Polygon Play (Geometry Class #2 Part I, Fall 2010)

Math class today. We did so many things that I'm going to break it into a series of posts. :)

Started with a brief review of tangrams by reading Grandfather Tang's Story. I provided tangrams so the kids could construct the animals as the story went along, but the story became too captivating...they slowly abandoned the pieces to fully concentrate on what was happening. Great book!

We continued with a review of polygons. Last week we discussed the characteristics of a polygon. I drew a variety of figures on the board and they told me which were polygons and which were not. Since we'd read The Greedy Triangle last week, we quickly flipped through the book to see the polygons used there.

We then made a flapbook...the word "polygon" on the outside of the flap and the characteristics listed inside. (This is not pictured.)

And now...to make a quiz for their parents...to see if they know about polygons. They LOVED that idea! We made a series of 6 flaps (see right photo...one flap is open.) I had them cut off the top flap to make a "title" area..."Is this a polygon?" They then drew 5 figures of their choice on top of the 5 remaining flaps. Under each, they wrote "yes" or "no" to indicate whether the figure is a polygon. They used rulers to make sure the straight lines were actually straight.

In the process of assessing their parents, this became a quick assessment to see if they had a solid understanding of polygons. With fun in the process!

Nice addition to polygon lessons:


Geometric Stick Lessons