Finding Perimeter

I found a lesson plan that I thought would be great to use when teaching students about perimeter.  It was located on Education.com.  This was a lesson geared toward third grade students, and it aligns with the Common Core Standard 3.MD.D.8: Solve real world and mathematical problems involving perimeters of polygons, including finding the perimeter given the side lengths, finding an unknown side length, and exhibiting rectangles with the same perimeter and different areas or with the same area and different perimeters.

The lesson begins with an informational video about finding perimeter.  Following the video, the lesson plan explains a way to engage the students in a brief conversation on the topic.  Afterward, you give them some examples and model how to find the perimeter.  Allow the students to choose things in the room for the examples (i.e. book, folder).  The part that I thought was fun was they used Cheez-It crackers to map the perimeter!  

After the students have had time to work on an independent worksheet, they then move on to an application project of building their dream house.  They can use the cheese crackers to design and measure their layout and floor plan.  I thought that this would be a really fun and engaging way to get the students excited about learning more about perimeter.