Karyn's Blog

Hunting for Buried Treasure: Angles and Angle Measurement

July 2, 2013 Karyn Comments 0 Comment

Aye, matey, it’s time to hunt for buried treasure. In this fun and creative activity, students will be designing their very own treasure map. As they design their map and hide their treasure, students will get plenty of practice using a protractor while reinforcing mathematical vocabulary such as acute, obtuse, and right angles, parallel and perpendicular lines. Tying in social studies and writing skills, students will be using a compass rose to write directions in order for their classmates to…

Geometric measurement – Understand concepts of angles and measure angles

March 27, 2013 Karyn Comments 0 Comment

We’re surrounded by line segments. These line segments create parallel and perpendicular lines, and acute, obtuse and right angles. Looking for them in our environment is a great way to reinforce them. Ask your kids: Who can find a set of parallel lines? …perpendicular lines? …an acute angle? Pretty soon, they’ll be seeing nothing but lines and angles in the tiles on the floor, the branches of the trees, the way an ice hockey puck hits the wall… For older…

Paper Plate Angles: Reinforcing Angles and Angle Measurement

September 14, 2012 Karyn Comments 0 Comment

A fun and creative way to teach and reinforce angles and angle measurement. See below for the video lesson. CCSS: 4.MD.5; 4.MD.6 TEKS: 4th grade GM6B, GM7A, GM7B, GM7C, GM7D, GM7E .

Sum of Interior Angles of Triangles

April 30, 2012 Karyn Comments 0 Comment

This is a super easy, super fun activity where students discover the interior angle measurements of different polygons. I start with the triangle (see photo) and then have them work in groups to prove other interior angle measurements. Collaboration and communication in the math classroom is so important and this is an easy way to do it. Teams can then do a 1-2 minute presentation which helps develop their public speaking skills. CCSS: 4.MD.5; 4.MD.5; 4.MD.7

The Artistic Side of Math – Tessellations

April 20, 2012 Karyn Comments 0 Comment

I love M.C. Escher! I have a whole book on his work and love to share it with my students when we’re studying angle measurement. That’s because we’re going to tie math and art together through modifying polygons similar to how M.C. Escher did it in some of his paintings. It’s all about tessellating shapes and angles. Using pattern blocks, I show students how shapes tessellate. See photo below. Then, I have students determine the angle measurement of each of…