Bringing Telestrations to the Math Classroom

Do you know the game Telestrations? Great for parties, it's as if the the game "telephone" met up with Pictionary. Each player starts with a notebook and writes a word or phrase chosen from a game card. The notebooks then get passed around the table, the next person attempting to draw the word, then the next guessing the word only based on the previous drawing, and so forth. It's fun and full of laughs.

Karen, a math department colleague, came to my co-librarian and I with an idea for bringing Telestrations into her math classroom, and asked for our space and our support in making the idea come to life. Upon seeing this fun, engaging lesson and then teaching it with another math colleague, I am (with Karen's permission) excited to share this with you. 

---

We began our instruction by playing a quick round of Telestrations so that students would understand the basic game ideaology. Then we pulled the math into the lesson.

Our learning targets for students:

• I can draw representations of three-dimensional figures.
• I can recognize a three dimensional figure from a given representation.

Each student was tasked with using 8-12 single color small locking cubes to create a structure. The complete structure needed to fit under a solo cup. Then, each table traded colors. The new color would become the building cubes for game play. We set up privacy folders and instead of moving the notebooks around the table, the notebooks stayed put with the structure and the kids moved. 

At the first rotation, students removed the cups and drew the FRONT view of the structure, then covered the structure again. At the next rotation, students attempted to build a copy of the structure simply by looking at the previous student's rendition of the FRONT of the structure. Then, they peeked under the cup, checking their work, and flipped to another page, drawing the SIDE view of the structure. Rotating again, they could now use ALL the previous drawings (FRONT and SIDE views) to try to recreate the structure, without looking at the original. They then checked under the cup, drew the TOP view, and moved to the final spot, attempting to build one last structure with all three views available.

It truly was such a fun way for kids to understand representations of three dimensional figures. 

---

And, if this lesson is a bit confusing to comprehend, all of our materials are avaialble, including the slide deck that carries you through the lesson step-by-step.

• Slide Deck
• Telestrations notebook (for practice round)
• Cube-estrations notebook (for 3D representation round)

Let us know how it goes!

​-Gretchen

---

You might also like:

• BubbleUp Take 10 with Carrie Marcey: Math is EVERYWHERE! (December 11, 2018)
• BubbleUp Take5: Helping Kids Excel in Math (or at least not to hate it) (August 14, 2018)
• Library + Math = The Perfect Equation (June 5, 2018)