[247teach]

I made a mini book for the book the greedy triangle. I would love to have some other ideas on teaching geometry. Please share if you have any cool sheets or ideas!

[skitty515]

I love your book, but in the page where the GT is tired of being a pentagon, there is a spelling mistake in the word hexagon. Other than that your book is adorable and I look forward to using it in my class! Thank you.

[MissA1stGrade]

Adorable! Thank you so much for sharing. I'll be using that next week when I start geometry.

When I teach symmetry, I have them find symmetry in the letters of their name. That's always a hit.

I also build solids using toothpicks and marshmallows, fruit rings, etc.

[Phyl]

Thanks for sharing. My kids always love to use geoboards to show plane figures, congurent or similar shapes and different angles.

[ConnieWI]

Be sure to go to www.mathwire.com. Type geometry in the search window at the top of the page. You will spend hours looking at all the wonderful things they have at this site. They also suggest great literature for each math topic.

I discovered a snowflake activity using pattern blocks at mathwire. Students build a snowflake along a line of symmetry. There are several levels to this activity.

I have my students build two and three-dimensional shapes using straws and twist ties. They love doing this. I cut the straws to four, six, and eight inches long. This takes awhile, but you will be able to use the straws in the coming years. I store the straws by length in storage boxes with covers. The boxes are slightly bigger than sandwich boxes.

Something else I do for geometry is find the lines of symmetry for the uppercase letters of the alphabet. I sure like the idea of finding lines of symmetry for a child's name that was mentioned above.

Students can also make a design/picture using pattern blocks. (My volunteers cut out paper ones so after my students design it with the blocks, they can use the paper shapes to glue their design/picture to paper.) The kids make a chart...number of hexagons, trapezoids, triangles, large and small rhombuses, count the number of angles, and count the number of sides. This chart is glued in a corner of their design. These make a great display.

Read books about quilting, research quilt squares, and then design a single square or class quilt. There are plenty of books with quilt themes, so maybe you could incorporate these books into your guided reading groups. (Again, I suggest you type quilting into the search box on mathwire. You will get some other sites, literature suggestions, and activities to enhance your study of geometry using quilting.)

I use these books:
--The Quiltmaker's Gift by Jeff Brumbeau and the sequel The Quiltmaker’s Journey
--The Greedy Triangle by Marilyn Burns
--The Quilting Bee by Gail Gibbons
--The Quilt Story by Tony Johnson
--The Patchwork Quilt by Valerie Flournoy
--The Keeping Quilt by Patricia Polacco
--Cloak for a Dreamer by Aileen Friedman
--Sam Johnson and the Blue Ribbon Quilt by Lisa Campbell Ernst

Don't forget Grandfather Tang's Story by Ann Tompert. Tangrams are very high-interest for kids, and work great when teaching geometry.

A concentration game with geometry vocabulary on one card and a picture/definition on another card is always fun.

Check out this link on ProTeacher. http://www.proteacher.org/c/313_Geom...ctivities.html

Here are some task cards for shapes, triangles, and angles.
http://www.proteacher.net/discussions/showthread.php?t=148399

http://www.proteacher.net/discussions/showthread.php?t=149425

http://www.proteacher.net/discussions/showthread.php?t=148973

I hope some of these suggestions help you.

[tancraven]

Thanks for sharing!

[247teach]

THank you so much for sharing! I LOVE TASK CARDS! The books are great resources too!