Feel for Shapes (Early Math Collaborative at Erikson Institute)
Summary
TLDRIn this preschool classroom lesson, the teacher focuses on helping children understand the attributes of shapes, moving beyond simply naming them. Using the book 'Color Zoo,' the students explore different shapes like triangles, circles, and rectangles. The teacher encourages the children to describe shapes based on their characteristics, such as sides and points. Hands-on activities, like feeling shapes in a mystery bag, help reinforce these concepts. The lesson emphasizes that shapes remain the same regardless of orientation, building the children's ability to recognize and talk about shapes in various ways.
Takeaways
- 📚 The teacher emphasizes the importance of discussing shape attributes in preschool to help children understand what makes a shape, beyond just naming them.
- 🟡 The lesson is based on the story 'Color Zoo', which focuses on shapes, and the children are prompted to identify and describe them.
- 🌟 The first shape mentioned is a star, followed by a circle. The children recognize that the circle has no pointy sides.
- 🔺 A triangle is introduced, and the students realize that no matter how it's turned, it's still a triangle because of its three sides and three points.
- 😊 The teacher is pleased that students independently noted that the orientation of a triangle doesn't change its identity.
- 📐 Two different triangles are compared, with the children noting that both have straight sides and points, despite looking different.
- 👶 The teacher believes it's important to expose children to different types of triangles at a young age before they form fixed ideas about shapes.
- 👐 The children engage in a sensory activity, feeling shapes in a 'mystery shape bag' and identifying them by touch.
- 🟣 When a child correctly identifies a circle, they describe the round sides as the distinguishing feature.
- ✨ The lesson concludes with the teacher feeling pleased about the progress made in discussing shape attributes and looks forward to more exploration.
Q & A
Why does the teacher emphasize the importance of discussing shape attributes in preschool?
-The teacher believes that children need more experience talking about shape attributes to better understand what makes a shape, rather than just naming them.
What is the name of the story the children are reading, and what is it about?
-The story is called 'Color Zoo,' and it is about shapes.
How does the teacher explain the properties of a circle to the children?
-The teacher explains that a circle does not have any pointy sides and emphasizes its roundness.
What did Mario say about triangles, and why was the teacher pleased?
-Mario said that no matter which way a triangle is turned, it remains a triangle because it has three sides and three points. The teacher was pleased because this observation was unprompted and showed that the children had internalized the concept.
What activity does the teacher introduce with the 'mystery shape bag'?
-The teacher asks the children to feel inside the mystery shape bag and identify shapes by touch, without looking, and then explain how they knew which shape they had found.
How did one child identify a circle from the mystery shape bag?
-The child identified the circle by feeling its round side, noting that it had no points.
What did Jeremiah say about identifying the hexagon from the mystery shape bag?
-Jeremiah identified the hexagon by feeling its points.
How did a child describe the rectangle, and what did they feel to identify it?
-The child identified the rectangle by feeling its long and short sides.
What did another child say about the circle, and how did the teacher respond?
-The child mentioned that they felt the roundness of the circle, and the teacher clarified that a circle has to be round and does not have any points.
What is the teacher’s goal for discussing shape attributes with the children?
-The teacher’s goal is to start early with helping the children recognize and talk about different types of shapes and their attributes, preparing them for more advanced learning later.
Outlines
🔵 Importance of Teaching Shape Attributes in Preschool
The teacher explains the need to go beyond simply naming shapes in the preschool classroom. She emphasizes the importance of helping children understand and describe the attributes that define different shapes. During the lesson, the children discuss various shapes from the story 'Color Zoo,' focusing on specific shapes like circles and triangles. A student insightfully notes that a triangle remains a triangle regardless of how it is oriented, which pleases the teacher as it shows the children internalizing the lesson.
🔺 Exploring Triangles and Encouraging Shape Discovery
The teacher introduces two triangles, prompting the children to compare their similarities and differences. The discussion revolves around how both triangles have straight sides and points, even though they look different. By encouraging children to identify these characteristics, the teacher aims to shape their understanding of triangles early on, so they can recognize different types of triangles before forming rigid ideas about the shape.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Shapes
💡Attributes
💡Preschool
💡Circle
💡Triangle
💡Zoo
💡Mystery Shape Bag
💡Hexagon
💡Rectangle
💡Exploration
Highlights
The teacher emphasizes the importance of teaching preschoolers about shape attributes beyond just naming shapes.
The lesson revolves around the book 'Color Zoo,' which introduces different shapes as part of animals.
