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I chose an activity on symmetry, the beginnings of geometry. It relates to
bugs, and kids love bugs! Students are given sheets of construction paper which is to be folded in half. The students will then drop paint onto the paper in droplets. The paper is folded over so that the paint transfers to the other side of the paper. The students are to watch a video called Creepy Crawlers while the paint is drying in the paper. When the paper is dryed and unfolded, the teacher asks questions. What happened to the paint? How did you make the sides look the same? Are the two sides exactly the same? And, what does this picture remind you of? The children may then cut out their paintings to look like bugs. Afterward, the teacher will review the meaning of symmetry and ask the children to find other examples of symmetry around the classroom. I chose this activity because kids like bugs, they like art, and bugs or animals are a good way to show both simple and complex symmetry. The students are creating their own models of symmetry, something that they can keep. Then they are asked to use this knowledge of symmetry to find other examples aound the classroom. A friend of mine has a little girl in third grade. Last year her class did something similar except with butterflies. The picture was so beautiful, a type of abstract butterfly, that her mother framed it and hung it in her room.
Amy Bishop (abishop@vt.edu)
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The lesson plan I chose, , is a math activity on tangrams. It attracted my attention because it was a different approach to tangrams than the ones we used in class. As you probably remember, the tangram story Tami read was really good, but you had trouble making the animals. It's a little bit difficult for children just being introduced to these shapes to start creating such complex creatures. The activity I have found still cuts the tangrams from the square in the same way that we did with Tami's activity. After the shapes are cut, the children are allowed to explore with their shapes, either by re-creating the square that they began with or making smaller squares and shapes. Other activities in this lesson plan include: having the students arrange the shapes from smallest to largest, and have them verify their arrangement. Have them see how many different sized squares they can make with the different triangles, and count how many triangles are in each square. This is a great introduction to tangrams and the learning materials tangrams have to offer. It is not as intimidating as having to create complex animals. I think it would be a really neat activity that would not put any stress on the children.
Angie R. Thomasson (angie.thomasson@vt.edu)
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I chose a measurement lesson plan called Integrating Math into a Spring Thematic Unit. This lesson plan not only includes measurement, it provides practice using addition, subtraction, ><, bar graphs, estimation, prediction, and creating patterns. The teacher breaks up her classroom into small groups and gives each group a bag of jelly beans. First, they are asked to estimate the weight of the bag. Then they have to weigh it and see how close they were. The next step is to estimate how many jelly beans are in each bag, then count them to see who was the closes. The third step is to measure a jelly bean with a ruler. Next, they are asked to separate the jelly beans by flavor and see which one has the least and most amount. The children then have to put greater than and less than between the different flavors of jelly beans on their worksheet. The worksheet also has the students answer some addition problems using their results from the amount of each flavor of jelly bean. Finally the students are asked to put the jelly beans in groups of 2 and 4. This practices their counting. Then the instructions say to create a pattern with your jelly beans. The students are asked to taste each flavor of jelly bean and consult with their peers to create a bar graph of the results of the best to worst. Once they have completed the assignments, they are allowed to break up the remaining jelly beans equally and eat them. I liked this activity because it integrated many concepts in one lesson. The students could polish their addition skills and work on their prediction skills, while learning about measurement and graphs. The students were also allowed to eat the jelly beans at the end, I think this is a good idea, because it rewards them for their work. The students were allowed to participate in their learning and work as groups to estimate their answers. This shows kids that they have to work as a team and decide on one answer. The only thing I didn't like was the random activities. I felt this activity involved too many different exercises in one. Maybe they should have left out a couple of them to decrease the chance of boredom. This activity is set up for 2nd through 4th graders. I believe this activity could last a hour if done correctly. This is too long to allow second graders to work alone. They might get distracted and not complete the assignments. Although if you eliminated just a few parts of this activity, I believe it would be better. Now I know what your going to ask. What parts would you eliminate. I would eliminate the one telling the kids to put the beans in a pattern. Does this have anything to do with measurement. The second part I would eliminate is the addition. I think the <> is more important to the concept of measurement than the addition is. I think these parts were just added to take up more time. Although, maybe I'm wrong.
