The Shape of Things

Title: The Shape of Things

Author: Dayle Ann Dodds

Mathematical Concepts and Language:

• Geometry: 2D shapes
• Composing pictures using 2D shapes

Questioning:

Before:

• What do you see?
• What shapes do you notice?
• What shapes do you see in the classroom? (prompt: How do you know that is a ______? or What do you see that makes you think that?)

After:

• Ask students to find different shapes in the classroom. Then, prompt "What was added to make it a _______? (e.g., a clock is a circle and they added numbers and hands to make it a clock).

Extensions/Provocations (Small Group, Learning Centres, Whole Group, Transitions):

• Art Studio: Create a class book using shapes from the classroom environment (provide different types of paper and materials to create pages)
• Shape Hunt Outdoors: Using a camera or an iPad, invite students to capture different shapes that they find in the environment.
• Creating Pictures: set out the book with attribute blocks or different shape blocks. You could provide paper for students to sketch what they create or a tool to capture (e.g., iPad or camera)
• Not a Shape: in small group, show different pictures of shapes and non-shapes (e.g., a rectangle with a squiggly line) and invite students to talk about which ones are shapes and which ones are non-shapes explaining their thinking.