Plan a dinner party. Using a book by Marilyn Burns as a context, pupils learn about the relationships between area and perimeter and surface area and volume. The hands-on activities have learners rearrange tables and cut up meatballs to bring their learning to life. 

Concepts

perimeter, perimeter of rectangles, perimeter of polygons, area, area of polygons, area of squares, area of rectangles

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Additional Tags

science

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Instructional Ideas

• Use actual tables and chairs to illustrate the situation in the task
• The activities work either as stations or with everyone completing each task together

Classroom Considerations

• Requires the book Spaghetti and Meatballs for All! by Marilyn Burns

Pros

• Includes answer sheets
• Provides background information to the reason behind the activity

Cons

• None

Common Core

RL.3.1 MP4 MP5 MP6 3.MD.C.7.a 3.MD.C.7.b 3.MD.C.7.d 3.MD.D.8 4.MD.A.3 5.MD.C.5.b 5.MD.C.5.c