Perimeter

Today during Math Workshop, we began our study of perimeter.  Perimeter is the distance around the outside of a polygon. It may be found by adding the lengths of all sides of the polygon. I told students a good way to remember perimeter is that its the distance along the "rim" or edge of a shape.

For example:

Perimeter = side + side + side + side

P = 5 + 4 + 5 + 4

P = 18 inches

Students did pretty well with the concept. However, I noticed some students wanted to draw pictures to do their addition. In the example above, a student wanted to draw out circles to add 5 + 4 + 5 + 4. Students should compute the sum. He could have said, "4 + 4 = 8 and 5 + 5 = 10, then I add 8 + 10 to get the 18 inches." There's not enough time to draw pictures especially when the numbers are large!

A few students forgot to regroup or "carry" when adding larger numbers!

I found an awesome site on the Internet today that I'd like to share! It may help to clarify perimeter for you! Just click on the link below the picture to visit the site.

Perimeter

Choose Perimeter for a detailed explanation.  There's a game with three levels to help you practice your Perimeter skills! Good luck!

Parents, your student will bring home graded papers on Friday. Please take a moment to look through to see how well your child performed on this week's standards. If he or she did not do well, it's worth the time to go over the problems with your child.