Rectangle of pentominoes Many 6th graders seem to have a pretty negative attitude about math, so I try to do something interesting to "grab" them during our first class. Last year, during the first math class, we spent part of the period working with pentominoes. Before working with the pentominoes, however, we played a name game so we could learn each others' names (I find it impossible to start anything else if I don't know some names, and fortunately, I learn them fairly quickly). rectangle outline For the activity, I divided the students into groups of 3 or 4. The directions for the activity were not complicated - the task was to make a rectangle, using all of the pentominoes. I gave students an outline of the rectangle, as pictured to the left, so they would know the correct size of the rectangle. The squares in the grid are each one inch. The rectangle is 5 squares (inches) wide and 13 inches long (13 inches includes the row that has the "Pent
I agree with you 100%. This has been a big problem for us in the middle school when students come in from elementary.
ReplyDeleteSo glad to hear it isn't just me! Thanks for sharing!
DeleteAgree!!! When I read the title of your post...I thought you were going to support the butterfly method. So glad you are not an advocate!!
ReplyDeleteNo, definitely not an advocate! Glad to hear that others agree:-)
DeleteThank you! I am a high school teacher and the kids want to "butterfly" every fraction they see which doesn't work when they need to get a common denominator with several fractions that now have variables mixed in. They really need to know what a common denominator is and how to find one. I really didn't understand what the kids were trying to do with the "butterflys" because even they couldn't remember the whole thing to show me what they had been taught.
ReplyDelete