Mathematical Montgomery Bus - Grades 3-4 - Part 1

This unit offers a set of activities to allow children to experience the 3 dimensional geometry of paper folding, free exploration with volume of a 3 dimensional shape, and to record their findings in a given set of exercises.

Begin by establishing what the students already know:

Does anyone know anything about boycotts?
Did anyone get hurt during the Montgomery Bus Boycott?
What non-violent means did Martin Luther King believe in?
Does Anyone know where he first learned of these non-violent methods of protest?

Today for math we're going to play Mathmatical Montgomery Bus. (Hand each child a 3rd - 4th grade Montgomery Bus printable.) Each of you will get to color and design your own bus, remember that busses have many signs and their routes have numbers. When you finish coloring your bus, cut it out, raise your hand and I'll know you're ready to start folding.

Mathematical Montgomery Bus printable

Folding insructions:

1. Place the paper in front of you with the driver closest to your belly.
2. Fold the paper underneath on the dotted line that is running under the front of the bus, crease it gently with your fingers.
3. Fold the paper underneath on the dotted line that is running under the back of the bus, crease it gently with your fingers.
4. Unfold the paper and turn it lenthwise infront of you with the the doors closest to your belly.
5. Fold the paper underneath on the dotted line that is running under the side wheels, crease it gently with your fingers.
6. Turn the bus around and fold the paper underneath on the dotted line that is running under the side wheels on the last side of the bus.
7. Unfold all sides and turn paper right side down, can you see the crease lines that make a rectangle? Can you see the 4 squares in the corners?
8. Choose a square to start with, touch the corners that are at the roof of the bus. Pull them up gently together, can you see the sides of the bus now? When the corners touch, that square turned into a cone. Did you find it?
9. Fold that piece that is sticking into the center along the dotted line. Put a piece of tape across the top of the bus where the triangle is. Now the bus has 2 sides.
10. Now see if you can finish the other 3 sides, if you need help ask a friend or I'll come over and help.

What's in the bus? Homework Pages: #1 - #2

After your bus is ready you may take unifix cubes and measure the inside of the bus. What is the volume of the bus in unifix cubes? What about a different manipulative? (discuss the volume in various measurements, even filling the bus with tablespoons of beans.)

Teacher writes the directions below on the board.

Complete the 'Whats's in the Bus' 3-4 sheet. Read these bus stories carefully, answer the questions by writing the out the equations. Please show all you work.

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