to present the lessons in class are included in the Google Slides set. Printable worksheets (PDF) for each activity are also availalble.  They are set to print in landscape view and will fit on regular paper.

• Scouting Report - I print a list of the combatants and cut them apart so teams can draw a slip to select the organism they will research for the project.  I print the reports and use them to make a large hallway display.  After each battle, we cross off the ones who lost their battles so everyone can see what is happening!

• Kid Zone - Click the 2026 MMM logo in the bottom right corner to access links your students can use to get ready for this year's competition. The page also includes a link to a results bracket that will be updated after each round of battles. I will add more links as resources are developed.

• MMM Favorite Picks - Google Form - Students complete this form after the finialize their brackets.  The form asks them to submit their picks for the wild card, each division, and the chamption. I share the results with the kids and add stars on the pictures of the top picks from our school.  Note: The link should force you to make a copy you can share with your students.

• Quizlet Vocabulary Challenge - I created this vocab set on Quizlet to use with our 5th & 6th graders.  It's a good overview of the basics of the tournament and animal classification.  My students love the match game option to see how fast they can complete it.  They also love playing as teams in the "live" version.

 

Questions?  Refer back to the March Mammal Madness main page, which has a wealth of resources for those new to the competion as well as those who have participated many years.  You can also follow them on social media, such as Facebook.