Future Math Lesson Plan

In a future class taught by myself, I would love to use physical tools to help my students learn new concepts.  By placing manipulative tools in a math lesson, students develop a fun outlet for expanding their knowledge.  Using tools allow for a kinesthetic learning process, and can make a seemingly boring topic into a topic that will always be remembered.  In our current 221 class, using all of the different resources that we have available have really helped me grasp certain mathematical concepts, so just think of the wonders in can do for young students eager to learn!  

After researching different lesson plans that use manipulative tools, I found one for 7th graders on a site entitled CPALM.  This lesson goes over a fun way to teach students how to find the surface area of a cube or rectangular prism by using wrapped gift boxes.  The purpose of this lesson plan follows Michigan Standard 7.G.B.6 "Solve real-world and mathematical problems involving area volume and surface area of two-dimensional and three-dimensional objects composed of triangles, polygons, cubes, and right prisms".  By giving students boxes nicely wrapped in fun paper, students will be able to take the information already taught about surface area and apply it to finding the surface area of the boxes.  For the main activity, students will be split up into 4 groups and then sent to one of four stations.  They will rotate around to each station and measure the different sized boxed located on the tables.  They will document the surface areas they find as a group for each box and write it on their worksheet.  After

all of the students have had a turn at each station they will return to a class discussion comparing their answers to see if their needs to be further explanation.  Once the class decides on their answer, the teacher will reveal the true surface areas for each box.  The students will receive a review worksheet to take home as homework.  This will provide students with a conclusion assignment to recap everything taught in class.

This lesson plan is a great example of how a teacher can use manipulative tools to increase the enjoyment of learning a topic.  In my classroom, I would use this lesson as a closure activity to the unit of surface area, because it wraps up the topic in a creative way while providing an opportunity for students to use their already learned knowledge.  By using gift boxes, it provides a different way to measure a cube or rectangular prism besides a picture on a piece of paper.  These tools give students the ability to physical touch and see how using surface area in everyday use would take place.  This activity livens up a classroom, and I would purposely try to schedule the lesson around the holiday season to creative a festive tone to the class.  I am excited that I found this lesson plan, and if I ever find myself teaching surface area to my students, I will remember this as use it as the final activity of my unit.

Homework Review Worksheet 

Worksheet Used During Activity