Did you know that most spiders have 8 eyes?!?!? Well, we just learned that interesting fact in my class, and then did this fun math/science craftivity! If you're interested, you can download it here on TPT for free! We created several different writing options, so you can pick the ones that work best for your class.
The web is simply a thin strip of white construction paper. The spider is made of construction paper (black for body, red for eyes), and black pipe cleaners. We had the kids count out 8 pipe cleaners for the legs, then bend and place them on the spider. Then they got to watch the teacher secure them to the spider with a hot glue gun, (which was fascinating to them...and us, as the hot glue made a silky web)! The 2 big eyes are red construction paper that the kids cut out. The two pupils are little black dots from a hole punch that the kids had to make with the scrap from cutting out their spider's body. The 6 little eyes are red dots from the hole punch. What a great fine motor/hand strengthening exercise!
I hope you like this fun activity as much as we did! Please let us know with a comment if you can! :) Happy Halloween all! We've linked up with Think, Wonder, & Teach for their Halloween Freebie Linky Party, so head on over and check out all the fun freebies out there!
I recently had an opportunity to
attend a training by the Diagnostic Center of Southern California. I
learned a new strategy to teach students problem solving skills that I thought
was so awesome! It’s called “Walk, Talk, or Rock”. If a student has a
disagreement or other problem with another student, they either “Walk” (walk
away from the situation), “Talk” (talk through the problem), or “Rock” (do rock,
paper, scissors). It’s important to teach students these invaluable life
skills. I thought this idea was so clever! Do you have a clever way of
teaching problem solving skills?
Feel free to download this poster and use it in your classroom by clicking here.
Hello everyone! In a previous post, I shared some activities about how I introduce polygons and triangles to my students. Well, I thought it was about time that I update you on some other ways in which I teach geometry concepts to my kiddos.
Acute, Obtuse, and Right Angles
To introduce acute, obtuse, and right angles, I started out with a sorting activity. The kids sorted the angles under the proper heading: "acute," "obtuse," or "right."
As you can see from the picture above, the pictures of the angles are already labeled, which made it easy for them to sort. The students did not have any prior knowledge of these terms, which is why the pictures were labeled. All they had to do was sort and look for any similar patterns that they noticed about each angle.
The students recorded their observations on a sheet of paper to share with their teammates. I really like this method for introducing terms because it allows the students to to be engaged in the learning of the words rather than simply having me explain to them what these angles are.
In later lessons, the students practiced using a protractor to measure angles and looked for angles in other shapes as well.
We also played a fun game to reinforce their understanding of angles called Mix 'N Match. I passed around the angle cards pictured above. Some students received a card with a just a word such as "acute angle," while other students received a picture of the angle. When I call out, "Mix 'N Match" the students get out of their chairs and wander around the room until they find their match. I usually set a timer or have a short song playing on my ipod. They have to find a partner before the music stops playing. They love this game and it is a very quick and simple review.
You can download my angle cards that are shown in the pictures above for free by clicking here. The cards can be used to sort, play memory, or the Mix 'N Match game shown above.
I also gave the students this little tool to help them determine whether an angle is acute, obtuse, or right. It was printed on leftover transparency paper I had from my old overhead projector. It's a great visual if they need help with identifying angles.
Finding Area
In California, third graders mostly find area by counting the number of square units in a figure. Although they're introduced to finding area by calculating length x width, they mostly have to literally count the squares inside a figure. To help practice this, we use Cheeze Its to help find the square units.
I put different task cards around the classroom and the students had to use their Cheeze Its to measure the square units. The picture above is of a rectangle. The students filled the rectangle with Cheeze Its and counted the square units. You can download the task cards I used for this activity below.
