Woodlawn School sixth-grader Isaac King, left, draws an expensive meal

One classroom of Lawrence sixth-graders is in the midst of Math Madness. With the Kansas University men’s basketball team in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament, math lessons have turned toward getting students to Detroit.

“Having traveled to the Final Four a couple of times, I decided to do something fun and exciting after coming back from spring break with the kids,” said Haley Bruns, a sixth-grade teacher at Woodlawn School in North Lawrence.

Here’s what the students are figuring out.

Teams of students have to get themselves to Detroit to watch the Jayhawks play. But, as is the case in real life, they must live within a budget. And that’s where the math comes in.

Students search the Internet for directions to Michigan, hotel rooms and activities on Saturday, when the Jayhawks aren’t playing. They are given lunch and dinner bills, and some unforeseen expenses or bonuses : snowstorms, flat tires, a $100 birthday gift from parents.

“Yesterday we got a $200 dinner bill,” Caleb D’Armond said.

“We’ve been trying not to eat so much, and we try to find the right gas prices for where to stop at,” Hannah Copp said.

Each group must track its expenses and get to Detroit and back with the money it’s given.

And it’s not easy.

“It’s way more than you would expect it to be,” Caleb said.

“Finding a hotel (is hard). It’s booked and it’s really high (prices),” Mackenzie Adams said.

And the students aren’t just learning math; they’re learning life lessons that will carry them through adulthood.

“They had to figure gas mileage,” Bruns said. “They have a much better sense of that now, a much better sense of what their parents are spending.”

The class also “booked” trips to the Orange Bowl in Miami and to the first round of the NCAA Tournament in Omaha. If the Jayhawks win in Detroit, the students will be planning a trip to San Antonio.

“It makes me think how much money I need to go to these places, and how much I need to save,” Hannah said.