Take the “Right” turn

Today’s math lesson focused on turns and angles.  Children first practiced moving their bodies in quarter, half and three-quarter turns both clockwise and counterclockwise.  We then discussed that a quarter turn has a special name called a right angle.  It looks like the letter L or the corner of a piece of paper-no matter which direction it’s turned.  Finally, we practiced turns and angles at the build it station and at the skill it station.

                             

How many names can there be for a shape?

Today we worked on quadrangles.  Quadrangle is just the fancy math term for

shapes with 4 angles.  We learned that a quadrangle can have many names, not even counting the names you can name a shape that is labelled with letters.  A quadrangle can also be called a quadrilateral (a shape with 4 sides).  It can also be called a polygon (a many sided figure).  Besides having it’s own name such as rhombus, square, rectangle, trapezoid, kite, etc., if a quadrangle has opposite sides parallel, it can be called a parallelogram.  So when you look at our creations, you should notice that there are 4 quadrangles or 4 quadrilaterals or 4 polygons, but only 3 parallelograms!  Can you tell which quadrangle is NOT a parallelogram?

Photos and shapes created by the Pentagons (Jayden, Draven, Chloe, and Madason).

Triangles

Paper Triangle Construction

In the build it center, children worked on triangles.  They practiced naming their triangle with three letters, as well as labelling the important parts of a triangle:  the vertex (or vertices), the angles and the sides.  Please check out the math links for 2 great triangle songs. Pictures by Trevor and Alexis M.

Build It Station Up and Running

Today (Tues. 1/22) we began Unit 6-Geometry. I’ve noticed from working with children for many years as well as my own experience that Geometry becomes really difficult when you can’t visualize the shape or the angle in your head. In order to “plant” those images in our heads, we often have to build and explore the shapes, angles, lines, or polyhedrons with our hands first. My approach to our Geometry unit will be a very hands on approach, with the children visiting the Build It Station frequently to build the concepts we are talking about. Every day, 1 group is in charge of taking pictures of what they built. Today, the Rhombus group (Scott, Connor, and BJ) were in charge of the camera. They built points, line segments, lines, and rays out of pretzels and marshmallows (and then they got to eat them). Enjoy their hard work: