ECMS teacher uses kites to teach class
Published 10:05 am Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Learning doesn’t have to be hard or boring. In fact, some teachers have come up with some unusual solutions to keep the interest of their students.
Bobbi Evans, sixth grade math teacher at Escambia County Middle School decided to teach her students a little geometry and allow them to have fun at the same time.
“This is a good way for the students to learn measurements and content of simple things that they will need later in life,” Evans said. “We think this is a good way to prepare them for the ‘real world’ after they finish school. These are life-skills that they will always need, and they learn them while having some fun at the same time.”
The class has been working with principles of geometry and using what they have learned to build kites. With simple straws, string and tissue paper, students used triangles, with equal sides and grouped together to form a kite.
Evans said the students have worked really hard to get the kites built and then, of course, they needed a day when the wind would be blowing to fly them.
That time came last Wednesday morning. The weather was perfect and there was a little bit of a wind. Some of the students had some trouble getting them off the ground, but once they got the idea, they were off and running across the school campus. They got assistance from Evans and those who were helping and everyone seemed to have a really good time. Resource teacher Sandra Quimby proved to be a very good kite flyer and she taught the students how to get their kites off the ground and into the air.
Evans pointed out that although the students are finishing up with the SAT-10 tests, the students are still learning. She said the students have learned about shapes and symmetries and the elements needed to make the kite fly.
Students in ECMS math teacher Bobbi Evans’ class prepare to fly their kites during her class last Wednesday.|Photo by Lydia Grimes
A couple of the students who were having fun were Tyranie Henderson and Cadarius Smith.
“We have learned to work by ourselves, but also how to work together on the kites,” Henderson said. It was hard to begin with, but it got easier. Mrs. Evans helped us and now it’s a lot of fun.”
Smith agreed as he pointed out the fact that parallel lines never meet.
“No matter how long they are, they will never meet if they are parallel,” Smith said.
