This month in Geometry…

Our first design-build commission! (If you can call it a commission if we don't get paid, I'm not sure.)  Rachel, an FGCS Level 1 teacher, saw our mailbox cubbies and said to me how much she liked them and how much she'd love something similar for her classroom.  So our next class period we headed as a group over to Rachel's classroom, and she gave us her parameters: the spot in the classroom where the mailbox set will go; it needs to hold papers for all of her students, a place to store work overnight; it should hold papers without needing to fold or bend them too much; it cannot stick out too far from the wall so as not to impede site.  The group went to work that period and came up with a rough idea of a design.  The next period they had refined the design and done most of the layout and the cutting.  This week we hope to paint and install the completed product.  Photos on the way…

As for specific Geometry topics, students practiced multiple ways to create right angles, including the well-known Pythagorean theorem.  We studied properties of circles.  And currently students are honing their skills for solving area problems for two- and three-dimensional objects.  This will be useful with further projects in class this spring, and of course endless applications in life beyond class.

-Brook