Tangled Up in Angles

I hope everyone had a wonderful spring break!  This week, fourth graders have been using protractors to measure and draw angles.  We have been using a variety of strategies to decide which scale of the protractor to use.  

Some students realized that if we look at the direction from which the angle is opening, we can find the zero and count up the scale from there.  Others prefer to think about whether the angle is acute or obtuse and then choose the measurement that makes the most sense.  If the ray of your angle is pointing to 60 degrees and 120 degrees, and you know your angle is acute, then 60 degrees  must be the correct measurement.

Drawing angles has been a little more challenging than measuring, but once they got the hang of it, they took off.  In 4th grade, students are only responsible for angles up to 180 degrees.  However, we have had some discussion of reflex angles, which are angles between 180 and 360 degrees.  When students were asked to give each other angles to draw, some decided to try to draw reflex angles, quite a challenge with a protractor that only goes to 180 degrees!

Take a look at the students at work and some of the angles they drew!