Reddit reviews Spaghetti And Meatballs For All! (Scholastic Bookshelf)

Piggybacking off this, the area/perimeter dinner party idea is gold.

The schools I've interviewed at lately have been VERY big on mentor texts, especially when you can apply a mentor text to another subject (in this case, math). If you have access to a library, see if you can find the book "Spaghetti and Meatballs for All." There might be others that are similar, but I know this one addresses the concepts of area and perimeter well.

I taught a similar lesson with my third graders last year, and it went over well. This is basically what I did. Feel free to adjust to personal preference, student need, or available supplies.

Supplies needed: Book (Spaghetti and Meatballs for All), sticky notes for each child (or partner group, or table group), possibly a way to record (white board and markers would be fine, or large chart paper and marker).

Give each child (or group) 8 sticky notes. Explain that these are your 'tables' for the dinner party (in the book). Explain that there are many ways to arrange the tables (can stop to give students a minute to explore this, if necessary), but that there will always be 8 tables. Make the connection between area and number of tables (area is 8 tables, or 8 units, no matter how you arrange them).

As you read the book, the author will explain that there are 32 people coming to the dinner party. Explain to students that one person can sit at each side of each table (sticky note), as long as that side is not bumped up against another table. Make the connection between number of people who can sit, and perimeter.

As you read the book, the number of people that have arrived will increase, causing the hosts (and your students) to have to rearrange the tables (sticky notes) to accommodate the number of guests. The pictures can assist students who need extra guidance. Make the connection that as tables are pulled apart, more people can sit, because the total perimeter has increased.

In the end, the hosts (and your kiddos) will see that by separating all 8 tables, 4 people can sit at each table (4 sides exposed; perimeter of 4 units per table), and 8x4=32 (number of total guests). My students were flabbergasted to see that even though my area (table units) didn't change (it was always 8 tables), the number of people who could sit (perimeter) could change dramatically.

This covers concepts like the relationship between area and perimeter, writing equations, a little bit of composing and decomposing shapes, and reviews multiplication concepts. Plus, it doesn't require a whole lot of complicated supplies.

I realized as I wrote this out that it sounds very complicated. It's not, and the book more or less walks you through the concepts. Might be worth checking out if you have access to a library.

I hope all goes well with your teaching demo! Best of luck!

[For my son going into 1st grade] (http://www.amazon.com/Spaghetti-And-Meatballs-Scholastic-Bookshelf/dp/0545044456/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1376797010&sr=8-1&keywords=childrens+math+books) thank you for contest.