Jason Brennan (jabrenna@vt.edu)
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I found this real cool lesson on Pentominoes. It may have been the one we were looking at in class - I'm not certain. Anyhow, it is a lesson dealing with five squares of the same size. You are to put them together so they are all connented, each one has to connect with one full side of another square. The object is to put together as many different pentominoes as possible. Students place their squares on graph paper, trace the object, then cut it out.
It is a pretty cool activity, but the emphasis in the article is on classroom management. This is why I found it so interesting. Say you have a classroom that just doesn't fit the mold of those in the videos and readings we have been doing. You have a bunch of knuckleheads that just goof of when in groups. Or even worse, your principal doesn't like collaborative learning or noisy classrooms. This activity lays out different and specific roles that each student has to play throughout the activity. One student is the materials manager, strictly involved with getting all the correct materials for the group and is the only student allowed out of their seat during the activity. Another student is Principal Investigator - he or she is the only one allowed to speak outside to group during the activity. These roles are very straightforward. I think it is a neat and different approach to collaborative learning. And it's a cool activity.
Jeff Meehan (jmeehan@vt.edu)
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I chose a lesson plan which deals with measurement of volume. I thought it was pretty interesting, and it sounds like it could be fun. The lesson plan actually doesn't have much of a procedure to follow, it is left up to the children to decide what to do. The teacher merely divides the children into groups, gives them the materials (scissors and tape and paper), and tells them to make a square centimeter, inch and meter and then a cubic centimeter, inch and meter. The lack of a exact procedure allows for problem solving and cooperation between the children. When the students are done building the boxes, they elect one member of the group to explain what they had done. I liked this lesson plan because it involves teamwork and allows room for creativity. It is actually quite a simple lesson plan, but is adequate nonetheless.
Jennifer Sykes (jsykes@vt.edu)
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The Internet Pizza Serverseems like an interesting way to engage elementary students in a geometry activity. Students use the Internet to create their own pizza. They also calculate the area of the different size pizzas in order to determine which pizza is the best buy. In order to be able to do this activity, students must understand the basics of Internet use and how to find the area of a circle. Because this activity uses the Internet, it may be a drawback for some schools or students. However, use of the Internettechnology is beneficial to students in the long run. This activity is also applicable to real life situations. Students practice determining prices of pizzas and whether or not the prices are a good buy. Overall, I would highly recommend this interactive activity. It not only practices geometry skills, but skills that focus on unit price, proportions, and data collection as well.
Jonathan E. Schulz (guoii@vt.edu)
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I chose the RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AREA AND PERIMETER activity because, while it does a solid job of comparing perimeter to area, it also hits a few other math concepts. By having the students construct all of the different rectangles using a certain number of tiles, they can see that different shapes that have the same area do not have the same perimeter. At the same time, they are incidentally reviewing factors, since the length and width of each different rectangle represent the factors of the area (number of tiles). It also gives the kids some experience working with the relationships between squares and rectangles. I like that is quick and to the point; you could definitely get through it during one class session and it has a clearly illustrated endpoint of a square being the shape that has the smallest perimiter for a given area. It also seems to use manipulatives properly, in the sense that the children use them as tools in a well directed activity, but must also play around with them to discover for themselves the possible combinations. The teacher is free to make rounds and check up on each group's progress. Sounds like a great reinforcement activity.
Katie Elder (kaelder@vt.edu)
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This lesson plan gives students a chance to build square centimeters, meters, etc. The students will probably have a better understanding of area and volume after building their own units and thinking about the area and volume in each one. I really liked this plan, because it seems simple to put together, and the children could really have a good time working together to build units their own way. Instead of looking at pictures and filling in worksheets, students would get to make area and volume real.
