Learning shapes can be a tricky subject for students, there are so many of them and they all can be depicted in so many ways- big, small, blue, yellow, upside down, sideways! Luckily there are some great worksheets and games and books out there to help students learn them.
Rectangles and Squares can be confusing for kids, because they each have four sides. What is a helpful trick is saying the word "rectangle" is longer than a "square" so it is a longer shape. Similarly octagons and hexagons are easily mixed up. But by saying there are two "o's" in octagon and 8 has two "O's". However, what helps students the most is simply practice!
Education.com has lots of fun shape math games for kids to play online such as a Shape Ski Race and a Shape Matching Game. You can also have you kids make their own shape matching game by having them draw two of each shape on index cards and then having them flip them all over and playing a game of concentration. Flipping over two cards over at a time and when it is a pair, they can take the cards!
Here is a nice book that I read to my class about shapes. It is called Circus Shapes by Stuart Murphy.
Here is a great worksheet that I found for kids to complete
Here is a great Shapes Song that I found to help kids learn their shapes.
Rectangles and Squares can be confusing for kids, because they each have four sides. What is a helpful trick is saying the word "rectangle" is longer than a "square" so it is a longer shape. Similarly octagons and hexagons are easily mixed up. But by saying there are two "o's" in octagon and 8 has two "O's". However, what helps students the most is simply practice!
Education.com has lots of fun shape math games for kids to play online such as a Shape Ski Race and a Shape Matching Game. You can also have you kids make their own shape matching game by having them draw two of each shape on index cards and then having them flip them all over and playing a game of concentration. Flipping over two cards over at a time and when it is a pair, they can take the cards!
Here is a nice book that I read to my class about shapes. It is called Circus Shapes by Stuart Murphy.
Here is a great worksheet that I found for kids to complete
Here is a great Shapes Song that I found to help kids learn their shapes.
Hi Freddi - nice post! I work with preschool kids so we do a lot of work with different shapes. I agree that shapes can be confusing for young children and they easily mix up the different shapes if they look similar. It's great that you included a book and song on shapes -- because I find that this is the best way my preschoolers learn a topic! They're always so eager to learn a new song or read a book because it's a fun activity that doesn't really feel like work.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that we've started doing is incorporating our lessons into circle time. For example, when we were discussing shapes, I would have each student go one-by-one around the classroom to bring a certain shape back to the circle. For example, I would stay "Ok, Thomas, please go look for something in the classroom that is shaped like an oval and bring it back to the circle." The students LOVED this because it gave them each an opportunity to get up and sort of play a game. It didn't really feel like learning, but more so like a fun activity. And, most importantly, it helped them with shape recognition!
Hey Freddi. I love your post. Your post is especially great when working with Early Childhood Education. I am a 2/3's teacher and we are always talking about the different shapes we are on. This month we are doing Octagons and I try incorporate the number 8 a lot with everything because it has 8 sides. Circus shapes also looks like a book that is great for this age group not only because of the shapes, but because students of this young age are interested about it any book that has great description and character. Another example that would be great when trying to get students to recongize and identify shapes is by asking them to look around the classroom and telling you what object looks like a shape. We are constantly doing that in mine and I also give them worksheets with those same similarities.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this post; I think teaching shapes is a fun topic to cover. You can do so much, and you can get more engaging activities as the students get older. Just today in my classroom we gave the students shape magnifying glasses, and they had to go around the school looking for the corresponding shape objects. It blew me away that the kids knew both diamond and rhombus as the names for the shape. The book you shared as well is one of my favorites. It is one we have been reading with our kids this week to get them to identify shapes in everything.
ReplyDeleteGreat Job!