We talked about how we could do some of those things to our perfect squares and then turn them into our own amazing designs, too. Afterward, we talked about all of of the different ways the square was deconstructed – cut, poked, torn, shredded, shattered, snipped, crumpled, ripped, and wrinkled.

To begin, I read Perfect Square to my kids. That’s it! I told you this activity was easy to set up. Develop fine motor skills while cutting, tearing, using the hole punch, gluing and more.Ĭut the construction paper into large squares.Explore how a shape can be deconstructed and turned into something new.While participating in this art activity students will: And then do this activity with your students! If you haven’t already read it, I recommend that you do. It’s about a perfect square that is transformed into something new and amazing each day.

I just love the message in the book Perfect Square by Michael Hall. It goes perfectly with the book and would be an excellent addition to a shapes unit. Pair this with Barney Saltzberg’s “ Beautiful Oops!” for an afternoon of rainy day fun.This Perfect Square art activity is so easy to set up and totally open-ended. Its four matching corners were rigid and cramped.” The resolution is both effortless and utterly appropriate for a book that begs for reams of colored paper, rooms full of imaginative hands, and a whole lot of clapping and giggling. Now, however, “Its four equal sides were confining. Turn the page, and the pieces have gleefully reassembled themselves into a fountain that “babbled and giggled and clapped.” The palette modulates from reds to golds to blues and greens as Tuesday brings a garden full of flowers, Wednesday a verdant park and so on until Sunday, when the square reverts to its perfect state of squareness. The facing page shows a matching (but smaller) red square in a definite state of disarray. It wasn’t perfectly square anymore.” The text for this sequence is set in bold white type on a perfectly square red page. On Monday, a heretofore “perfectly happy” perfect square was “cut into pieces and poked full of holes. With a familiar sequence - the days of the week - as a backdrop, the emphasis this time is on the endless possibilities afforded by unexpected and nominally negative events. Close on the heels of his rollicking, rhyming ode to animals and their attitudes (“ My Heart Is Like a Zoo”), Michael Hall again engineers geometric shapes and bold colors into a simple but expressive story.

The perfect square by michael hall