Kids are amazed about how many of them can squeeze into such a small space in order to conduct the core activity in "First Impressions". Assuming the average foot can be represented by a rectangle approximately 10 inches by 3 inches, how many feet, and thus people, could potentially fit into a 3 foot by 3 foot square.

Break students into teams of three and have them race to solve the following problems related to this activity using the above estimated size of a human foot:

1. How many people could fit into a 3 foot x 3 foot square?
2. How much larger would you need to make the square to accommodate 100 people?
3. If you use the same size square as the answer to the second problem above, what are some ways that you could actually get more than a hundred people in without increasing the size of the square? This last one is a critical thinking problem, and solutions like, "having each person stand on one foot", will vary from group to group.

Once all teams solve these three problems, have them report out their solution to number 3, and then try to see if they can actually use some of their ideas to get more people in the square than the mere space allows for.

Standards

This activity supports: California Academic Content Standards - Mathematics - Seven - Measurement and Geometry. Standard 2.2: Students compute the perimeter, area, and volume of common geometric objects and use the results to find measures of less common objects. They know how perimeter, area, and volume are affected by changes of scale.

Because this activity deals with labeling of students, you can lead a discussion on the topic of labeling or stereotyping of people. Students at grades of 4 and above, can usually articulate being labeled as an athlete, funny, goof-off etc...and identify how those descriptions can be anywhere from completely false and hurtful, or minimally, represent a limited view of somebody's entire personality. Have students consider that often times labeling people for positive attributes can serve as a much better way to describe people as individuals in a way that highlights the unique talents or gifts they bring to their school and community.

Following this conversation, ask students to write a journal entry citing a time in which they observed how someone or a group of people, or even they themselves, were labeled in a negative or limiting way. Then ask them to create a positive label for themselves that speaks to their attributes as an individual. A fun extension of this activity is to have your students create the same type of label pages you taped or pinned to each other in the activity, but this time, ask them to pick a partner, and create a positive label for that person and pin it to their back as a means of sharing what they value about each other's personality and attributes.

Standards

This activity supports: California Academic Content Standards - English-Language Arts - Sixth - Writing - Writing Applications (Genres and Their Characteristics), Standard 2.2b: Write expository compositions that explain the situation