Teaching properties of shapes (and the notation)
I have the loveliest Y7 top set. Today, the objective was to be able to identify and label properties of shapes and angles, and I thought I’d try something a little more creative…
This is what they arrived to:
I put the objectives on the board, and gave them a board pen per table. I then asked them to label as many things as they could on their blue shape. It was a really effective way to assess any prior knowledge!
After about 7 minutes, I invited them to stroll round the room for a minute, looking at other answers, and taking note of anything they may have missed on their own diagram. They then got another minute to make additions.
Next, I used a matching exercise where students had to match the shape with both the name of the shape, and the defining properties of the shape. Had this part not taken FOREVER, we would have gone through the answers on the board, and I would have shown them the correct diagram notation for things like parallel lines, equal sides and angles etc. They would then adjust their diagrams accordingly. As it is, we’ll do that next lesson, but they’ll draw over the photos of their diagrams that I took instead (I share my room with others, so couldn’t really leave it on the desks…)
The setup was really simple, with blue painters tape for the shapes, and baby wipes to clean off the board pen afterwards.
For something so simple, they loved it!
🙂
Here are some of the (semi-) finished results:
ilovemathsgames
ilovemathsgames 