Park Planner: A Lesson on Area, Perimeter, Circumference, and Volume

Welcome to The School of Landscape Design!  As you work your way through the following courses, you will learn everything you need to know in order to design your park.  Make sure you take the courses in order and carefully follow the directions.  Good luck!

Course 1 - The Basics

• Using the Math Dictionary, write a definition and draw a picture for each of the following terms.  

         perimeter                              area                             quadrilateral                          triangle  

         trapezoid                              volume                          parallelogram                         circle

         radius                                   diameter                       circumference                       formula

         pi                                          cylinder                        rectangular prism                  rectangle

• You know the basics of perimeter and area, but a refresher course won't hurt!  Go to Everything You Need to Know About Perimeter and Area and click on the shapes.  Practice makes perfect!
•  Go to Area of a Parallelogram, read through everything carefully, and complete the 5 exercises at the bottom of the page.  Print the exercise page.
• Staple and turn in:  Vocabulary Words and Area of a Parallelogram (5 exercises).

Course 2 - Triangles and Trapezoids

• A triangle is just half of a rectangle, so all you have to do is take half of the area.  What???  This Triangle Rap will teach you everything you need to know!
• Print the Area of a Triangle worksheet and answer all the questions.
• Just in case you decide to include some trapezoids in your design, you need to know how to find the area.   This video on Trapezoids will teach you exactly how to do that!  
• Now complete and print the 5 exercises in Area of a Trapezoid. 
• Take the End-of-Course Test to make sure you are ready to move on to Course 3.  You will need to print and complete the worksheet.
• Staple and turn in: Area of a Triangle Worksheet, Area of a Trapezoid (5 exercises), and End-of-Course Test.

Course 3 - All About Circles

• Your design will include some circles, so get spinning with this Circumference and Area of a Circle song!
• This video on finding the Circumference of a Circle will walk you through some great examples.
• Finding the area of a circle also involves using pi and a special formula.  Walk with Spot through this lesson to learn how to calculate the Area of a Circle.  You will also discover something really cool about rainbows! 
• Print the Circle worksheet, answer all the questions, and turn it in to your teacher.

Select another classmate to be your design partner. You will complete Course 4 together. 

 Course 4 - How Much Water?

• Your park must contain some sort of water feature like a pool, a pond, or a fountain.  In order to figure out how much water is needed, you have to know how to calculate volume.
• If your water feature will be shaped like a cylinder, let Tim and Moby help you calculate the Volume of a Cylinder.  Take the Review Quiz.  Then take the Classic Quiz, print your results, and turn them in.
• If your water feature will be shaped like a rectangular prism, then watch as Mrs. Dawson teaches you the steps.  Once you finish, take the Self-Check Quiz, print your results, and turn them in.

Congratulations!  You have graduated with honors from The School of Landscape Design!  You will continue working with your partner to create a scale drawing of the city's newest park.  Make sure you follow the city park regulations - you don't want your design to be turned down by the mayor!  As you work together on your park, keep in mind that your final design must be presented to your boss.  Your boss is very picky, so pay careful attention to the presentation requirements.  Time is running out, so get busy!

 City Regulations for Park Design

• Half of the city park should consist of a picnic area and a playground, but these two sections do not have to be located together.
• The picnic area must contain a circular flower garden. 
• There must be two gardens in every park.
• The park must contain at least one circular or rectangular water feature.
• All parks must contain trees.  Young trees will be planted, so designs should show room for the trees to grow.
• All parks created in this city must appeal to families, so they must include more than a picnic area and playground. 

Team Presentation Requirements (Include all of the following requirements on poster board)

• Park name
• Scale drawing in black and white with all design features labeled
• Design elements colored
• Dimensions (sizes) of each item in your design
• Amount of land needed for each item and the calculations used to determine the amount of land needed
• Materials needed and the calculations you did to determine how much you needed (number and type of playground equipment, fencing, number of picnic tables, trash and recycling cans, the amount of land covered by concrete or wood chips, the amount of water required to fill your water feature, and the quantities of other items included in your park)
• 100 word statement explaining your design (size and quantity of items in your park) and why your design should be chosen as the city's newest park

 Additional Requirements (Individual)

• Go to Microsoft Word, type and print a 100 word journal entry that describes what you learned from this project.  Some things you may want to include are:  what you liked best, what you liked least, what was easy, what was challenging, your thoughts on working with a partner, what you would do differently if you had to do this again, etc.
• Complete the Self-Reflection Survey.
• Complete the Partner Poll (be honest!).

Thanks for working so hard!  No pressure here, but be prepared for your presentation.  The City Council (your classmates), the Mayor (your principal), and the boss (your teacher) will be voting on the best park design!