Surface Area and Nets
I always enjoy teaching surface area because there are so many great ways to make it concrete for my students. In order to build conceptual understanding, students need to be able to physically touch and build polyhedra. In sixth grade math, we focus on the surface area of rectangular and triangular prisms (http://www.corestandards.org/Math/Content/6/G/A/4/). The lesson began with a video from Andrew Stadel's Estimation 180 collection called "File Cabinet." (http://www.101qs.com/518-file-cabinet--act-1) I warned students that it might seem strange, but Mr. Stadel was going to cover the cabinet with sticky notes. They would have to figure out how many sticky notes it would take to cover the cabinet. Source: Andrew Stadel http://mr-stadel.blogspot.com/2012/04/file-cabinet.html My students' reaction was priceless - despite the somewhat silliness of the task! Th...