Math is taking SHAPE!

It was wonderful to see how exciting geometry could be to our kindergartners and how challenging it was to describe minor variations in shapes.  The children were delighted to be able to name all of the shapes that we examined on Friday.  When asked to explain how they knew which shapes were which, they had to do some technical analyses and comparisons to differentiate one from another.  For example, the square, rectangle, trapezoid and diamond (aka rhombus) were all described as having four flat sides, and four points or corners.  We were so baffled!  The question of course was, "Why is this one a rectangle and not a diamond or square or trapezoid?"   Here are some of the ideas that emerged as we examined these shapes:  "The rhombus is really pointy.  It has two big points and two small points.  It has four slanted lines!!  The square is like a cube.  It has the same size points.  The rectangle has two big sides and two little ends.  It doesn't have any really pointy points!"  And the trapezoid was described as "two slanted lines and two straight lines.  It has one big line, one little line, and two short lines."   We continued with a triangle, hexagon, oval and a circle.  "The triangle has 3 sides and 3 corners or points."  Not too difficult.  "A circle is round like a wheel, a smiley face, a tire, or the sun."  "The oval is round."  Uh oh!!  So is the circle!  "The oval is like sideways, like an egg.  It is a little flat."  The hexagon we all agreed had six sides and six points.  This exercise really challenged the children's observation skills and vocabulary.  Naturally, they began noticing shapes all around the classroom.

To deepen and enrich our work, we became shape detectives and scoured the classroom and hallways for shapes.  We recorded our discoveries on a chart using tally marks that we had practiced working with at Morning Meeting.  Everywhere we went, the children were absolutely abuzz as they noticed shapes everywhere and joyously called out to each other as they discovered them.  It was most exciting when they discovered "hundreds of millions" of the same shape all in one place, such as squares in the celiling, triangles in the block corner or diamonds on the glass pane of our door!   And then at lunch, as they began to unpack their bags, there were shouts of "Look a square!" or  "I have three rectangles!"  It was fantastic to see the carry over from our activity into lunch.  I wonder if they were noticing them at home this weekend??  Let us know if you were hearing or learning about shapes at home.