The Evils of Scissors and Glue

Today my mathematicians worked on the concept of equal and unequal when it comes to 2D shapes. I perused the internet for ways my students could practice this concept, but I was mostly disappointed and reminded of how we need to be careful how we ask students to use their time. 

If I want my mathematicians to look at shapes and identify whether they've been partitioned equally or unequally, then I'd best not instead ask them to spend their time cutting and glueing. A sheet divided in half, labeled equal and unequal with shapes at the bottom that need to be cut out, sorted, and glued on the page, is going to prevent mathematicians from quality time spent practicing the actual skill I need them to learn. 

Here's how I handled their practice time. Each of my mathematicians was giving one shape, like in the examples below. They met up with others, identified their neighbor's shape as equal or unequal, swapped shapes, and visited someone else. This continued until I knew they had ample time to practice. Their final task was to write "equal" or "unequal" on the back of the last shape in their possession and give it to me. Voila.

I just think we need to be wary of allowing cutting, glueing, or some other random task from preventing what's truly most important from happening.

Subitizing Geometry Style

We've been doing something in geometry these days that reminds me a bit of subitizing.  I learned about it in a math professional development class from Boise State University.  It's called Quick Images.  You show a composite shape to the kiddos for a few seconds, then remove the picture to see what they can create from memory.  It is definitely a challenge, but it stretches their knowledge of shapes, their attributes, and the space the shapes occupy.  The composite shapes increase in difficulty like you see below.

from color

 to black and white

 to only the outline  

We did two or three of each type before moving on to the next one.  Oh, and we always talked about what they noticed as well.  

I do not have permission to share the slides of the shapes from BSU, but I'm sure you could make your own if you think this activity would benefit your students.  

Behind Your Back (freebie)

Here's a little geometry activity that I've seen a few times in some of my district math professional development.  It's a great one for challenging kids to think about shapes, their attributes, and the space they occupy.  

While one partner's back is to the smartboard or whatever tool a teacher has at their fingertips, the other partner faces the smartboard and describes the composite shape that they see while the other partner creates it without looking.  What fun and what a challenge!  They really have to know their stuff to pull this off.

Directions were given.  Questions were asked.  Clarifying took place.  I heard some great conversations!  Afterwards, one of my little guys patted me on the back and said, "That was pretty awesome!" 

I'd like to share the Smart Notebook file of composite shapes with you.  I'm crossing my fingers this will work.  If it doesn't, it won't be too hard to create your own.  Head here if you're interested.  (Please let me know if this doesn't work.)

Cover Up (freebie)

We're in the midst of geometry these days.  We just played a fun composing and decomposing game that I learned at a recent district math meeting.  Making the freebie is the only thing I can take credit for.  

The game is played in pairs.  Each player has their own duck sheet like the one below.

A player rolls a die and places a pattern block on their duck according to what they roll from this sheet, which I cut in half.  (Click on the graphic for your own copy.)

Here are the official directions.  

I simplified it slightly.  I didn't tell them they could exchange shapes.  If they couldn't use the shape they rolled, they lost their turn, but true to the directions above, they were not allowed to move any shape after it had been placed.

They loved the game, and I loved that they could play it over and over again with very different results each time.  They had a ton of exposure to shapes and their attributes.

P.S.  The duck template was found at Prekinders.com/pattern-blocks but as you can see, all lines within the picture were removed.  Obviously, their removal ups the ante and allows this activity to really be about composing and decomposing.