Resource Type: Lessons Discipline: Mathematics Grades: Grades PreK–1 Professional Commentary: In this activity, students choose a picture and use all seven Tangram pieces to create given shapes. They work with concrete Tangram pieces first and then use an applet that allows them to slide, flip, and turn the pieces.... 2 Ladybug Adventures 1: Designing a Virtual Path Resource Type: Lessons Discipline: Mathematics Grades: Grades PreK–1 Professional Commentary: In this first lesson (in a unit of four), students develop their spatial sense of distance, direction, and turning by using an applet to design a "virtual path" for a ladybug to follow to hide under a leaf. Students then test to see if their path is accurate and, if necessary, revise their solutions.... 3 Ladybug Adventures 4: Ladybug Mazes Resource Type: Lessons Discipline: Mathematics Grades: Grades PreK–1 Professional Commentary: In this fourth lesson (in a unit of four), students use an applet to navigate a ladybug through a maze. Students develop their sense of direction, distance, and turning by guiding the ladybug along open pathways to the goal without crossing any walls.... 4 It's a Perfect Fit 1: Getting Into Shapes Resource Type: Lessons Discipline: Mathematics Grades: Grades PreK–2 Professional Commentary: Using square tiles, students are first challenged to duplicate rectangles of various dimensions. Students then identify and describe two-dimensional shapes in the classroom.... 5 I've Seen That Shape Before Resource Type: Lessons Discipline: Mathematics Grades: Grades PreK–1 Professional Commentary: Students learn the names and explore properties of solid geometric shapes. They identify examples of cubes, cones, spheres, cylinders, rectangular prisms, and triangular prisms in the real world and in pictures found on websites.... 6 It's a Perfect Fit 2: Shaping Up Resource Type: Lessons Discipline: Mathematics Grades: Grades PreK–1 Professional Commentary: Using square tiles, students begin the lesson by finding all of the different rectangles that can be made from 12 squares. Students then experiment with pattern blocks to find all of the different ways to use triangles, rhombi, and trapezoids to cover rhombi, trapezoids, and hexagons.... Resource Type: Lessons Discipline: Mathematics Grades: Grades 3–5 Professional Commentary: This game requires students to classify polygons according to more than one property at a time. Students identify shapes whose sides and angles satisfy specified criteria, and in so doing, move from a simple description of shapes to an analysis of how properties are related.... Resource Type: Lessons Discipline: Mathematics Grades: Grades 8–12 Professional Commentary: Fix a center, turn, and you have a rotation. Many objects in nature--flowers, starfish, crystals, etc.--and many objects we use every day have rotational symmetry.... Resource Type: Lessons Discipline: Mathematics Grades: Grades 8–12 Professional Commentary: Many objects in nature--butterflies, flowers, crystals, etc.--and many objects we use every day have reflection symmetry. In this four-part investigation using JavaSketchpad applets, students learn the mathematical definitions and properties of reflections and reflection symmetry.... Resource Type: Lessons Discipline: Mathematics Grades: Grades 5–8 Professional Commentary: This lesson begins with an introductory spatial visualization puzzle, and includes several activities where students identify, construct, and sketch cubes and other prisms and identify parallel and perpendicular lines and planes. They analyze nets, including those classified as pentominoes.... |