I teach fifth grade math, and I would like to try something new this year with my classes. I would like to assign a math (home/school) project for each grading period (6 weeks).
I really appreciate any suggestions or projects that you have used in your classrooms.
Thank you
I always did a Geometry project...They had to have certain criteria: 3 parallel roads, 2 roads that are perpendicular to each other. Three cone shaped buildings...You can go on forever. I can't find my origional so I am going to have to remake the assignment for this year...They love it!
2 congruent triangle shaped pools, etc...The possibilities are endless!
You could have the kids design a menu for a themed restaurant. You could set the criteria for how many of each type of item (appetizers, beverages, main dishes, etc.) they have to have. Then they could write word problems using their menu. It could be very basic, just adding prices of different items, to more complex problems, like figuring the cost of a meal for you and a friend plus tax or figuring the cost of the meal for your grandma with her senior discount of 10%.
When I did this with middle school students, they really got into the theme, and I saw everything from Star Wars themed diners to Italian restaurants to a Math Cafe.
For fractions they could create a mosaic using exactly 100 pieces. These could be seeds, different colored squares of construction paper, ... Then write the fractions and maybe percetages of each color or seed on the back to evaluate mathematically.
I kinda do the same thing. I have a project called "Design Your Dream House."
In a nutshell, the kids draw a 2D version of what the front of their house will look like. They must include at least 4 windows, and two doors. All lines must be drawn with a ruler and must be in CMs. Students must then determine the perimeter and area of each window and door. they must also do the same for the front of the house...perimeter and area. They must then convert these measurements to MMs. Eash dimension must be noted in typical drafting fasion. Houses must be neatly colored and students may add addtional features. As enrichment, I have my high students draw room layouts.
The kids have fun with it...especially the sahpe of the houses. I tyhen have the kids grade their own papers using a rubric, they staple it to the project and submit...I review the rubric results and assign a grade.
If interested I may have overheads and the lp for this project.
Do you still have the overheads and rubric for this project? It sounds really good... I did a project last year involving designing a city, but would like to scale it back to something kids can more easily relate to.
Thanks.
This is a great idea - as long as it's kept on paper. Our teacher is making them make a live model. Yes, they are supposed to do it themselves - but how do they know what materials they can use, who is going to take them to hobby lobby etc? Now this single mom of 2 is looking at a miserable weekend trying to figure out how to build this thing, and wondering how we are still going to make soccer games and birthday parties. This may be an easy hour project for some dad - but this will be a major deal for us - and this is not a family relationship building exercise. Our weekends together are. This is not.
I would love to see your project. I have done something similar building a 3d model but would like to see what you have incorportated. Can you email the information? My email is sbraun@mawseco.k12.mn.us Thanks.
Hi everyone! I posted this in the 4-8 group, but thought I'd repost for those that may not have seen it. I made a March Madness math project that includes fractions, decimals and percents as well as some probability. Here is the link for it, enjoy!
Hi
I am a 4th grade teacher and was serching the web for some end of the year projects and came across this. I know its been posted a while but if you get this message and by some miracle you still have the resources that go with the Dream Home Project I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks!
Kayla Richardson
krichardson#ebrschools.org
I love the math menu idea and want to try it. Do you have the students make up their own problems or do you give them certain parameters. Do you have a rubric? Any help would be appreciated.
Aunt Tilly
Great idea! Do you have a directions and a rubric to go with your project? I teach 3-5 math and could use this for all three classes with some modifications.
I really would like for my students to work on the DREAM HOUSE project. I need all the details for this project. I really would appreciate, if you could me this information ASP.
I went to a workshop this summer called Math Menus. They gave us this book on Math Menus. I really like using this idea--you can apply it to any math topic. Here is a link on the book: http://www.amazon.com/Differentiatin...rds=math+menus
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07-06-2008, 11:12 AM
Thanks!
