Robots & Area

Our April & May main lesson block topics have focused on practical application of math skills within the context of real-life measuring projects.

In April we planned and planted a beautiful Three Sisters Garden of sweet corn, pole beans, heirloom pumpkins, and butternut squash. We also included sugar snap peas and sunflowers. The garden is coming along great; I just put more photos in that post yesterday to keep it up to date!

We spent a lot of time on linear meaurement including perimeter & area. Below are some notes of FREE resources from Teachers Pay Teachers that I used in the classroom. (My oldest student did the perimeter and area of parallelograms, trapezoids, triangles, and circles as well.)

We also learned about the metric system's base units and prefixes (x10, x100, x1000 with Greek words for 10, 100, 1000 and ÷10, ÷100, ÷1000 with Latin words for 10, 100, and 1000). In April we focused on the Meter and in May we are working with the Liter and the Gram, as we delve into capacity and mass, go 3-D with our building, and make a Cob Earth Oven!

I use and recommend all four products in this Area & Perimeter Bundle:

Perimeter Task Cards

Area Task Cards

Perimeter & Area Robots

Perimeter & Area Game (for early finishers)

This was a very satisfying amount of work and I was able to differentiate it for my students age 8-12. One of them is currently reading The Wild Robot so the robot-making activity was a perfect connection!

For older children who want to "graduate" out of basic Perimeter & Area quickly, I highly recommend using Perimeter & Area Error Analysis!

My seventh grader and I then used Area of Triangles, Trapezoids, and Parallelograms (FREE). This is perfect for guided notes. We did page 1 together, filling in the formulas and solving the equations, and then she did page 2 independently. For more independent practice, we used Perimeter and Area of Parallelograms, Triangles, and Trapezoids (FREE).

The Work of Circles

My seventh grader began this by exploring the diameter and circumference of a circle. She had to find different items in the house that were round and cut pieces of yarn for the distance around them (circumference) and the distance across them (diameter). She used a different color yarn for each household item. Then she could lay them all out and see that the relationship between the pieces of string is the same (pi) no matter the round item she chose!

We then did guided notes for the terminology of a circle using Area and Circumference of Circles & Parts of a Circle Math Art 7th Grade (FREE). We loved the cheery sunflower! After the guided notes, she also completed the included practice pages.

For more independent practice, she did Pi day activity worksheet - The circumference of a circle (FREE). I highly recommend this activity. It is so much fun!

I also have the very lovely wooden box from Clocca Concepts, The Work of Circles, and she wrapped up her Circles work with those task cards and hands-on materials.

The Work of Circles Curriculum was designed to introduce students to the basic concepts of the circle and to the more complex concepts of measurement – area, circumference, central angles, and arc lengths – and the calculations of such measurements. The 5-Level Command Cards (with rainbow coloring to indicate the Level) allow for multiple lessons and activities of work. Students begin with the parts of the circle and work their way through the measurements of area, circumference, angles, arcs, sectors, and segments.

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