Volume & Surface Area FUN, a FREEBIE, Linkys and MORE!

Whew!  It was a crazy week this week!  I don't know about anyone else out there, but the weather we have had in NC the past few weeks has been INSANE.  This was I *think* our first FULL week back after Christmas that we have had!  Mainly because of weather like this (shout out to my friends, Phyllis for thinking of taking a screen shot of this!):

Winter Weather Advisory AND it's currently 83 degrees!  INSANITY!

So, I have PLENTY to talk about this week!  So much so I am linking this baby up twice with two amazing blogs!  

To help organize this post I am linking up first with Kacey from Doodle Bugs Teaching, for her: 

This week we have been finishing our geometry unit, and we ended with surface area and volume.  Now, in retrospect I would PROBABLY change around the order I did these two activities because I think the one I am about to talk about would have worked better AFTER the activity I talk about in number 2. Live and learn, right?

So, I saw a post by Jen, from Runde's Room about making Angry Birds to teach surface area and volume.  LOVED IT!  However, I also spinned it a little because I thought--what else makes a nice 3-D shape that students could use the net of?  Minecraft characters!  I got the patterns that I used here:

Angry Birds

Minecraft Characters

I used a student recording sheet that I created, which you can download HERE:

This is the process that I used:

I technically don't think I needed to use the Angry Bird pattern, you could easily just use the net of a cube to make almost all of them.  I did take the patterns I included above and increased the size of them on our copier before I put them onto card stock.  However, the Creeper pattern I copied onto green construction paper, so the students could just cut and create. 

Honestly, THIS was the most difficult part!  As you can see, the recording sheet I have attached looks a little different than the one I used in my classroom because they REALLY had a hard time measuring length, width, and height.  I feel as though THAT was the trickiest.  Also, this is why I would have done the activity posted in number TWO, first.

They loved looking up what their character looked like, and recreating it onto the one that they made!

 I loved how they turned out!  The creativity that some of the students took was awesome!  It is definitely a project that I will do again!

I loved this linky idea when I saw it a week or so ago maybe to link up with The Primary Chalkboard--NO WORKSHEET Wednesday!

The next activity that we did was I had around 12 different boxes from common household items that I had cut apart neatly to create the net of that shape.  I wanted to extend the challenge from our character volume and surface activity and allow my students to have more practice.

I had the students work in pairs to sketch first of all the net of the box that they had, measure the actual box, and record the measurements onto their dry erase boards (graph paper inside of a clear plastic sheet).

The students after awhile REALLY got the hang of the surface area concept because they were able to fold and unfold the net of their figure to actually see length, width, and height. Also, they got to connect the top/bottom, side/side, front/back concept that they were struggling with when they were asked to find the surface area of a 3-D shape folded up on paper.

We recorded all of our data on the board, and it was really cool to see that the measurements were really quite close (which was a GREAT formative assessment tool, too!).

We are using this same data this week to learn and practice mean, median, and mode--which may be my NEXT No Worksheet Wednesday post! :)

I have also joined up this past week with my bloggy buddy Lindsay from Miss Johnston’s Journey to be a part of her HUGE 25^th Birthday Bash! 

She is giving away a LOT of great clip art FREEBIES, gift cards, TPT products, and MORE!  Head on over if you haven’t already to enter to win some awesome things---including a $10 credit towards items in my TPT store!

In other news, it is AMAZING to think that I am less than TEN followers away from having 500 TPT followers!! As a follower you get access to updates on new items, freebies, sales, and MORE!

Ever since I got my Masters Degree in Curriculum and Instruction, I have been thinking of ways to put it to use!  With all of the demands for rigor in the Common Core State Standards, I have really been enjoying creating materials, and I am so incredibly honored and blessed that almost 500 people believe in what I am doing, and enjoy my creations.  I have gotten the chance to be featured in the TPT newsletter for my freebies, be a part a holiday e-book compilation with other teachers, and will be guest posting on a famous teacher blog SOON! J  I definitely thank you ALL!

That being said, the last time I have a HUGE giveaway extravaganza was when I reached 100 Followers, so once I hit 500, I am ready to celebrate even BIGGER and BETTER than the last time!

Would you like to be a part of that celebration? 

Please fill out THIS FORM if you would like to donate towards the celebration-and I thank you in advance!

One of the things that I am most proud of creating lately is my Seasonal STEM Labs.  These tend to be my BEST sellers, and I have a blast thinking creatively about what to do and how to create it!

I have two that I have recently invented (for more information just click on each picture):

They are a BLAST and a perfect "holiday touch" to add to your lesson plans!  They make GREAT class builders, teamwork activities, and of course STEM Labs. 

You can find the complete set HERE (just click on the picture):

I hope that you all have a WONDERFUL WEEKEND! :)