Laura P. McDonald (lmcdonal@vt.edu)
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The Tree Measurement
lab describes ingenious methods for measuring the diameter, crown, and height of any tree using basic classroom materials. The methods are very straightforward, and emphasize collaborative learning, estimation, and repeated measurements. However, much more could be done with this activity than is suggested in the lesson plan. For example, the methods described could be applied to local buildings or other landmarks for which an accurate measurement is available as a standard. The tree study could be integrated into a science unit on trees. Students could make estimates of their trees' measurements, compare them to the actual data, and discuss strategies for estimating (possibly repeating the experiment the next day to see whether the estimates have improved). This would also be a good time to introduce the idea of correlations, and to have students look for correlations between height, crown, and diameter within each species. This lesson plan is a good jumping-off point for many more creative uses of measurement.
Malcolm Foust (mafoust@vt.edu)
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I chose an area and volume activity. After an introduction to area and volume students will work in groups to build models of square centimeters, square inches, square feet, square meters, and then cubic centimeters, cubic inches, cubic feet, and cubic meters. Students are provided with materials, but no initial instruction is given on how to build their models. The materials that are used are newspaper, scissors, masking tape, rulers and meter sticks, cardboard (and something to cut it with), and markers to identify finished models. The actual objective is that students will be able to describe the difference between area and volume and also be able to understand how various units of measure relate to one another.
The is a good activity because the students use social interaction to try to solve their problem. They learn things from the other students in their group and also contribute information that the other students may not understand. Hands-on activities are best as a motivation tool and for a challenge. This should prime the students for when the teacher starts the lecture on area and volume. I realize that activities contribute to the learning process, but activities work best when there is a lecture that pertains to the topic. This activity will work great in that combination.
Sarah Duis (sduis@vt.edu)
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The Geometry Through Art activity is wonderful if you are about to teach Geometry to any grade level. It shows ways to teach Geometry heuristically. Students must DO geometry to learn geometry. The site encourages teachers to present the subject by having students do art projects and discovering, for themselves, the rules of Geometry. Memorizing vocabulary is not useful in learning Geometry, students will learn words as they need to.
This site also suggests that by creating their own art and presenting Geometry through their work, makes it more interesting. Use their examples to introduce geometry and to show that they have already begun to master it.
Everything you could possibly need to teach by this method is included on this web site. It contains the benefits of using a heuristic style of teaching, the materials needed, geometric constructions and how to do them, hands-on activities, and follow-up activities. It even allows you to down load sketches of the constructions and art work.
I highly recomend this site.
Tami Corbett (tacorbet@vt.edu)
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Smile Metric Style is an activity that allows children to gain experience with measurement and the concept of graphing. Based on the metric system, this lesson helps children meet the following objectives: 1)Accurately using a metric ruler to measure length, 2)Accurately reading and recording measurements on a chart to be transferred to a graph, 3)Finding the sum of mulitple measurements and ordering them based on individual and group comparisons. This lesson begins with children being split into groups of four (more or less depending on class size). Children are then directed to record and measure the length of one anothers smiles. The children are then asked to check one anothers scores and to chart the results. The results are then transferred to a class graph. THe lesson should take approximately one class period to complete.
I chose this lesson because it appeared to me to be an activity that would bring fun and learning to the concept of measurement. It also reinforces graphing and introduces students to comparisons in measurement. I also chose this lesson because it was simple. It allows students to gain or reinforce measurement skills easily. The activity could serve as an introduction or as a refresher on the concept. "Smile Metric Style" could also be extended to a unit on measuring things in your environment. As a teacher I would use this activity as the beginning of a unit on measurement because of its application and simplicity.
Susan A. Moreland (smorelan@vt.edu)
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I chose the HYPERLINK activity that could be used in elementary classrooms since that is the area I am most interested. The activity did not specify a specific age, but I honestly believe any grade level could use it since the lessons could be modified to be simpler or more complex. The underlying principle is to become familiar with shapes, and their names. The lesson goes across the curriculum of math, including basic math concepts like addition, number sense, and geometry. It also goes across the curriculum of other subjects, involving language arts, and art. The children are allowed time to explore with a partner to allow the teacher to see what they already know. The activities are fun, and can be extended in the areas that the children seem to really enjoy.