They're finally here! Joining my original Jack-O-Lantern is Frankenstein's Monster, a Vampire Bat, and Skull & Bones! (Check out my FREE Jack-O-Lantern Activity below.)
I'm pretty excited because this project has taken me a month to create and I'm finally done! My boys love crafts where they can glue pieces together and I thought, why not make the pieces from geometric shapes and have a conversation with them about the properties of the different shapes. They're three. They're old enough to understand the concepts, right? This is what happens when you have a math teacher for a mom.
Many years ago, I created my first Jack-O-Lantern Halloween activity for my seventh graders. I was teaching in NYC back then and my students had no interest in textbooks or worksheets. They seemed to be tough kids, but much to my surprise, almost every single student tried to make a Jack-O-Lantern! They weren't too cool for this activity!
I started my students out with a bunch of clues and they had to figure out the shapes and sizes of each piece of the creature. They had to use their knowledge of the properties of shapes and how to find area and perimeter to solve the clues. This was good for middle school students, but after I had my own kids, I wanted to extend the activity so younger kids can also take part in it.
What is the first thing you learn about in geometry? The SHAPES! I brought it down to the basics. I designed a template with the shapes of each creature and filled it with all the vocabulary associated with each shape. (The template also provides a visual aid for students to discover concepts about area and perimeter.) I believe in building math literacy at a young age because the language part of math is what many of our students get stuck on. If we integrate the math vocabulary into our daily lives, our kids will have an easier time understanding it in school.
I've been having so much fun creating the new characters and thinking about how simpler shapes can be put together to form more intricate ones. How often do we stop to think about how a design is made? What are the smaller pieces it takes to create something bigger?
When I was creating this activity, I tried to include all the different measurements and dimensions of each shape. The questions were designed to get students thinking about the relationships between the dimensions and the different shapes. Bigger shapes can be broken down to smaller shapes to find area. Perimeters can be taken apart to find length of sides. Properties of shapes can help you find missing measurements. These problem solving skills are essential in every day life, even when you don't realize you are using them!
This project also made me think and problem-solve. I remember some of my students in NYC didn't have money to get all of the math drawing tools needed to create the circle for the Jack-O-Lantern. We talked about it and thought about what we essentially needed to make a circle. A circle is just a collection of points equidistant from the midpoint, so we figured we can create a circle with a straight-edge ruler. We measured out in all directions from one point with a ruler and all the markings we made created a circle!
This memory from many Halloweens ago inspired me to create a bigger and better version of the activity. If my middle schoolers can have fun making these Halloween decorations, I'm sure anyone can!
Have a happy Halloween!
