October 4, 2011

Area and Perimeter Song

During my student teaching (6 years ago...yikes!) I noticed my students were really struggling with area and perimeter.  When the skills were isolated, they did fine. However, when the skills were mixed they had trouble remembering the difference.  

My solution was the following piggy-back song: 

The lyrics are sung to the tune of "Frosty the Snowman"

Perimeter and area
can be tough to figure out.
Perimeter is the fence around
so add the sides you found.

Permeter and area
can be tough to figure out.
Area is the squares inside
so you have to multiply.

 My 5th graders loved the song and memorized it right away.  It seemed to really help them differentiate between area and perimeter. Since then it has been successfully taught to my class every year (3rd, 4th, and 5th graders) and to many of my colleagues classes as well.  

  I always smile when see them sitting at their seat humming while they do their math.  The kids love it,  it really helps, and they won't forget.  In fact, I recently received an email from a past student (now in 7th grade) who informed me that she used the song that week in math class. Clearly, it has stuck with them.

So, if your kids are struggling to remember when to add and when to multiply with area and perimeter, it might be time for a sing-a-long.

7 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing this!! One of my good friends is doing her internship in 5th grade and could really use this! I am also keeping a copy for myself!!!

    adventuresoffutureteacher.blogspot.com

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  2. You rock! Thank you so much for sharing this!!!

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  3. I love it!! Thanks for sharing your song! :)

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  4. Always love to incorporate songs! Makes all the difference. Thank you. :)

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  5. Thank you for sharing this - I'm having trouble with this with my 4th graders and told them today I was going to look for a song to help. This is perfect.

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  6. Thanks, going to try this after the Christmas break!

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Thank you for taking a moment to share your thoughts!