Shape Hunt

 

Last week we finished up our unit on shapes. We read books about shapes and did different math activities with shapes. We spent a lot of time looking at shapes on paper, but I thought that we needed a little more experience with shapes in real life! To get some, we went out around downtown on a shape hunt! Each student had a recording sheet and we set off together to see which shapes we could find around our school. As we walked, it was so fun to hear the children yell out "Look! A triangle!" "Those wheels are a circle!". They were very excited each time that they found one. Here are some of the things that we found while walking.

 

 

We found rectangles!

We found triangles!

 We found circles!

And we found one square!

And we even found some 3-D shapes that we just finished learning about! A planter cube, a trash cane cylinder, and a tennis ball sphere!

  

As we walked, the children were supposed to write down the things that they found for each shape. They had the option to write what they found or draw a picture of it in the appropriate spot. Here are a few examples....



Find that Shape!

 

 

 Yesterday we played a fun game called "Find that Shape". Each student had a shape taped on theri back and a scavenger hunt sheet. They had to go around the room and find which of their friends had that shape. The fun part was that the students had no idea what was on their own back! Not only did we review the different shapes that we have been learning this week, but the children also practiced spelling each other's names. Several of the children had the great idea to check the word wall or behavior chart to see how to spell someone's name if they weren't sure. This was a great way to use a tool in our classroom when they didn't know the answer!

 

 

 

After everyone found all of the shapes, it was time for the children to find out which shape they had on their own back. I could have just let them peel them off and see, but I wanted to do something a little more fun! Each student took a turn coming up to the front nad showing the class the shape on their back. Then they called on their classmates for clues about their shapes. This was a fun and different way to review the different attributes we have learned about shapes. Some of the clues included how many sides the shape had, how many angles the shape had, whether the shape would roll or not, if the shape's sides were the same, or what letter the shape started with. The children were very creative when giving clues and everyone was able to guess their shape! This helped me see that the children know these shapes really well. The first part of the activity showed that they can match the shapes when they see them on the page and then the second half showed me that they can describe the different shapes, even when they aren't looking at them! This was a fun way to review all of the shapes we have studied.