November 08, 2009

Teaching

I have recently started my voluntary service as a teacher in one of the elementary schools in Bellevue. I teach Math to a group of 4th grade students. Its been almost 3 weeks since i have started this and have been thoroughly enjoying spending time with my students.

Tomorrow I have to make them understand the the concept of Area and Perimeter and have to teach them how to calculate it. I have been looking on the internet for some creative and fun way of teaching them. Though i didn't find any interesting activity, i found a poem that could be taught to children to remember what to do if they have to calculate the area and the perimeter.
Here is the poem- (sing it to the tune of Jingle Bell)

Perimeter, perimeter
Goes around and round
Add up all the sides and then you write your answer down

Area, Area
Throughout the whole middle
For rectangle its base times height
And your answer will always be right

Let's see if it would be helpful to the chidlren. Also i got a few worksheets from one of the website which has a lot of exercises for children to solve.