One of the ways that you can involve parents in the mathematics classroom is to provide challenging, useful mathematics activities that children and parents can do together. Here are two sample activities appropriate for middle school students and their parents.
Activity 1: Which Gift Box? Frederick was the president of the Volunteers Club at school. At the end of the year, he and the advisor bought nine gifts for the members of the club. Eight gifts were the same—a special pencil with the club's name on it. One gift, for the secretary, contained both a pen and pencil. Frederick was so eager to wrap the presents that he forgot to label the special gift for the secretary. All of the boxes looked the same, but he knew that the pen and pencil set was heavier than the other gifts. So, he took all of the gifts to the science classroom to use a balance scale to weigh them. Frederick needed to solve his problem quickly because the Volunteers Club meeting was almost ready to begin. How can he find the secretary's gift in the fewest number of weighings?
Activity 2: Around and Around Diem was usually a good student in math, but she was confused about the formula for the circumference of the circle. She understood the reasons for the formula of the perimeter of rectangles, but circles were something else. She decided to conduct an experiment to help her understand what pi really is. Help Diem with her experiment by using some circular items in your home. Make sure that the items are large enough for you to measure. Materials: heavy string or yarn, scissors, ruler, six circular items
Use your ruler to measure the diameter of each item.
Without stretching the string, wrap the string or yarn around the item and cut the string or yarn the length of the circumference. Measure the string or yarn.
Complete the following table for each item. Use your calculator to divide the circumference by the diameter.
Item
Diameter
Circumference
Circumference
Diameter
What conjecture can you make about the ratio in the fourth column?
What do you think this number represents?
What does this number tell you about the circumference of a circle?
Activity 1 Answer: Frederick can divide the nine boxes into three groups of three boxes each. He can weigh the three piles separately to determine the heaviest pile. Once the heaviest pile of three boxes is determined, he can weigh the three boxes in that pile separately to determine the heaviest box.
Activity 2 Answer: 1-3. See students' work. 4. It approximates 3.14159... 5. pi 6. C = d
Take-Home Activities:
One of the ways that you can involve parents in the mathematics classroom is to provide challenging, useful mathematics activities that children and parents can do together. Here are two sample activities appropriate for middle school students and their parents.
Activity 1: Which Gift Box?
Frederick was the president of the Volunteers Club at school. At the end of the year, he and the advisor bought nine gifts for the members of the club. Eight gifts were the same—a special pencil with the club's name on it. One gift, for the secretary, contained both a pen and pencil. Frederick was so eager to wrap the presents that he forgot to label the special gift for the secretary. All of the boxes looked the same, but he knew that the pen and pencil set was heavier than the other gifts. So, he took all of the gifts to the science classroom to use a balance scale to weigh them.
Frederick needed to solve his problem quickly because the Volunteers Club meeting was almost ready to begin. How can he find the secretary's gift in the fewest number of weighings?
Activity 2: Around and Around
Diem was usually a good student in math, but she was confused about the formula for the circumference of the circle. She understood the reasons for the formula of the perimeter of rectangles, but circles were something else. She decided to conduct an experiment to help her understand what pi really is.
Help Diem with her experiment by using some circular items in your home. Make sure that the items are large enough for you to measure.
Materials: heavy string or yarn, scissors, ruler, six circular items
Diameter
Activity 1 Answer: Frederick can divide the nine boxes into three groups of three boxes each. He can weigh the three piles separately to determine the heaviest pile. Once the heaviest pile of three boxes is determined, he can weigh the three boxes in that pile separately to determine the heaviest box.
Activity 2 Answer: 1-3. See students' work. 4. It approximates 3.14159... 5. pi 6. C =