Favorite Geometry Activities, and I Found Them on Pinterest

Whatever would I do without Pinterest?  It is such a great resource, as well as a great place to organize information.  That is never more true than it is with our Geometry unit.  We do not have an up-to-date math book that reflects the Common Core, so I am constantly looking for resources to utilize when teaching a unit.  I have found so many wonderful ideas on Pinterest, including the one above.

Right before winter vacation my math groups reviewed lines, angles, plain figures and geometric solids using marshmallows, toothpicks and pretzels. Needless to say, the kids loved it, and they got to eat their math when they were done.  It was the first day that kids would rather be in my math small group than working with the iPads. I found the idea here.  We discovered that the toothpicks worked a lot better than the pretzel sticks, but they are not as tasty.

Another idea I found was this art activity for symmetry.  It was also a good opportunity to talk about how to hold the ruler to draw a straight line, as well as using it for measurement.  I find that fourth graders do not always know how to do this well.  You can see the original idea here.

There is so much new vocabulary connected with Geometry, so anchor charts are very useful.  I also have my students create foldables to keep in their math notebooks.  I have found many great ideas for both on Pinterest.  I created a Geometry board on Pinterest, which makes it easy for me to share these resources with my colleagues.  All I have to do is send them the link to my board.  Here is a link to my Geometry Board.



 We started back to school on Thursday, and now we are working on area and perimeter.  No matter how much we practice, the kids still get confused about which formula they need to use.  This video has a catchy tune that helps them keep it straight.

Next week we will get another chance to eat our math, when we use Cheese Its for area and perimeter. Another clever idea that I found on Pinterest!

Is It Symmetrical?

We are working on symmetry.  We had one of those moments that I had to change my lesson plans on the spur of the moment.  I had my small groups work with a partner to create a design with geo blocks.  The design had to have at least one line of symmetry.  I photographed the designs they created.  Later I showed the designs to the rest of the class.  We had to determine whether the design was in fact symmetrical.  Students used a yard stick to show where the line of symmetry was.

This lesson turned out to be a home run.  It was a quick and easy lesson.  The kids loved doing it and they were excited to see their designs on the screen and to have them used in a lesson for the whole class.. 

Now we are following up with a lesson I found on Pinterest.  Students are using rulers and other drawing tools to create a symmetrical design.  Here is the link to the original post on the blog Art Lessons for Kids.