Tuesday, May 1, 2012

3-D Objects: Lesson Ideas

Shapes are often a fun break from the more serious business of learning about numbers in kindergarten math! For the next week, we are focusing on 2-D shapes and 3-D objects. My student teacher led our first 3-D objects learning experience today, and I thought that I would devote this blog post to sharing some of our favourite resources.

Created in SMART Notebook, this activating activity uses the screen shade to cover drawings of 3-D objects. We reveal the object slowly, taking guesses as more is revealed. Students are able to guess and check. Or, we quickly flash the 3-D object to the students and see if they can name it. This also makes a great centre activity. Included at the end of this activity is a link to an excellent Brain Pop Junior video on 3-D objects. This site requires a subscription, but 30 day trials are available. Brain Pop Junior and Brain Pop is a fabulous resource for all subject areas.

Two years ago, I attended a Harvey Almarode session at an ed tech conference in Alberta. He specializes in designing SMART Notebook math resources--his session was excellent and so are his resources. All of them are free to download and can easily be adapted for your own classroom and students. Please follow this link to his geometry resources.

Other 3-D objects lesson ideas:
Which shape is missing?: line up 3, 4, or 5 3-D objects. Students cover their eyes while the teacher or a helper hides one. Which shape is missing? Works well for developing 3-D object vocabulary. This can be done on the SMART Board as well, hiding the 3-D object under something.
Shape Hunt Around the School/Playground: photograph with a digital camera, import into SMART Notebook, use the pens to trace edges, circle vertices, etc. Label the parts of the object. For a centre activity, drag the labels off to the side of each photograph and have students drag them to re-label.
3-D Object Show and Tell: send a note home to parents, asking students to bring a 3-D object to school (such as a can of soup, tube of lipstick, etc). Using a document camera connected to your SMARTBoard, display each object for the entire class to see. Photograph each object using the document camera. These photographs can be used for sorting and labeling activities.
Constructing 3-D Objects from Marshmallows and Toothpicks: use a planning sheet to design the 3-D object and calculate how many marshmallows and toothpicks are needed to build a 3-D object.
3-D Object Mystery Bag: place a 3-D object in a bag. A student inserts his/her hand, describes what he/she feels, and names the 3-D object.

What would I do without YouTube and Mr. Harry's Kindergarten channel? The students and I love these two videos on 2-D shapes and 3-D solids.
2-D Shapes I Know
3-D Shapes I Know

No comments:

Post a Comment