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?

Daily Morning Worksheet Student Samples

Hi,

I am providing a few samples of how my students answer questions on my Daily Morning Worksheets. These common core aligned worksheets are designed to be used in grades 3-5. They include language arts, math, puzzles, grammar, synonyms, antonyms, and geography questions.  The creativity behind the worksheets stemmed from years of daily morning work questions that I would make up on my own.  The point of the critical thinking sections is to challenge students' thinking and not to come up with one "correct" answer. The class discussion that occurs is the most important part of these exercises. This built in differentiation leads to very high levels of class participation!

Students are expected to complete the sheets in about ten-fifteen minutes every morning.  In this timeframe, students will use dictionaries, thesauruses', atlases, learned math and vocabulary skills, critical thinking, and the understanding behind solving patterns. We review the answers as a class.

My students have honed their skills by using their resources every day. I taught my students how to use dictionaries, atlases, thesauruses, index, glossaries, etc., earlier in the year.  These reference materials stay on the students’ desks all year long for easy accessibility.

I will provide more examples of Daily Morning Worksheets in the coming weeks.  If you are interested in trying this out in your own classroom, here is the link to my free sample on TPT.

Thank you,

Sean

Student Sample 1

Student Sample 2

Figurative Language Snowman Activity

I am posting today about some student samples from our figurative language snowman activity.  This was a project we did in class just before winter break, but it could be a great activity to do as you transition back into the swing of things. 

The students were given strips of similes and metaphors and they were asked to construct a figurative language snowman.  The sentence strips were passed out at random so each snowman would look differently.  Students were asked to place the strips in order from the head to the bottom and draw a picture of their snowman. 

Next, I brought in tangible items to help bring the snowmen to life.  Students had access to circular cardboard, pipe cleaners, wiggly eyes, cotton balls, fabric, felt scraps, construction paper, buttons, feathers, yarn, etc.  Students used these materials to build a three dimensional version of the drawing they previously made.

Finally, students were given two options to write about their snowman.   Students could write about the actual construction of their snowman in a step-by-step process or they could write about their snowman coming to life.  The students had a great time making their snowman and it was a fun way to reinforce the figurative language concepts we have been working hard to develop all year.

If you are interested in this activity, then check out my TPT store.  The snowman activity is sold separately or in my winter figurative language bundle.

Thank you,

Sean 

                                                                 Student Sample 1

  Student Sample 2