[tammych]

Any creative ideas for perimeter and area out there?

[psu0815]

on teacher tube is great!!! My 5th grades love it and I even see them singing it to themselves when they come to an area /perimeter problem

[AussieBird]

I think I first read about this fun activity on a teachers' forum.

First, do class work on estimating and then calculating the areas of items of regular shape on grid paper. Dice and grid games (see sample attached) are great for this.

Bigfoot lives !

After these preliminary activities, provide a squared centimeter paper grid for each student. Have students trace an outline of their bare foot on the centimeter paper with a partner's help. Students then count up the full squares and the part squares (I add up all the part squares and divide these by 2 and then add this total to the total of the whole squares.).Record the final total as squared centimeters on the foot outlines, along with the student's name.

To make the activity really engaging, first prepare a class chart with 4 columns for the kids to fill in progressively: their name, their estimate of the area of their foot, the actual area of their foot and their guess of which student will have the 'biggest' foot. The kids love guessing who will be the class bigfoot.

Finally, create a bulletin board with the chart, the kids' footprints trailing behind a picture of Bigfoot himself with the face part missing. Ask permission for this - put a picture of the face of the child in the class with the biggest foot in place of Bigfoot's.

[tammych]

Thanks for the quick replies. I never heard of teachertube, I'm off to google it.
Thanks.

[eagertolearn]

I love the area game that attached! We will use it today!

[jjwires]

I have some minature dogs and agility equipment that came with a series of books about dogs. Anyway I put up the little fence and tell the kids that when the dog lifts his leg and pee-pees all the way around the fence that it is the pee-rimeter! Of course they think this is the coolest thing and never forget what perimeter means.
Hope this helps!

[kmob]

A second grade teacher in my school tapes off shapes all over the room. They start with meauring the perimeter. Then the next day she fills in the shapes with tissue paper, and they talk about area (they invite their 5th grade buddies to help with this). Then they have the visualize of the outline and the whole things colored in.

[glad grad]

You are a lifesaver, AussieBird! This is just what I needed, especially as a short notice activity. Thanks!