Illustrative Mathematics
Overlapping Rectangle
Challenge young mathematicians' ability to compose and decompose shapes with this fun geometry puzzle. The goal is simple, locate all of the rectangles shown in a picture of three overlapping rectangles. Perform this activity as a whole...
Curated OER
Red Circle, Red Circle, What Do You See?
Young learners explore shapes and colors. They listen to Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr. and use the same language pattern to create a color and shape book of their own. After that, with the leftover magazine...
Alabama Learning Exchange
Twisted Tangrams
Primary geometers create a picture using tangrams. In this geometry lesson, students read Grandfather Tang: A Tale Told with Tangrams, cut out their own tangrams, and choose a character from the story to make using their tangram pieces.
Curated OER
Geometry Poetry
Students write an original diamante poem about a shape of their choice. They examine how to write a diamante poem, and select a shape and write a poem using Microsoft Word software.
Utah Education Network (UEN)
Patterns and Shapes In Our Community
Shapes in art, shapes in stories, shapes in the environment, shapes all around. A multi-part lesson that includes looking at the artist Paul Klee's work, reading books about shapes, taking a walk in the neighborhood and identifying...
Curated OER
This House is Made of Mud: Exploring the Shapes in Our Lives
Students study about our dependence on the earth's resources for materials. They practice their knowledge of geometric shapes by recognizing them in the context of the story.
Curated OER
Classifying Three-Dimensional Shapes
Compare geometric solids based on their properties. Your emergent geometers use spaghetti and marshmallows to build models so they can examine the number of faces, edges, and vertices on polyhedra of their own creation. Resource includes...
Curated OER
Geometric Shapes
Students identify polygons. For this geometric shape lesson, students explore the characteristics of polygons. They identify polygons, and classify triangles according to their sides and angles. Students create a poster representing...
Illustrative Mathematics
Grandfather Tang's Story
It's amazing the complex figures that can be made using only a few simple shapes. Following a class reading of the children's book Grandfather Tang's Story by Ann Tompert, young mathematicians use sets of tangrams to create models of the...
Illustrative Mathematics
Counting Squares
Challenge young mathematicians' understanding of squares with this geometry puzzle. The task is simple, identify as many squares as possible in a 3x3 array. Allow learners to work independently or in pairs as they search for squares,...
Curated OER
Geo-Wrap Vests
First graders use geometric shapes to create and extend patterns. Students read a book and view African garments. They identify patterns in the garments. Students create and decorate a paper vest with geometric patterns.
Curated OER
Angling Your Way Through a Picture
Students look at the geometry in an artwork. In this art history/geometry instructional activity, students research the artist Charles Sheeler and look at his painting Stacks in Celebration. They find the different types of lines,...
Curated OER
Geometry Center Games
First graders explore eight geometry activities that improve understanding of positional words and shapes. They identify, describe, and create simple geometric figures. They help another student who may not understand the concept yet.
Curated OER
Tile Patterns I: Octagons and Squares
This can be used as a critical thinking exercise in congruence or as a teaching tool when first introducing the concept. Four octagons are arranged in such a way that a square is formed in the middle. With this information, geometry...
Illustrative Mathematics
Stained Glass
A complex question looking for the total cost of a stained glass window by calculating area and circumference of a circle. With detailed components, this activity will challenge your designers to figure out if they have enough money to...
Illustrative Mathematics
Why Does SSS Work?
While it may seem incredibly obvious to the geometry student that congruent sides make congruent triangles, the proving of this by definition actually takes a bit of work. This exercise steps the class through this kind of proof by...
Curated OER
Algebra/Geometry Institute Summer 2007 - Perimeter of Polygons
Sixth graders find the perimeters of polygons and use perimeters to form polygons. In this perimeter lesson plan, 6th graders study vocabulary associated with finding perimeter such as polygon, line segment, variable, and formula. They...
Exploratorium
Exploring Pattern Blocks
Here's a great lesson that uses one of the best manipulatives there is: pattern blocks. Elementary schoolers must fill in a variety of shapes using specific amounts of pattern blocks. This forces them to do some spatial mathematical...
Curated OER
Quadrilaterals
Students construct a variety of four-sided figures using a K'NEX Geometry Set. They view and discuss pictures of shapes, then in small groups they construct as many four-sided shapes as possible using the K'NEX Rods and Connectors. As a...
Curated OER
Navajo Yei
Students explore geometry in Navajo culture. In this geometry instructional activity, students search for different geometrical shapes in Navajo art. Students then create their own rug or jewelry design using geometrical shapes.
Curated OER
Teaching Polygons using Technology
Third graders utilize different types of computer programs, such as Microsoft paint and Microsoft Word to study and create different types of polygons. They use PowerPoint to create a story about a shape and others that it meets during a...
Curated OER
Symmetry and Symbols
Learners identify symmetrical and congruent elements in folk art. In this art and geometry lesson, students examine pictures of Masonic Plaque in the Form of a Royal Arch Tracing Board for evidence of congruent and symmetrical elements....
Curated OER
Area of Tangram Pieces
Mathematicians calculate the area of a tangram piece without using formulas. They use a geometry journal to record activities during this lesson. They make a set of tangrams and use them to compute area. They use what they discover to...
Illustrative Mathematics
Toilet Roll
Potty humor is always a big hit with the school-age crowd, and potty algebra takes this topic to a whole new level. Here the class develops a model that connects the dimensions (radii, paper thickness, and length of paper) of a common...