Ideas and Geometry websites here

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Home : 2006 : October : 28

Ideas and Geometry websites here
By Risa

I agree that a great way to lead into your Geometry unit is to use The Greedy Triangle by Marilyn Burns. I even went so far as to make each of the large yellow shapes with big eyes like the main character in the book. It
helped my students to stay involved and they came in handy when we talked about the name of each shape, its vertices, and its sides.

We also use graph paper when we get into perimeter and area. Just a quick tip for these two terms:
Each time we said the word 'perimeter' we drew the outline of a square (or rectangle) in the air. As we said each syllable "per-i-met-er" we 'drew'

a side. This was to help students remember that perimeter refers to the outside edge of a shape. (I was thrilled when I noticed some students waiting in the lunch line 'teaching' other students using the same idea!)

Everytime we said the word 'area' we acted like we were wiping the inside of a square (or rectangle) with a flat hand. This was to remind them that area refers to the inside of a shape.

Oh! Something else I did after we were well into our unit on perimeter and area was to have students take graph paper and create a variety of shapes. We took their shapes and glued them onto chart paper. Working around the charts in small groups, they found the area and perimeter of each shape.

The following are some of the websites I used for myself to get information, or with my students to help reinforce some of the concepts with internet games.

Geometry Related Web Sites

Mrs. Renz-4th Grade Geometry Websites
http://www.redmond.k12.or.us/mccall/renz/mathsites.htm#geom

Flips, Turns, Rotations
http://www.misterteacher.com/abc.html

Geometry Lesson Plans
http://mathforum.org/geometry/geom.units.html

Lesson Plans-Teach-nology-LOTS of ideas here
http://www.teach-nology.com/teachers/lesson_plans/math/geometry/

Area formulas for plane shapes
http://www.mathsisfun.com/area.html

Virtual manipulatives (online activities)
http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/topic_t_3.html

Symmetry-video/audio explanation
http://www.linkslearning.org/Kids/1_Math/2_Illustrated_Lessons/4_Line_Symmetry/