It’s been awhile since I’ve done a round up of activities – so this week I thought I’d share some activities for Volume and Surface Area! While we can always use our “textbook” to teach about various concepts in our classroom we know that it is always more fun we have interactive and engaging activities in the hands of our students.
Volume and Surface Area Task Cards- Common Core and TEKS Aligned are a set of 16 task cards that I have created to assess Volume and Surface Area in your classroom. This originally started because I wanted to differentiate a quiz in my classroom and wanted different problems with different students. I honestly LOVE using Task Cards in that manner and my students know their neighbor has a different problem so they don’t even try and cheat. Also included in this set is a Volume and Surface Area bookmark listing the formulas for various 3D shapes!
Surface Area Word Problems Solve and Snip is another in the Solve and Snip series that provides 10 self-checking word problems. These are great for independent practice and assessment over the given skills.
Sixth Grade Math Homework Sheets- Geometry are a simple set of homework sheets that include practice for Volume and Surface area. I loved creating these because I could easily test a standard for a student (standards are listed on the page in an “I Can” statement ) to check for mastery!
Who didn’t love Mad Libs (TM) growing up? All Things Algebra has created a Volume and Surface Area – Math Lib Activity! that incorporates the fun of Mad Libs (TM) and math to have fun and learn! I have seen many of these Math Libs and am itching to play myself!
Volume and Surface Area – Egg Coloring Activity is a great early finisher activity that will refresh skills already taught. Think about after you give an assessment and you have this available. What student doesn’t enjoy coloring?
Mrs. Reulbach has her students Create Tin Men to Explore Surface Area through Project Based Learning. I’m telling you this is just groovy! She has many more examples on her blog of robots that her students created and the requirements that she gave each of them. {Since these are not my students I decided to hide their identity as I do not have permission to post them on the internet.}
MissMathDork and her relays have me wishing I was still in the classroom! This Area, Perimeter, Circumference, Surface Area & Volume Review: Super Hero Relay is just fabulous! I remember using relays in my classroom when she first created them and the kids just LOVED them! We had pictures hanging up all around the room that showed off not only their talent in drawing as a group but also their skills in math. This relay allows students to work together collaboratively to solve a problem before it is checked by the teacher. Then the reward is drawing that part of the final image. As the turns rotate through the group a full picture forms.
Wrappers Wanted: A Mathematical Adventure in Surface Area is a fun Christmas story (yea, I know it is March) that illustrates surface area and allows students to visualize just exactly what the concept is. The book actually includes a lesson on how to incorporate this into your classroom as well! Already in my cart to add to my bookshelf!
I am always getting asked about manipulatives to use with different types of learning and I can’t recommend Learning Resources Overhead Folding Geometric Shapes enough. Not only are they great to demonstrate the visual of each shape and their net but you can fold them up and fill them to demonstrate volume and also have students measure each side length of the faces to determine the surface area. There are so many uses for their that you will NOT be upset that these are taking up space on your shelf!
These nine Volume and Surface Area activities are only the tip of the iceberg on ways that you can teach the concepts in your classroom. I hope that one (or more) might tickle your fancy and get you excited to teach these concepts in a new and fun manner.
