Friday, February 11, 2011

Sir Cumference and the Isle of Immeter - Activities

Last night, we read Cindy Neuschwander's Sir Cumference and the Isle of Immeter, the last of the series for us.


Actually, we should have read it before Sir Cumference and All The Kings Tens, because it is more in keeping with the other, geometrically themed books, in the series - this time dealing with areas, and perimeter of circles, and rectangles. I put it off reading it though, until we had oranges in the house, to use for our story time snack.


The reason for this, is because orange slices, are used in the story to help explain, how a circle, can be turned into a rectangle...


...with one half of the circumference becoming one long side of the rectangle, and the radius becoming the short side...


...making the area of the circle equal to the radius multiplied by half the circumference. I also had a couple of paper plates ready, cut into eighths, and sixteens...


...to demonstrate how smaller slices, make for a straighter, and more accurate rectangle. Click here, for an even better demonstration of this, and a clear explanation of how the formula above is the same as the more conventional - Area of a Circle = Pi times the radius squared. Neuschwander provides a step by step explanation how to move from one formula to the next, at the back of the book too, but the link above adds illustrations.



Areas of circles might be a little beyond most younger children, but the story is still quite captivating, and it begins with a fun game, using square tiles (I happened to have a plastic set, but you could just as easily cut some squares from paper, or fun foam), to explore the difference between areas, and perimeters, called Inners and Edges.

As an added bonus, the game works perfectly with the Cyberchase episode, "Totally Rad", that we viewed to go along with the story.

It's great to be a homeschooler.

9 comments:

Unknown said...

That-is-so-cool! In fact, I believe I could use this in my Magic Science class as a fun activity...even though it isn't technically Science, there is a lot of Math IN science, so I believe this "trick" would compliment the class nicely...

Pebblekeeper ~ Angie said...

This is seriously cool! (not sayin' that the rest of your stuff is unseriously cool. . . . )

Christy Killoran said...

Don't laugh at me, but I think I have to read these books for myself. I get a headache just trying to read the math words in this post. I wish I could go back in time and redo math with a better attitude. I wonder where it all went wrong for me. I always did very well, but math just turns my stomach. Your children won't experience that because math is so much fun in your house.

An Almost Unschooling Mom said...

Christy - Believe me, I'm very familar with the math headache! The hands on activities are as much for me, as for the kids :)

Natalie PlanetSmarty said...

Christy's comment and your response cracked me up. We just discussed math today in the morning with my husband, and he said, "I am not worried. We both love math, and we will make it fun for her." I will definitely be revisiting your ideas when we are ready for them.

Phyllis said...

This is Uber cool. Do you ever get tired of seeing your stuff re-done on my blog? LOL

Joyful Learner said...

I think I need to bookmark your entire blog. Seriously, I need to go through all your math posts and link them. They are just too valuable. I just need to find the time. I never completely understood the formula but just memorized them. How great are those books too?!

Ticia said...

That is awesome! I didn't even know that.

Butterfly said...

I agree with Joyful Learner ... thinking that your blog has enough ideas for a maths enrichment curriculum!