The first shape identified in the lesson is a star, followed by a circle, which is discussed for its lack of pointy sides.
A student points out that no matter how a triangle is turned, it remains a triangle, which the teacher notes was unprompted.
The teacher uses a 'mystery shape bag' to make the lesson interactive, encouraging children to identify shapes by feel.
The children compare two triangles, noting similarities like straight sides and differences such as one being longer.
A student recognizes that both triangles, despite their differences, share the same key characteristics of three sides and three points.
The tactile activity asks students to feel shapes without looking and describe how they identified the shapes, promoting sensory learning.
One child successfully identifies a circle by feeling its smooth, round edges, showing a growing understanding of shape characteristics.
Another student identifies a hexagon by feeling its points, demonstrating knowledge of how a shape's features can be felt.
A rectangle is identified based on its long sides and short sides, with the student explaining how they distinguished it from other shapes.
A discussion about circles emphasizes that a circle is defined by its roundness and the absence of points, reinforcing key shape attributes.
The teacher uses student responses to reinforce that shapes retain their characteristics, such as a triangle always having three sides and points.
The lesson promotes critical thinking by encouraging children to use language to describe shapes, not just name them.
The teacher is pleased with how students have internalized the concept that shapes maintain their defining attributes regardless of orientation.
Transcripts
it's important to do the lesson feel for
shapes
in my preschool classroom because i
think the children need
much more experience talking about shape
attributes
and being able to describe what makes a
shape
a shape because they um they are so used
to just naming
shapes today we are going to look at our
story again
do you remember what our story is about
right it's called color
zoo and it's about shapes what is it
first
there's a star okay let's move on and
the
first shape that's a part of our animals
is
a circle how do you know it's a circle
and it does not have any pointy sides
what about the next shape this is tiny
okay tell me about the triangle it's
upside down
it's upside down it doesn't matter what
way it is it's
the same it's still a triangle
okay and mario said it doesn't matter
which way it's turned it's still a
triangle
because what does it have
three times and what else three
three points right i was really pleased
to hear
a couple of the students during the
lesson say that you know no matter which
way
the shape goes it's a triangle no matter
which way it is
you know it's still a triangle
unprompted from me i was surprised
um to hear that and pleased that they've
internalized that
our story color zoo is all about the
shapes
and i have some shapes with me would you
like to would you like to see them
i know yes yeah they're here
so so i have my shapes here
in my mystery shape bag and i'm going to
set them
out i want to talk to you a little bit
about these two triangles
okay can you tell me what is the same
about these two triangles what's the
same about these two triangles
okay both of them have straight signs
what else is the same jeremiah they
don't look the same but they do got the
same cool stuff
okay so they don't look the same but
they both have the point stuff you said
they both have the points
is there anything else you can tell me
what's the what's different about these
shapes
different things
this
okay so this part is more longer you
said this part
it's important to start now when the
children are young
looking at those different types of
triangles rather than waiting until
they're older and they already have a
more
set notion of what they think a triangle
is how many points do they have
and does this triangle have three points
also yes
okay and how many sides does this
triangle have three
three and what about this triangle
three i'm gonna tell you to find one
shape in my mystery shape bag
and you're gonna use your hands to feel
inside
no you cannot look and you're gonna find
the shape but just by using your hands
to feel okay okay you have to feel the
signs
now when you pull out your shape you're
gonna tell us how
you knew that you had that shape okay
feel around find the circle uh-huh
when you find it you can show it
all right marvelous
marvel tell us how you knew that was a
circle i
feel these you felt those and what is
that tell me about that
circle one's right here okay tell me
about what tell me about this side on a
circle
this one's right so did it go
around so you felt the round side okay
put it back
your mind's gonna find the hexagons
all right jeremiah okay how did you know
it was a hexagon jeremiah
you felt the points the point stuff okay
put your hexagon away
oh all right how did you know that was
the rectangle because i
felt the you felt the foot the square
has four sides too
i know
you felt the long side okay and did you
feel the short sides too yes
okay all right let's put the rectangle
away now lamaria tell us how you knew
that was a circle and there was a circle
because i thought where we would you
felt where it was
what did you feel how did this feel to
you it was a
cycle but i touched it and what made it
what makes this a circle
it's a second because people make it of
new jersey something
can you all help too what makes it a
circle it's round
not a circle doesn't have to be yellow
a circle has to be round right
does a circle have any points on it nope
no points
i'm pleased with the start that we have
in talking about
shape attributes and using shape
language and i'm looking forward to
continuing this exploration
with the kids in the classroom
you
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