A shape is hidden from view, then slowly revealed, while children use their sense of sight and prior knowledge of the features of different shapes to determine whether a triangle, rectangle, circle or square is about to appear. When the shape is revealed, children look around the room to see if they can spy any real world examples of this shape.
Where can you see a rectangle?
There! Our names
The speakers
Those wooden magnets
Photos
The eraser
The windows
The air con
Look up. The lights.
A set of shapes is hidden inside a cloth bag and a second set is spread out on the table. A child reaches into the bag and takes hold of one shape, using his or her sense of touch to determine what shape has been grasped. Without giving away the name of the shape, the child describes it, giving the number of sides, telling whether the sides are straight or curved, perhaps revealing how many corners the shape has. Listening to this description, the other members of the group point to the shape on the table they believe matches the shape enclosed in their friend’s hand.
While these activities are intended to reveal students’ knowledge of the names and properties of 2D shapes, they are also directly linked to our investigation of how we use our senses to experience our world.
As we progress through these activities, I hope to discover students’ thinking and understanding about shape:
Are students naming shapes correctly?
Are students using spatial language to describe shapes (flat, round, curved, straight, sides, corners)?
Are students beginning to talk about the likenesses and differences between shapes?
Do students recognize shapes in the real world?
I also hope to discover students thinking about their senses:
What do students say or do that demonstrates their understanding of how our senses work?
