I get students to pick one of the three choices and work the room, looking for a brave student I know will deliver my nachos. I talk up the nachos (and the circumference) as much as possible. Anywhere from 90 to 100 percentage of students will say the circumference is shorter than the height of the water bottle. Let's see if I win nachos or I let my students go to lunch early.
Okay, so double or nothing? I don't bring in this glass, but I do use a taller cup with a really small circular base. Where do you stand on the double-or-nothing wage? Did I give you enough information to take the bet? With a glass like this, you should get at least one student to keep you honest and ask which circumference of the glass you'll be measuring.
This little wager (activity) allows me a quick introduction and fun application of circumference. Somewhere I'll discuss vocabulary and formulas with students while giving them a graphic organizer they can fill out.
The small activity was for students to guess how many rotations this wheel (8-inch diameter) would make from one wall of my class to the other wall. Students were able to see how circumference can take on the meaning of a tire rotation, hence the graphic I made above. It was sweet to see students roll the wheel across my 21-foot long room and actually get 10 rotations like the math predicted. If you have a wheel like this, bring it in and do this activity.
We also did these awesome lessons. And. I. Mean. AWESOME!
Pizza Pi by Mathalicious and
Penny Circles from Team Desmos and Dan Meyer.
There's so much to do with circles and so little time.
Round and round,
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