Cube-ometry (9.20.10--9.23.10 1st through 5th Grade)

Welcome to the seventh year of Mathletes 2010-2011!

The children created cubes (or regular hexahedron) from square pieces of paper. First we explored the wonderful properties of a cube:

  1. Cubes are made of (a) vertices (each a "vertex; kids formerly referred to them as corners); (b) edges; and (c) faces.
  2. Cubes have 8 vertices, 12 edges, and 6 faces.
  3. Each face of a cube is a square with equal area.
  4. Each edge of a cube is a segment of equal length.
  5. The 3 dimensions of a cube represent "volume" (the space something takes up).
  6. The 2 dimensions of a square, each face of a cube, represent "area" (the flat surface). 
  7. The 1 dimension of an edge represents "distance" (from one point to another point).
  8. The 0 dimensions of a point or vertex represents "location" (the exact placement of an object).

Continue to create more cubes by taking square pieces of paper and going through the steps to fold 6 pieces of paper to form your cube.  Please refer to the following You Tube link for a video on how to create the cube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ccXDAu75HY

Also, the attached pdf has step-by-step instructions to make the cube.

The children will earn 10 Mathlete Dollars for each cube they create . Feel free to help them as the fine motor skills required can be frustrating to some.

At every opportunity point out objects around your home or neighborhood that are cube shaped and review the properties of a cube (see 8 bullets above).

 

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Cube-ometry.pdf459.22 KB