Students develop and solidify their understanding of the concept of "perimeter" as they engage in a portion of the civil engineering task of land surveying. Specifically, they measure and calculate the perimeter of a fenced in area of "farmland," and see that this length is equivalent to the minimum required length of a fence to enclose it. Doing this for variously shaped areas confirms that the perimeter is the minimal length of fence required to enclose those shapes. Then students use the technology of a LEGO MINDSTORMS(TM) NXT robot to automate this task. After measuring the perimeter (and thus required fence length) of the "farmland," students see the NXT robot travel around this length, just as a surveyor might travel around an area during the course of surveying land or measuring for fence materials. While practicing their problem solving and measurement skills, students learn and reinforce their scientific and geometric vocabulary.

In this 25-day module, students work with two- and three-dimensional figures. Volume is introduced to students through concrete exploration of cubic units and culminates with the development of the volume formula for right rectangular prisms. The second half of the module turns to extending student's understanding of two-dimensional figures. Students combine prior knowledge of area with newly acquired knowledge of fraction multiplication to determine the area of rectangular figures with fractional side lengths. They then engage in hands-on construction of two-dimensional shapes, developing a foundation for classifying the shapes by reasoning about their attributes. This module fills a gap between Grade 4's work with two-dimensional figures and Grade 6's work with volume and area.
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The book Spaghetti and Meatballs for all by Marilyn Burns is a mathematical fictional story about Mr. and Mrs. Comfort who are planning to throw a family reunion dinner and the family has to figure out how they can use eight tables and 32 chairs to accommodate all guests. Students dive deeper as they learn about the concept of area and perimeter through cooperative group learning and literacy. 

      Using the picture book The True Story of the Three Pigs by A. Wolf  as told to Jon Scieska, students will complete math word problems that cover the measurement SOLs. They will also write their own “true story” of another fairy tale, which covers the English writing SOLs. An extension of this unit could be to have students create math word problems based on their new story and have their classmates solve them. This lesson can also be used as an art activity if the story is illustrated. If technology is available, it can be an opportunity for students to practice their computer skills to create a final version of their new illustrated fairy tale or to use the computer to illustrate it.