Angry Bird Math Part 1

Angry Birds...one of the most popular gaming apps for kids of all ages.  Although I am not much into games on the iPad, I have to admit that I do enjoy some Angry Birds!  I was so excited when I saw this post on Pinterest.  Having an all-boy class, I knew this would be a great way to make geometry and measurement more engaging. 

After discussing attributes of the different 3-D solids and doing some hands-on construction with noodles and clay, I gave each student a "net" of an Angry Bird. I did not tell the students that they were getting a "net", they just thought they would be constructing a character from the popular game.  It was fun watching the boys put the birds and pigs together and discovering that they had actually created a model of a 3-D solid!  Once they figured it out, I introduced the math term, "net". 

All year long the boys have been begging for me to put Angry Birds on their iPads.  Since the nets were such a hit, I decided to take the Angry Birds concept and run with it.  The class has been bringing in boxes for the past week and our goal it to make a larger version of the Angry Bird game.  Of course we needed to do some "research" first, so their homework one night was to play Angry Birds and come back ready to discuss the math that they had to do.  Now that we are in a measurement unit, we will be measuring the "bricks" (boxes) and trying out different angles and birds to figure out how to make the birds travel the farthest and knock down the most bricks.  The boys will also be constructing different sling shots using various angles.  I will have a separate post once our game is constructed to share all their hard work.

It is amazing to see how many math concepts that can be taught through some bad piggies and angry birds! 

Mrs. Worthy