Lost In Translation: congruency, rotations, reflections, and translations!

It has been a while since my last post! Things have been extremely busy. My kids just finished out Math MCAS testing, so we spent A LOT of time preparing for that. One topic we spent time on was congruency and symmetry. I have been trying to vamp up our math lessons with hands on activities. This is one I came up with for rotations, reflections, and translations.

This is my template that I made to show my class.

I made a few different shaped templates (star, heart, lighting bolt) and had the students each choose one. They then had to trace six of their shapes on one color of construction paper. Once those were cut out, they chose a second piece of construction paper (this was going to be their background). They then folded the second piece of construction paper into three sections. I had them label the first on "translation", the second one "reflection", and the third one "rotation". The students then took their shapes and glued three down the left side of the paper. The most important part about this step is making sure the shapes are all glued down the same way. Next, the students took the shapes they had left and had to figure out how to make a translation, reflection, and rotation. Once they showed me how their shape would look after each action, they glued them down (see image below).

The students really enjoyed this project and I think it helped them to understand the concept of these terms.

Enjoy!

Shape Sorting Continues!

As we continue our geometry unit in math, I continue to feel as though I need to break down the information in a more kid-friendly way. I used this activity to review the rules of quadrilaterals. We spent two days learning about what makes a parallelogram a parallelogram, what makes a trapezoid a trapezoid, what makes a rhombus a rhombus, etc. It can get confusing, especially when you try to explain that a rectangle can be a square, but a square cannot be a rectangle. This lesson gives the students a chance to look at certain quadrilaterals, ask themselves what properties the shape has, and then choose the most specific name for the shape. I had my students cut out the shapes and glue them into the correct row. I also had them color each set of parallel lines, this helped them to see how many pairs of parallel lines their were. Here is the link for your own copy... Identifying Quadrilaterals!

Shapes Galore!

We have started geometry and I am in love! Geometry was one of my favorite subjects as a child. I loved solving proofs, finding missing angles, etc. Obviously it is not that extensive in Third Grade, but it is still a lot of information to take in. These next few ideas are ones that I have created in hopes of making it easier for my students.

This first activity I used with identifying 3D shapes. It involved the students looking for the amount of vertices, edges, bases, and faces. I have 3D shapes that the students were able to look at in order to complete the table. They seemed to enjoy the independence of this activity as well as the problem solving aspect. Click on the title of the document for your own free copy. The format is a little funky, but I am sure you could try and rearrange it.

 3D Shape Identification Sheet

The other creation I used is a Smartboard Notebook presentation. It starts with polygons, classifying them into triangles, quadrilaterals, pentagons, etc. Then it breaks them down by shape, so there is a page about triangles and a page about quadrilaterals. I have continued to add on to it as we go, so it is somewhat a work in progress. I think it gives a good visual of how to classify triangles and quadrilaterals.

Click here to download the presentation.

Let me know what you think!

Foldables Are All The Rage!

"Foldables" is a word that has started to pop up in our school. We actually had entire meeting about them! There is so much you can do with them and many different types. I am not entirely sure what the exact definition of foldable is, but it involves paper, folding, sometimes cutting, gluing, and writing/drawing. Overall, it is a wonderful way to create a 3-D representation of what students are learning about. Click here to learn a little bit more about them.

I used them today for the first time. We are learning about polygons in math, so I decided to use a layered-book foldable to help the kids write/draw characteristics of different polygons. The kids seemed to enjoy it and... it spiced up our math lesson! The goal is for them to use this during their classwork to help them solve problems. I also feel that when students write down definitions/information it helps them to retain it.  Here is a link to directions for this type of foldable- Layered Book Directions. Let me know what you think!

This is my example.

The labels got cut off, but I had them draw a picture,
then write the # of sides, and # of angles or vertices.

The Iditarod

The Iditarod for all of you who might not know, is one of the biggest sled dog races in America. It takes place in Alaska during the month of March. The Iditarod has a special place in my heart. My fifth grade teacher introduced it to me and I fell in love! The race has so much history, and there is so much you can do within your curriculum by following this race.
Since this is my first year teaching my own classroom, I decided I had to at least try to follow the race with my kids. I told myself not to have any expectations, but just to enjoy it. March is a busy month with our MCAS testing, so we did not have an ample amount of time to spend on the Iditarod, but my students were able to track their musher (a person who drives the sled), create a journal from the musher's point of view, and learn about Alaska and it's history.
The Iditarod website has many great resources along with a great blog! Click Here to see the Iditarod website! The kids loved it and had so much fun following their musher. We are going to write letters to them and hopefully they will send us one back!

I was able to trace a map of the trail, so the students could visible see where their mushers were.

Each student made a flag to represent their musher.