1.G.A: Reason with shapes and their attributes.
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First grade students need to be able to describe shapes with their attributes. This means that when we see a triangle, we need to describe it as having three sides and three corners. First grade students also need to be able to equally divide shapes, using the words "halves", "thirds" and "quarters". Finally, first grade students must be able to create new shapes from shapes that are already there. Try it! Practice this skill by gathering a square and two triangles. Can you make this into a trapezoid just by moving the shapes around? Click on the links below to practice some of these shape skills.
For Students!
Click here to play a fun shape game with a friend! Think of any attribute you'd like. For this example, I'll choose only round shapes. Have your friend try to guess what type of shape is in your "set" of shapes. See if they can figure out which attribute you're looking for!
For Teachers!
Click here to access a great pattern block activity! This doubles as a whole-class activity and a center activity. Simply print the student copies of the pattern block fill-in sheet, and have students try to fill them in with pattern blocks. This is great for spatial reasoning, and it also allows your students to learn through play. You can extend this activity by creating harder fill-ins, or even by handing children a Tangrams set during center time!
This is an excellent website to build spatial reasoning during center time. Utah Education Network (UEN) provides 8 excellent center resources to improve student's understanding of positional words and shapes. You will need some classroom resources, like Tangrams and Pentomino sets, to complete these activities.