Math
The curriculum for math at my host class for student teaching was "Go Math." I taught lessons from chapters covering concepts in geometry, area, volume, and statistics. I wanted to give the students an opportunity to do math with a hands-on activity. One lesson called for calculating the area of nets and then determining if the net drawn was an accurate representation of a three demential figure such as a cube, rectangular pyramid, or rectangular prism. Many students struggled to make the leap in this spacial relation, as did I, at first.
I knew the students needed extra practice so I sought out and found an activity on-line that had all the components that I wanted. It was a geometry packet with many different shapes.They ranged in complexity from a six sided cube to a twenty sided figure. Each figure was made on a grid of units so that the area of each lateral face and base could be calculated in square units. In my lesson, students were to calculate the area of the net, then check with me for accuracy. If their calculations were correct they were allowed to color (optional), cut out their shape, and fold it into a three dimensional figure. Each student completed at least three figures. We then strung the shapes on thread and hung them on display from the ceiling in the room.
Taking the shapes from two dimensions into three helped students to solidify the concepts in these tougher chapters. The more complex shapes served as work for students who finished other classwork early. There were a few students who were very enthusiastic about making these shapes, even after the chapter was complete. One student in particular colored and strung these all together to make the above banner for the classroom entrance. He made several others for inside the classroom.
I knew the students needed extra practice so I sought out and found an activity on-line that had all the components that I wanted. It was a geometry packet with many different shapes.They ranged in complexity from a six sided cube to a twenty sided figure. Each figure was made on a grid of units so that the area of each lateral face and base could be calculated in square units. In my lesson, students were to calculate the area of the net, then check with me for accuracy. If their calculations were correct they were allowed to color (optional), cut out their shape, and fold it into a three dimensional figure. Each student completed at least three figures. We then strung the shapes on thread and hung them on display from the ceiling in the room.
Taking the shapes from two dimensions into three helped students to solidify the concepts in these tougher chapters. The more complex shapes served as work for students who finished other classwork early. There were a few students who were very enthusiastic about making these shapes, even after the chapter was complete. One student in particular colored and strung these all together to make the above banner for the classroom entrance. He made several others for inside the classroom.