Tag Archives: volume

Hotel Snap

By Fawn | Published: December 11, 2013

[NCTM Illuminations has my blessings and thanks to re-write and feature this lesson on their site.] Andrew Stadel and I recently presented this task at the 2013 CMC‘s North and South Conferences. The Challenge As a team, build a hotel that yields the highest profit [score]. Rules and guidelines for building the hotel Each cube represents a […]

Posted in Algebra, Course 1 (6th Grade Math), Geometry, Problem Solving | Also tagged , , , , , , , , | 10 Responses

From Listerine to Fuji Water

By Fawn | Published: February 14, 2013

I was brushing my teeth. The next evening, after dropping my car off for a nail to be removed from the right rear tire, I killed time at Michaels and Trader Joe’s. I created this lesson relative_ratios from that. My 6th graders are working on ratios and proportions. I saw the three different-sized bottles of Listerine on my bathroom counter […]

Posted in Course 1 (6th Grade Math) | Also tagged , , , , , | 4 Responses

Last Math Lessons

By Fawn | Published: June 14, 2012

On the first day of school, I promised all my students that I’d do my best to make math relevant and challenging. I also promised to never waste their time, therefore they could expect to do math every day in my class, including the last day of class. I did not promise them that math would be fun […]

Posted in Algebra, Course 1 (6th Grade Math), Geometry, Problem Solving | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Responses

Visualizing Volume is Tricky!

By Fawn | Published: June 13, 2012

This was one of those lessons that I think I gained a lot more than my 6th graders did. It was meant as a one-period activity, but I kept going off on different tangents and brought the students along for the ride. Over a month ago Andrew (@mr_stadel) tweeted me a picture that he took of a William Sonoma display of their […]

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Designing Buildings

By Fawn | Published: May 23, 2012

The idea for this lesson is from Measurement in the Middle Grades, published by NCTM in 1994. It’s still available here. I created this worksheet — in pdf designing_buildings and docx designing_buildings — using Illuminations’ nifty isometric tool to draw the shapes. I purposely did not give the kids interlocking cubes to complete question 1 — wanted to see if they could count the number of windows and rooms from just the […]

Posted in Course 1 (6th Grade Math), Geometry | Also tagged , , , , , , | 2 Responses

Why Wait for Calculus?

By Fawn | Published: May 19, 2012

(I just had my very best lesson yesterday, on a Friday, thank you. I feel almost brilliant right now. And I only feel like this once every 47 years, so please stay and read this post!) My own kids tell me they will stock up their dorm rooms and apartments with junk food and soda when they move out […]

Posted in General, Geometry | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , | 7 Responses

Mr. Stadel’s File Cabinet 3-Act Lesson

By Fawn | Published: April 26, 2012

Monday evening I got a tweet from @mr_stadel: Then he shared his uploaded File Cabinet – Act 1. I tweeted back, “Oh, I’ll start with this tomorrow then!! Thanks!!” Andrew had no idea I could really use a good lesson the next day to kick off our chapter on Areas and Volumes of Solids — specifically, Prisms. Act 1: We […]

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I am a doughnut.

By Fawn | Published: April 16, 2012

I cannot eat a doughnut without thinking of Eddie Izzard. Language caution in this video clip. Ich bin ein Berliner aside, I needed a calorie-laden lesson for my 6th graders to welcome them back into the classroom after two wonderful weeks of spring break. (We are also two short weeks from state testing and should be reviewing for the test. […]

Posted in Course 1 (6th Grade Math), Geometry | Also tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Responses