Using Real-life Examples to Improve Understanding of Area

     Today, I included a real-life example of how to calculate area. We had finished with perimeter, but many of my students were struggling to see the difference between perimeter and area. I thought that by creating a real-life scenario, in which they would need to calculate the area, would work.
     Bob is the local fix-it guy in town. Heidi is my co-op teacher, and has a dog named Rowsell. The kids thought it was hilarious that I had used Heidi and Bob as an example and had included Rowsell in the picture, too. As a class, we worked together to solve the question, and I felt much better about the students being able to distinguish between perimeter and area.