Browsed by
Tag: K-5 math

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

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

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. .

Celebrate our Base 10 Number System! The 100th Day of School

Celebrate our Base 10 Number System! The 100th Day of School

There’s no better excuse to have kids counting all day than the 100th day of school. Often, teachers have students bring in 100 of something that they sort into groups of 10 (you can also have each student bring in 10 of something and then combine them to make 100). Or maybe it’s a project made with 100 of something. Or making tally marks and skip counting by fives to 100. Whatever you choose, it’s the perfect way to celebrate…

Read More Read More

Attitude. Its Effect on Math Ability.

Attitude. Its Effect on Math Ability.

The word ‘math’ conjures up a lot of different feelings in adults. Some have always liked the challenge that math offers. But for far too many, ‘math’ brings up negative emotions. It’s the reason why the sentence, “I was never any good at math” is so widely accepted. But it doesn’t need to be that way. In fact, it shouldn’t be that way. We actually have more control about our feelings towards math than we my think. Since math anxiety…

Read More Read More

The Artistic Side of Math – Area

The Artistic Side of Math – Area

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…

Read More Read More

3-D Geometry

3-D Geometry

Kids love geometry. It’s so hands-on. At least, it should be. I can’t imagine trying to teach kids geometry without letting them draw, cut, design, build. 3-D geometry taught on paper? I don’t think so! Unless, of course, you’re designing nets. And that’s exactly what I did with a group of sixth graders. We were working on volume and I thought it would be fun to re-design the soda can. It required a lot of hands-on work that involved graph…

Read More Read More