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Tag: hands-on 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…

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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…

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Beginning Multiplication: Circling Multiples

Beginning Multiplication: Circling Multiples

Here is a super easy activity to do with student who are learning multiplication. I use patterned paper or wrapping paper cut into 8.5 x 11. I place them in sheet protectors and students use wet erase markers to circle groups of a given number. In this example, groups of 4 are being circled. Then students write the equation. An example could be: 4 x 8 = 32. This is a great activity for younger students who are learning to…

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The Artistic Side of Math – Pointillism

The Artistic Side of Math – Pointillism

Tying in pointillism are during a unit on fractions, decimals, and percents is perfect! How? It begins with painter Georges Seurat. Seurat was a post-impressionist painter who painted by placing tiny, preceise brush strokes of different colors close to one another so they blend at a distance. I share with the students his painting The Circus and we discuss the patience it probably took to paint the whole thing using tiny dots! I then pass out loupes and colored comics…

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