Geometric Shapes

Welcome back,

Geometry is a fun unit that you can engage students with many hands-on activities. We played a few games during math class that I am sure I will bring into my practicum and my own classroom.

I enjoyed this week's learning activity covering polygons and 3D shapes. After doing an introductory lesson on what a polygon is and what are the sides, edges and vertices, we had the chance to do a fun activity involving... marshmallows! We were to each create a 3D shape using toothpicks and marshmallows.

Image by Yasmine Khaizaran

I decided to make a pentagonal pyramid (on the left) which includes 5 sides (6 faces, 10 edges and 6 vertices) that we had to label on a worksheet. The polygon on the right was created by Lauren, which she decided to call a triple triangular prism. This was an engaging (not to mention delicious - I did snack on some of the marshmallows!) activity that is a great tool to use when introducing students to polygons. They get the opportunity to shed their creativity in making any kind of polygon they would like, with as many sides and vertices that they choose. After making our own polygons, we did a gallery walk around the class and observed and tried to guess what polygons our colleagues created.

Towards the end of the class, we played a fun game that brought me back to my school days: Battleships. This was one of my favourite games to play in math class as it never really felt like I was learning math. We could spend hours playing because competition amongst the teams always seemed to grow. It is a great game to include when introducing coordinate geometry. Students are able to learn how to graph ordering pairs (with x and y axis extending to negatives and positives). They are practicing how to plot coordinates without even realizing, because the game is that fun!

Image by Yasmine Khaizaran

This game involves each team placing their ships in a way that prevents their opponents from guessing where they are located. Students are to use logic and strategic thinking when trying to guess where the ships are placed on the grid. It is a great way to have students talking math and coordinates!

A computerized version of Battleships can be found on Math Playground. Students can play this game on their iPads or computers at home as well.