Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Simon Says Geometry

This week in math, my 4th graders are studying geometry.  We have learned the names of different polygons, how many angles they have, and how many sides they have.  We also talked about flips, slides, and turns.  A co-worker made up some motions to go with flips, slides, and turns a few years ago.  The kids stand up. For a slide they simply slide over.  For a turn, they leave one foot in place and turn their bodies about 90 degrees.  For a flip (no they don't do a flip but they would try if I would let them!), they turn 180 degrees.  After practicing these motions, we just had a spur of the moment game of Simon Says and the kids loved it!! When I play Simon Says if you talk then you are out.  I would say things such as "Simon Says slide to the right" or "Simon Says hold up the number of fingers a hexagon has."  This game was a fun way to review our polygons and practice our motions.  They keep begging me to play it again and of course, I gave in!
  There are some amazing geometry packets available on Teachers Pay Teachers from different sellers whose blogs I follow.  On Friday we are going to do the Geometric City created by Lesson Plan SOS.  And I love the activities in Ashleigh's Buggy About Geometry Unit. 
  I am giving my students their mystery case files tomorrow.  Check back for pictures!

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing these geometry resources! I am saving this post for when I teach geometry concepts soon! Thanks!
    ☼Kate
    To The Square Inch

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  2. Love the idea of using this to go over polygons and transformations. One request, however. Please don't dumb down vocabulary at the elementary levels. I teach Jr. High and it's a lot easier on us (and the kids) if they learn the right vocabulary to begin with. They are capable as long as they hear the same words repeasted. Please use rotate, translate and reflect instead of turn, slide and flip.

    Thanks,

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