Measurement Archives - Page 7 of 8

The Artistic Side of Math – Tessellations

April 20, 2012 Karyn Comments 0 Comment

I love M.C. Escher! I have a whole book on his work and love to share it with my students when we’re studying angle measurement. That’s because we’re going to tie math and art together through modifying polygons similar to how M.C. Escher did it in some of his paintings. It’s all about tessellating shapes and angles. Using pattern blocks, I show students how shapes tessellate. See photo below. Then, I have students determine the angle measurement of each of…

The Artistic Side of Math – Bilateral Symmetry

March 12, 2012 Karyn Comments 0 Comment

This is a super easy, super fun activity to tie art in with bilateral (mirror) symmetry. These are some samples of third and fourth grade work. CCSS: 4.G.3

The Artistic Side of Math – 180-degree Rotational Symmetry

February 15, 2012 Karyn Comments 0 Comment

Crossword puzzles are symmetrical?! That’s usually the response I get after students have been given a chance to look through blank crossword puzzles I’ve cut from the paper. Then I show them how all crosswords are designed with 180-degree rotational symmetry. Starting with 90-degree rotational symmetry, we rotate an object 1/4 the way around the circle. See photo below. Then we rotate an additional 90 degrees so that we end up with a turn of 180-degrees. (We’ve done work in…

Project-Based Learning – Target Practice: Teaching the Area Formula for a Circle

February 14, 2012 Karyn Comments 2 comments

Meaningful math with a purpose! This great hands-on lesson gets students doing math while designing targets. Students become comfortable using the area formula for circles. And the best part is, their targets are set up and used during the school’s fall carnival. Watch the video below for the entire lesson plan. CCSS: 7.G.4 TEKS: 6th grade 6C, 8A, 8B Link to video. .

The Artistic Side of Math – Area

February 12, 2012 Karyn Comments 0 Comment

This is one of my favorite math and art activities. That’s because it involves a mathematical pattern. Using centimeter graph paper, we start with the basic unit which, in this case, is simply one square. I then ask students what they think the area would be if we doubled the size of the square. The first thing they blurt out before thinking is “two”. I then use the graph paper to show them that if I double the square (double…

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