Hook Them with Geometry
One of my goals for the beginning of the new school year was to get my students excited about math from the moment they walked in the door. To do this I started our math lessons in the area (no pun intended!) of geometry through hands-on activities and projects. I discovered that through allowing kids to design, create, and build – something all kids love – I could sneak in important ideas in math.
But the other thing I discovered was that it was a great way to build their mathematical confidence right from the very start. And in a subject area where too many kids feel they aren’t “good” enough, this confidence can go a long way.
So I’ve listed below some activities you can do to support the geometry standards. Most of the activities require the use of manipulatives so you’ll want to make sure that you give students enough time to “free explore” before getting into the lesson. This helps minimize distractions with the manipulatives when you’re ready to focus the lesson. While students are exploring, walk around the room, ask questions about their work and talk about the math you see. But make it pretty informal. I love how you used two triangles to create a parallelogram! And have students who are interested share their work with the class. Again, you’re building that confidence which is so important for success in math.
In addition to the ideas below, you can also tap into some of my Family Math Night Collaborative Projects which lend themselves well to a classroom environment. These are great hands-on STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, mathematics) projects. If you have a buddy class, the older students can help the younger ones with their part of the project. This is a great way for them to get to know each other while doing something fun and educational!
Activity 1 – Shapes: Students create shapes according to the attributes you give them. Ex: Design a closed shape with exactly three sides. Share samples, compare different shapes and have the students come up with the definition for ‘triangle’.
Activity 2 – Symmetry: Put one geoband down the center of the geoboard. Students create a design on one side of their geoboard. Their partner needs to use the other side to create the mirror symmetry. (You may need to start by limiting the number of geobands used.)
Activity 1: Students place pattern blocks inside hinged mirrors then re-create what they see in the mirror.
Activity 2: Students create task cards for each other to solve. They do this by creating a design with the blocks on triangle paper, tracing the perimeter and cutting it out. They then re-trace just the perimeter on construction paper. These are now the task cards. As a variation, have students write clues such as the number of hexagons needed.
Activity 1: Students use all 7 of their tangram pieces to fill in the design on their task cards (see Grandfather Tang’s Story for task card ideas).
Activity 2: Students create polygons using a specific number of tangram pieces and fill in the chart (scroll down to ‘Tangrams’ and click on the banner link).
Straws and Twist Ties*
Activity: Provide students with straws and twist ties. Let them build whatever they want. Talk about the attributes of the shapes you see. Discuss the difference between 2-D and 3-D shapes.
*I like to use cocktail stirrers and cut up pipe cleaners if I can’t find twist ties.
Another fun activity for 5th graders and up that reinforces the use of a protractor is my Hunting for Buried Treasure project. I also have some videos of geometry projects on my YouTube Channel.
Finally, if you’re looking for a fun way to involve parents in some of these hands-on activities, there’s our Gellin’ with Geometry Family Math Night kit. Some of the activities described above are in the kit along with lots more fun stuff!
I know many of you are already in your classrooms planning out the year. Since we have to teach geometry anyway, why not switch it up a bit and start with something different? I know your students will love it!