Cross Curricular Connections: 4th Grade Math
We measured the radius of a circle and found that it was 17 feet. We decided that the radius was the same all the way around. So the distance from each student to the center was 17 feet. Our partners were a diameter distance away from us. We discovered and learned that one radius plus another radius equals the diameter. How many feet do you think it would be to travel from where you are standing around the outside of the circle back to where you are standing? That is called the circumference. Do you think it is longer than the diameter?
We measured the radius of a circle and found that it was 17 feet. We decided that the radius was the same all the way around. So the distance from each student to the center was 17 feet. Our partners were a diameter distance away from us. We discovered and learned that one radius plus another radius equals the diameter. How many feet do you think it would be to travel from where you are standing around the outside of the circle back to where you are standing? That is called the circumference. Do you think it is longer than the diameter?
The parachute is an all time favorite activity amongst teachers and students. There is not a single little face in the gymnasium without a huge smile. This lesson builds character, provides opportunity for leadership, provides an outlet for self expression, builds self-confidence, helps reduce stress and anxiety, and boosts academic learning. We start this lesson off by having the students pair themselves with partners for partner warm ups. We then have the duo pick a color, for example blue. One partner stands on one side and the other partner stands directly across from them. I use this moment to teach the students about diameter and radius. We even measure both with our feet. We make little ripples, big waves, we march in a circle both left and right. We raise it up all at the same time and wave to each other on the other side. We do some bicep curls and tricep extensions. We just have some fun with it at first and then we get into some activities. I asked the students how they think we could build an igloo. We decide that we all have to work together, cooperate and participate in order for it to work. We make an igloo and the kids are astonished at how humongous it is. We then build an igloo that we can sit in as seen below.
We then switched places with our partners and crawled/ran across the diameter inside the igloo as seen below.
Then we laid on our bellies and put just our heads underneath the parachute so that all we saw was each other’s heads as we looked around. I wish you could have heard their laughter.
Then we decided we were hungry so we popped some popcorn as seen below. I asked the kiddos how they thought microwaves worked. How did they heat up food? We talked about heat waves and then we made our own. After some time we decided we couldn’t really get the popcorn to fly off. I asked them how they thought we could do it? They said we needed to work as a “TEAM.” As you can see below we all had to make a wave at the same time in order to pop the popcorn.
Then we crawled across the diameter of the cloud as seen below. Students also learned circumference and radius of a circle.
Some classes had the opportunity to play a game called cat and mouse. The cat crawls around on the top looking for the mouse whose crawls around on the bottom. The mouse on the bottom is super hard to find as the rest of the class creates a diversion with waves. The kids love this game!