Welcome to our Math Program!
Did you know that improving our students understanding of geometry is one of our school excellence goals? Naming shapes, comparing and classifying 2D and 3D shapes, and solving perimeter and area problems fall into this broad goal. You can help us reach our goal of a better understanding of geometry by working with your child at home on these concepts:
- Shapes have names, regardless of their size or orientation. Some shapes are two-dimensional (square, triangle, circle, rectangle, hexagon, trapezoid, rhombus) and some are three-dimensional (cube, cone, sphere, rectangular prism, pyramid, cylinder).
- Shapes may be compared by looking at the number of sides, vertices (corners), angles, faces, and other attributes (such as sides of equal length).
- Perimeter is the distance around a shape. Adding the length of every side will give you the perimeter of the shape.
- Area is the amount of space inside an object, usually counted in square units.
Here are some these things you can do at home to help cement these important concepts:
Point out shapes everywhere: Look around and notice all the shapes around you. A can of green beans is a cylinder, an ice cream cone is a cone, dice are cubes, and a cantaloupe is a sphere. See how many shapes you can find at home or in the grocery store in 2 minutes.
Scavenger Hunt: Collect as many shapes as you can. Find real objects or cut out pictures from grocery ads or magazines. Sort your shapes into categories. Put similar shapes together under the headings Squares, Circles, Rectangles, Triangles, etc.
I Spy: Play the game I Spy. Give clues as to which shape you are describing, such as, I spy something that has 4 sides and 4 right angles (square).
Use the Internet to learn:
Enchanted Mind
Visual and logic puzzles, such as tangrams, pentaminoes, and pyramids, from the National Center for Creativity.
http://enchantedmind.com/html/puzzles/interactive_puzzles/creative_java_puzzles.html
National Library for Virtual Manipulatives
Virtual manipulatives for learning all kinds of geometry.
http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/vlibrary.html
Try out the many geometry games provided at this site.
http://www.factmonster.com/math/knowledgebox/
