City Block Math Project

This project was originally created to be used with highly gifted students in a fourth grade classroom, but can most definitely be adapted for other ages and abilities as well. Some skills that it focuses on: multiplication, division, perimeter, area, money, and drawing to scale.

For this project, I create groups of students who together design a city block based on requirements that I have given them. They must find the area of each building and will later use these areas to determine costs for the buildings. You can read the directions for the project in the preview page.

I found this project to be engaging and it helps the students relate the math that they are doing to the real world. I introduce the project by telling students that they will be city planners, engineers, and architects for the next few days. Together, we look at a bird's eye view of Washington DC to discuss what their drawings should look like. We notice that the buildings are very large, but they appear small on the map. This leads them to recognizing that maps are drawn to scale, not in actual size.

I hope that you enjoy this project with your students and let me know if you have any other questions!