Blueprint lesson #3

      You know how there is a lesson that you just know is going to be great. I mean it will be so great, right? You can't wait to have the kids come to class and just absorb all of the awesomeness of the project. They come in and all of your best laid plans just flop! UGH! Well that was my blueprint lesson. These blueprints were just too difficult for the kids to understand. They gave it a good try but I have to go back to the drawing board on this one. Literally. I need to have more structure to the lesson and perhaps start with having them make some  basic blueprints first. I don't want to give up on this idea because there is so much here that the kids can learn. So I guess I am going to drag all the blueprints home over the summer and create very specific assignments for them. I did change my plan and the students measured angles and classified them. I am going to have them design the outside of a house using the angles they measured. Our spring break started today so after break if time permits.
      Here are some pictures of the kids at work. It turned out to be a good experience for them even though it wasn't what I expected it to be. Making it more focused will help.

This group of boys were very engaged.

   

Hmmm. Interesting picture.

So here they are trying to figure out how to read all of the information on the drawings.

This group tried hard to come up with some good questions.

           The one thing about teaching is that everyday is different and this one certainly was. Now it is spring break, time to relax and read a book! What a treat.
   
                                                              Til next time,

                                                                   Jan

Housing Blueprints - Day 2

     Today was the last day to connect with students before I have to post grades for third quarter so I was not able to start my blueprint exploration with the kids today. I was able to post some of the blueprints around the room and my students were very interested in what we will be doing with them. I also placed a couple outside my room on the bulletin board for the other students to look at. As you can see there is so much that can be applied to math. We could say everything in these blueprints applies to math!

This blueprint screams slope to me. I hope the kids see that as well.

This blueprint has so many area and volume components to it. Love it!

This one is a little hard to see but it is stairways and doorways.

            It will be fun to see what the students create for their problems. I have a feeling it is going to be one of those busy, exhausting, but great days. 

I'll post again tomorrow. 

Jan

Housing Blueprints

     I am fortunate enough to have blueprints of all the phases of building a house. (My husband's occupation.) I had these laminated and I post them around the room. The day that the kids walk in they are so excited and just want to spend a day looking at everything that is on them. There is measurement, scale, proportion, slope, area, volume, and the list goes on. I have 15 different blueprints in total and I just don't have the time to drag them home and make problems over all of the various units. This is the last week before spring break so I have decided to use the blueprints as students exploration lessons for my Pre Algebra students.
     The students will be in groups of 4 and given a sheet to create 2  math problems related to the blueprints. I will have rulers, protractors and dry erase markers available at each station. We will have a short discussion of all the possible topics for their questions.  The students will be able to make questions that are based on their abilities and I will steer them to the levels I think are appropriate for them. I may even assign different topics per group. One group may measure the perimeter of the driveways where others will have to create a problem to find how much asphalt will be needed to construct the driveway. Some may find the slope of the roofs and others may find how many shingles will be needed to cover the roof. I am excited about this because the kids will create the questions for me and then I will have a bank of questions to use for future lessons. YES!!!
     Check back tomorrow and I will post some pictures of the blueprints and my classroom. I will post some of the problems the kids create in next weeks post. I am excited and I know they are going to love this lesson. I wish I could make a copy of the blueprints but they are so big. If there are builders in your area maybe they will donate old blueprints to your school. Let me know, I would love to see how you apply these in your classes.

                                                     Til next time,
                                                          Jan