Before we officially closed, one of the math standards we had yet to cover was shape attributes. Now, I am in no way trying to make my life harder by attempting to cover a concept the kids have no idea about so, instead, I am trying to make things easier for everyone by assigning work incrementally so that the kids are using skills they know while still applying it to new knowledge.
I started by introducing the concept of angles to the kids. Over Zoom, I showed them how to form the different angles (right, acute, and obtuse) with their bodies, what they were called, etc. I showed them examples using the objects around me. For example, I showed them how the corner of their math book formed a right angle. We went over the math book pages that showed examples of the different type of angles. It was a quick lesson on basically identifying the three different types of angles we are learning in third grade. There was nothing about it, other than being on Zoom, that I did any differently than if we were in the classroom together.
Then, I wanted the kids to take that knowledge and apply it in a simple way. I asked them to go outside and take pictures of themselves creating the angles (like we did together in the lesson) and then find a real life example. They used their Chromebooks to take the pictures. Again, this was a simple exercise in identifying the angles.
I WISH I could show you the finished products (but the kids are in them) because they are SO SO SO creative. One kid took a stapler he had at home, opened it up and formed an obtuse angle. Another used her lounge chair outside to form the same angle. Kids were making them out of wood, or finding the hinges on their door frames and forming angles. It was quite spectacular. Here is the digital slide I assigned the kids.
The next two days, we came back together to learn about putting these angles together to make polygons and then, more specifically, quadrilaterals. Using the chart paper I had at home, we made an anchor chart for both together over Zoom. I asked the kids to help me with the chart by raising their hand, I unmuted them on Zoom, and they helped me to construct the charts.
We then set off to put this altogether. I asked them to use the shape tools in Google Slides to create their own "polygon person". They could use the shapes in any way they wanted, but they needed to include every one of the polygons and angles we learned about. It was a fun, creative way to get some "art" in, work on our computer skills, and identify the polygons.
After the "people" were done, the kids needed to then list the attributes of each of the shapes included in their design. We talked about why circles were not included (they didn't have the same attributes as a polygon--ie: no straight lines) and what made certain shapes different. We learned that polygons are defined by their sides and angles, and the kids were off listing the various attributes of their polygon person. Here is a copy of the digital slides I gave the students.
This was a quick, easy way to get the kids implementing their tech skills, creating a product, and using the new knowledge that they were acquiring. Next, we are going to take that polygon person and use it as an avatar to create a stop motion film.....but that is a blog post for another day ;)
I just want to say TY and you inspire me!!
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