Hamden Hall Country Day School
Educating Students in PreSchool Through Grade 12
Educating Students in PreSchool Through Grade 12
News Detail
Art in Math: Sixth Graders Explore Geometry Concepts in Fun Classroom Project
Sixth-grade students put their design and math skills to the test during a recent hands-on classroom activity called The Candy Box project.
Sixth-grade students put their design and math skills to the test during a recent hands-on classroom activity called The Candy Box project.
The project required students to design a candy container for a fictitious company called Sweet Tooth that would appeal to a younger audience and increase sales.
Additionally, each student was tasked with writing a letter to the Product Development Director detailing why the design should be selected, what is special about the design, and why it would appeal to the younger audience.
“This project is a hands-on approach to finding surface area, volume, and basic geometry concepts,” said Grade 6 teacher Andrea Calandrelli. “The persuasive letter component brings in a writing aspect which makes this project a cross subject exploration.”
Students created a three-dimensional model of the container using various mathematical shapes, such as cylinder, rectangular prisms, and triangular prisms. For the construction, students were required to measure and record the dimensions to calculate the total volume and surface area of the model.
Each student presented their candy box design to the class and voted on which design to send to the company.
The containers varied in creative design themes with one student’s cylinder container detailing Swedish Fish, another rectangular container detailing Sweet Tarts and Nerds. Other design inspirations included Candy corn, gumballs, jolly ranchers and chocolate.
“It was a fun way to get students excited about math,” maintained Mrs. Calandrelli.
1108 Whitney Avenue
Hamden, Connecticut 06517
Phone: 203-752-2600
Fax: 203-752-2651
admissions@hamdenhall.org
Hamden, Connecticut 06517
Phone: 203-752-2600
Fax: 203-752-2651
admissions@hamdenhall.org
Hamden Hall Country Day School, located less than two miles from Yale University, is one of the best private schools in Connecticut to enroll elementary, middle, and high school students. Our nurturing and inclusive community provides a dynamic learning environment that promotes academic excellence by understanding each child and fostering their individual growth.
