Blowing Hemispheres

Map and globe study in social studies gives me a unique opportunity to use bubbles to introduce the vocabulary. Placing bubble liquid on the desktop and blowing with a straw produces half of a sphere or a hemisphere. When the bubble pops you can measure the diameter of the circle left behind. Extensions include: How high is your bubble? What is the mean diameter of your first 5 bubbles? Can you compute the circumference of the circle left behind?

When you finish you have CLEAN desks! Enjoy!

Harring Patterns

Our class studied the work of Keith Harring.  He is famous for his simple drawings of people and animals.  In New York, he would do drawings in the subway.  The children made an "Harring-ish" drawing and then used in to make patterns.  You can see the transformations in their patterns.

Combinations of 15

Our class studied the artist Jasper Johns.  He is famous for his number paintings.  We did our version of his work by making combinations of 15.  They traced the number overlaying them in each frame.  Can you see 15?

Symmetrical Faces

The idea for symmetrical faces came from "mathwire.com".  I shared the book Let's Fly a Kite by Stuart J. Murphy.  The students looked for lines of symmetry on pattern blocks and in the classroom.  The final activity was making a symmetrical face.

Cathy Kuhns Visits Marrie and Cindy

Cathy Kuhns stopped by Marrie's while working in Tennessee.  It was great catching up with her and talking math!  Be sure to check out her books which contain fabulous math ideas and lessons.

Explore Prisms

As we build the hexagonal prism we look closely at the net. Students need to explore nets and discover which nets will actually build the prism.

Students explore hexagonal prisms. Count the faces, vertices, and edges. Can you find the rule for the number of faces on a prism?

Connect the hexagonal prisms to things we see in the real world. What about a bee hive? When you look at the hive what do you see?

Students construct triangular prisms with two congruent triangular faces and three rectangular faces. How could she make this solid look like a camping tent?



Nets of Pyramids

Exploring nets of pyramids is exciting for children. We start with Polydrons from ETA that link together easily. This is one net of a hexagonal pyramid. How many different nets can you find? When students have a concrete model to build they can easily see the faces, vertices, and edges.

Mathematicians collect data as they explore the faces, vertices, and edges of pyramids. They look for patterns and rules. This graphic organizer provides students with a way to move from the concrete to pictorial to the abstract. Children write riddles for their classmates to solve. For example: I am a pyramid with 5 vertices. What am I? Since one of the vertex points must be the apex, we know that the other 4 must be at the base. What polygon base would have 4 angles to form 4 vertices? The questions and explorations are endless!