The Coat of Many Bits

Organize students in groups of 2 or 3. To complete this activity, student groups find the area of the front of a coat. Groups measure the area using bits, skinnies, and flats. The activity can be completed in two ways:

Measure the area of a student's actual coat. Cut sheets of paper into pieces large enough for students to lay a coat or jacket on and trace the entire outline. About 2 yards by 1 yard is usually adequate.

Measure the area of a “pattern” for a coat. Trace an outline of a coat on chart paper for each student group. Use a student's coat or sweater as a template or draw an outline as shown in Figure 1. In this way you can control the size of the coats so that the areas do not get too large.