Geometry Surface Area Lab and a FREEBIE

We have about TWO WEEKS of school left.  I'm finished with my curriculum, and we do not give a final exam in Math because of the rigor of our state assessment.  I'm spending these last few weeks reviewing a few topics that I felt I had to cover too quickly with my students.  One topic is Surface Area in Geometry.  We have spent the last few days doing a math lab with boxes of everyday products that I've gathered.  I did this lab last year right after the state assessment.  You can go {HERE} and read the original post.  I think my students had a lot of fun doing the lab, but honestly, they were BURNT OUT!  Plus I spent 8 days out of the classroom grading state assessments, and I missed out on the fun. I was hoping for better results this time!
I mean how cool is this big TOBLERONE BOX for triangular prisms!

We spent the first of the three lab days reviewing three dimensional shape basics.  I used a set of nets for this from a module on Engage NY.  I thought they were better than the digital nets I can get from our math series.

Then we spent two days working on the lab.  I differentiated the assignment by having students take exact measurements, measure to the nearest half, quarter and full inch.  This allowed everyone practice with the calculator and ruler.  More importantly, everyone felt successful and had fun!





I made a fairly generic worksheet for my students to use when completing this lab.  If you are interested in doing something similar, the lab sheet is FREE in my TpT store.  You can click{HERE} to pick it up.  I hope it helps.  I'd love feedback if it works for you.

Do you have to teach Surface Area?  I'd love a few new ideas to add to my stash of boxes.


2 comments

  1. Yes, we have to teach surface area and I am totally stealing your idea! Thanks for sharing:).

    ReplyDelete
  2. Woohoo! Putting this in my box of Trix....and YES...I meant to write that!
    Alison
    Rockin' and Lovin' Learnin'

    ReplyDelete

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