Third graders at Trevvett Elementary have been learning about perimeter and area in Math (SOL3.10), and they have been studying the ancient civilization of Mali in History (SOL3.2). Today, students in Ms. Cockrum’s class found the perimeter and area of the famous Malian city, Timbuktu. First, we found Timbuktu on Google maps and used the scale to estimate its perimeter and area. To record our data, we made a copy of this spreadsheet that I had prepared ahead of time with the correct font sizes and cells. I demonstrated how to make some practice shapes by clicking and dragging through the cells and using the paint bucket to change the fill color. Then we used the squares to calculate the perimeter and area of our shapes and entered the values into the corresponding cells. Now the students were ready to measure Timbuktu, Mali. We made a copy of this Google drawing to make the process a little easier. The students could click and drag the square miles around the perimeter (turning the squares by dragging the blue circle that appears over each one when it’s clicked), and they could drag the squares inside of the city to find the area. The squares are transparent so the students could see what is underneath. Once they found the perimeter and area of Timbuktu with the squares, they entered the values into their spreadsheet. Finally, we clicked the Share button on our spreadsheets and pasted the links into Schoology. You can take a look at them all here.
