SMMARTideas

SMMART MATH: CIRCLES

Summah, Summah, Summahtime! (That's "Summertime")

...and Summahtime is time for Sidewalk CHALK!

Have your child lay down on the concrete and draw a large circle around her. When she stands up, have her determine where the center of the circle is and draw a dot.

Ask your child to draw a line from one side of the circle to the other, making sure to connect the line with the dot in the center. This forms a DIAMETER. Let your child lay down on the Diameter, so that your child "is" the Diameter.

If your child draws a line connecting two points on the edge of the circle, but that does not pass through the center point, this is called a CHORD.

Ask your child to draw a line from the center dot to the edge of the circle. This forms a RADIUS.

You can draw a line that is outside of the circle and perpendicular to the radius. This is called a TANGENT.

Goodness! Demonstrate these concepts with your child and use correct vocabulary. This will be a nice introduction to Geometry.

Check out these links for diagrams and math lessons about CIRCLES:

http://www.onlinemathlearning.com/diameter-of-circle.html
http://www.mathwithlarry.com/lessons/lesson058.htm

I like this video from www.mathwithlarry.com: