is a great kinesthetic activity to help teach them lines, line segments, rays, points, and types of angles. Have them sit on the floor in a circle, and throw a ball of yarn back and forth while they hold on to it. Then tape the yarn down by each child, and pass of points written on post-its. Have the children identify lines, line segments, points, rays (I made arrows to create these and put them where I wanted them), and various angles. They love it!
We made 3D shapes out of construction paper, go online type in the shape you want and you will have an outline. Then we took black posterboard paper and drew (on bright colored paper) shapes out and pasted them to make a picture for 2d shapes. Also we had foam shapes and talked about line of symmetry. I had them also cut out similiar, congruent and neither shapes out of bright paper to put on a bigger sheet of paper. Then they had to label what was what. Use a cup for a circle, maybe a container for a square and rectangle.
Using food is always good. We use gumdrops and toothpicks and make the 3D shapes. You can count the edges, vertices and faces.
I also bought "Donald Duck in Mathemagic Land" on E-bay for about $8. It is very old, but the kids still enjoy it.
I have also done projects where you have the kids either cut pictures from a magazine, or take pictures of different geometric shapes, lines, and angles.
Also, you can read The Greedy Triangle and have the kids create their own story.
Hope this helps.
hi,
I'm student teaching in 3rd grade and I'm being observed by my professor tomorrow. Today my teacher suggested that I do a lesson on polygons and have them make the shapes out of toothpicks and marshmellows...the thing is they have already memorized the names of many polygons for the state-wide test last week. I don't think it would be enough of a lesson if I just had them make the shapes..any ideas of additional things I could do? I was thinking maybe compare and contrasting the shapes, or listing characterisitics.. but I'm afraid the kids will become bored since they were already made to memorize a lot of this info. and help would be great!
thanks!
You could compare the Edges, Faces and Vertices of the different shapes. You could have the kids show parallel and perpendicular lines. The kids will love anything with food, regardless of what they had to memorize for the test. This will also look good to your professor- that they already know the names of the shapes. Good Luck!!
1) You can use the geoboard and have them make the polygons. They can sit with partners or in small groups and compare the many ways an octagon can look. Use this time to talk about regular octagons etc. and irregular octagons etc. The kids find it exciting when they end up making the same one and when they end up making different ones. Regular polygons are more difficult to make then they think. The record them on square dot paper.
2) Along the same lines, you can use chinese skipping ropes (basically really long elastic bands-used for jumping). YOu can usually buy them at the dollar store (usually in the seasonal section). Have the students work in groups and make the polygons (their legs act as the vertices). So they stand inside them and each person acts as a vertice).
3) Use the pattern blocks and have them find the many combinations of pattern blocks that are congruent to the yellow hexagon. For example, 6 green triangles are congruent, 3 rhombuses, 1 rhombus and 4 triangles, 2 trapezoids, etc. They can record the combinations on a paper of 8 hexagons.
4) They can make pet pyramids or pet prisms. They can use plasticine and construct a pet and then describe the pet using its vertices, edges and faces/bases
Read the Greedy Triangle by Marilyn Burns. Its about a triangle who is not happy being a triangle and so goes to a shapeshifter who continues to add 1 side and 1 vertex each time. Eventually he ends up with so many he almost begins to look like a circle.
thanks for all your ideas. i didn't have access to the book, but i made a chart for the students to fill out with the name of the shape, picture, # sides, # angles, # points, and # pairs of parallel sides. after making a list of all the shapes they've learned as a class, i had the students work in pairs and choose 5 shapes to make with the marshmallows and toothpicks and fill-out the chart for...it worked out great! ..and after filling out the chart the students noticed that #sides = #points = # angles
Here are some suggestions as to what I did for the geometry and measurement unit:
- When teaching about solid figures, I had the students walk around the room and find real-life examples of solid figures.
- When talking about lines, line segments, and rays, I had the students manipulate jump ropes, walking away from one another to represent lines and staying put for lines segments. It was very effective.
- When teaching about angles, I had the students manipulate pipe cleaners. Each student had two: one was yellow and the other was a different color. The yellow one was bent as a right angle and stayed that way, while the other color was bent to model acute and obtuse angles, then held over the right angle to see the differences. This was also very effective.
- When doing area, I had the students put dots in the unit squares as they counted, and for perimeter I had them draw slash lines through the lines of the unit squares as they counted. This helped them to distinguish between the two, and also helped when counting so that the students could keep track.
--When studying geometry, I use these books. They include: Grandfather Tang's Story by Ann Tompert, 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, and Sam Johnson and the Blue Ribbon Quilt by Lisa Campbell Ernst. (If you check Amazon.com, you will find many more titles. Search “Children’s Books, quilts.”)
--Of course, now that my students have read all these books, they have to design a quilt square.
--Instead of using marshmallows and toothpicks, I use straws cut into four, six, and eight inches. Your will need about a hundred of each length. I store them in plastic contains larger than sandwich size which are usually available at the dollar store. My students make two and three-dimensional shapes using the straws and twist ties. (Fold a twist tie in half and poke it into the end of two different straws.) This works very well, and are reuseable, which makes them cheaper!
03-12-2007, 05:30 PM
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