kinesthetic help for which is which... By mathtastic

This will probably sound really weird-but I teach 6th grade and work with a lot of ADHD and Learning Disordered kids and they have short attention spans and need odd activities to hold their attention and to stick in their

brains! I got so frustrated that my students kept having troubling remembering which is area and which is perimeter-they knew the formulas but would mix the words up...anyway-I decided to do a kinesthetic activity to put in our math scrapbooks to help sort it out. I cut some sheets of cardstock into rectangles and hole-punched around the edges, then we stitched pink yarn through

the holes- around the edges. I went through a bunch of old fashion magazines and cut out sections of models' hair. I cut the "hair swatches" into 1 inch squares and in class the students used gluesticks and filled the AREA with "HAIR-ea". Oh yeah, and the P-ink yarn was to remember P-erimeter.

I know it's weird-and yes, I have too much time on my hands (also-small class sizes allow me to do prep-work more easily!) The Pink yarn was great because I have mostly boys and they complained about having to use a "girl color" so the excruciating experience of sewing AND using pink made the association all the stronger.

Also-to help them remember to square their answers to Area problems- we all chant : "When finding the Area, don't forget to Square-e-a!"

No one has mixed them up since the activity!

I am always trying to think of ways to create memories and experiences, make art, build things, tell stories to teach the concepts...because the textbook and the pacing guides, and other provided resources don't work too well with my kids.

If anyone has any creative math activities to share...I'm all ears!

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