Area Lesson Follow Up

I have posted some recent math lessons that have been quite helpful for my class.   I'm trying to keep the students engaged in all things mathematics. The students seem to understand the math concepts through multiple approaches such as exciting math games, CGI strategies, Number Talks, mental math questions, exploring number patterns, higher level thinking questions and the use of tool kits. I truly believe we are on our way to a deeper level of understanding.

A student who showed multiple ways of solving a problem.

One of my favorite things to teach is writing.  Well... it is part of my Blog name.  Every year I try to develop the best writers any teacher could ask for in his/her class. Teaching writing takes time and a lot of patience, especially at the third grade level.  Students have so many unique ways of saying things orally, but if you ask them to write it down, it doesn't always translate into what they really mean.   Believe it or not, this is the part of the job that I enjoy the most!  

There is a bulletin board section in my room reserved for writing.  Each student has writing pieces that are pinned monthly. By the end of the year, you can see the growth within each student. The writing samples are placed from most recent to beginning of the year.

I hope you visit my blog from time to time because I am going to offer a plethora of writing strategies that have benefited my students for years. I try my best to create students who develop a lifelong passion for writing.  

I am always open to feedback and comments.  If you have lessons that have been effective in your own class, then I would love to hear about them.

PS- As a follow up to yesterday's area lesson I asked students to play the game (with the deck of cards or dice) with someone at home.  Here is a picture of what one student did with his dad.

Finding Area in Fun Ways

We are flying through the year and the class is doing an amazing job.  Room 18 has been trying new ideas from a variety of educational resources. Maybe some of you use Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, TpT, etc., regardless, the resources are are out there.  World wide teacher collaboration rocks! There are so many teachers offering great lessons.

I got this cool idea from Pinterest. Hats off to the creator of this math strategy! We tried it out and the kids were asking to play again.

Directions:

• A game for 2-3 players
• Each player chooses a color pencil, crayon, or marker they will use
• Players take turns rolling the dice, using the numbers that they rolled to draw the perimeter of a rectangle/square and writing the area in the middle of the shape
• Game ends when players run out of room to draw
• Winner is the player who has used the largest area/most squares

In addition to this idea, we have been using math grids for other reasons as well.  I'll call out a number and the students have to find the area, as many ways as possible, while using different shapes.  For example, if I call for the number 24, then the students cover the area of 24 in as many different ways as they can.  Color coding helps a lot to show differentiation.

Here is another idea I have used in my classroom.  You can ask students to make a complex figure and total the area of the figure.  Check out this great blog post here.

This week we changed up the dice game.  I had students play an area game with a deck of cards
Directions:

• Students will need a deck of cards and graph paper
• Students draw two random cards from the deck
• The first card may represent the length and the second card can represent the width or vice-versa  
• Students will need to use different colors if playing against an opponent
• Explain the formula- (area = l x w ) or review strategies that you have taught for finding area
• Students graph the area of the cards drawn  
• If students draw a 9 and 4, then the student would color or outline 36 square units 
• Students can complete this activity alone or in partners
• Students might want to be clever and strategically place their square units
• Winner is the player who has used the largest area/most squares

We played this game in my class and here is what our learning looked like!

What creative ideas do you have for teaching area?