Familiar Shapes: a week of ready-to-teach maths

Five days of lessons for Foundation Space. Print this pack and the week is prepared: each day has a one-page plan and a student worksheet, plus cut-out shape cards, a mini-check and every answer.

Start here: five minutes to Monday

1. Skim the week at a glance on the next page.
2. Print the five days. Each day is two A4 sheets: a plan and a worksheet.
3. Cut out the two card sheets once; the shape cards and sorting mats are reused all week.
4. Open the free interactive unit on your board. Every plan tells you which picture to show and when.
5. Teach straight from the plan. Timings, talk prompts, common muddles and answers are all on the one page.

No maths background needed

This pack is written for the busy generalist teacher. Each plan explains the idea in plain words, lists the muddles children bring, and gives model answers, so you can walk in and teach it.

One day, one lesson

The five lessons fill a week of maths, one short lesson of about 40 minutes a day. Run them in order: each day stands on the one before. Every lesson can also split into a quick warm-up and a main session if your timetable runs small blocks.

The week at a glance

One lesson a day for a week. Each day stands on the day before, so run them in order.

How the week builds

Day 1 gives the four shapes their names; Day 2 looks closely at their corners and sides and sorts them; Day 3 makes them by hand; Day 4 finds them hiding in real objects; and Day 5 hunts for them around the room. All week children practise the one habit the curriculum asks for: naming a shape and saying how they know.

Materials for the week (one trip)

• From the classroom: scissors, pencils, coloured pencils, this pack printed.
• From home or the craft box: a handful of craft sticks, matchsticks or straws, plus a short length of string or wool for the round shape.
• Cut out once, use all week: the shape cards and the sorting mats in this pack. No maths equipment to buy.

Dear families

This week in maths, Foundation explores familiar shapes. We name the circle, triangle, square and rectangle, look at their corners and sides, make them, and find them in the things around us.

Try this at home

• Pick a shape of the day. Spot it around the house: a plate, a window, a sign, a book.
• Ask the best question in geometry: what shape is it, and how do you know?
• Count together: how many corners, how many sides?
• Make a shape from three or four sticks, or draw one in the air with a finger.

My shapes this week

Fill one row a day. Tick when you have named it and found one.

Printed from the free seegongsik Familiar Shapes teaching pack · seegongsik.com/au/foundation/space/AC9MFSP01/pack

Meet the shapes

Children meet four familiar shapes and learn their names: the circle, triangle, square and rectangle. Naming comes first all week, and it starts with looking closely.

We are learning to

• name the circle, triangle, square and rectangle,
• point to a shape when I hear its name,
• say one thing that makes each shape that shape.

Success criteria

• I can name the four shapes.
• I can point to a corner and a side.

You need

The shape cards (cut-out sheet 1), one set per pair. The worksheet, one per child. A few real objects to hold up: a plate, a book, a tissue box.

Lesson flow (about 40 minutes)

Two half-sessions instead? End Session A after show and name. Start Session B by pointing to the parts, then name them back.

Watch for these ideas

• Naming the object, not the shape: “that is a ball” instead of “a circle”.
• Thinking a square turned on its corner is no longer a square: it is, its sides are still equal.
• Muddling square and rectangle: both have 4 corners, but a rectangle has 2 long and 2 short sides.

Answers

• The four shapes are the circle, the triangle, the square and the rectangle.
• A circle is round with no corners. A triangle has 3 corners. A square and a rectangle have 4.
• Trace and colour vary: check each shape is named correctly.

Name each shape

Look at each shape. Write its name on the line. Then colour it in.

Trace a shape

Trace the shape with your finger, then draw it yourself in the box.

My favourite shape

Draw your favourite shape and write its name here: ____

Sort by corners and sides

A shape is more than its outline. Today children count the corners and sides of each shape, then sort a jumble of shapes into groups by how many corners they have.

We are learning to

• count the corners and sides of a shape,
• sort shapes into groups by number of corners,
• say why a shape belongs in its group.

Success criteria

• I can count the corners and sides of a shape.
• I can sort shapes by their corners.

You need

The shape cards (cut-out sheet 1) and the three sorting mats (cut-out sheet 2), one set per group. The worksheet, one per child.

Lesson flow (about 40 minutes)

Two half-sessions instead? End Session A after counting; start Session B with the sorting mats.

Watch for these ideas

• Counting a side twice, or missing the one you started on: touch and count once around.
• Saying a circle has one corner where the pencil starts: a circle has none, it is round all the way.
• Sorting by colour or size instead of by corners: only the corners decide the group.

Answers

• Circle: 0 corners, 0 straight sides. Triangle: 3 corners, 3 sides. Square: 4 corners, 4 sides. Rectangle: 4 corners, 4 sides.
• No corners: the circle. 3 corners: the triangle. 4 corners: the square and the rectangle.
• The square and the rectangle share the 4-corners group, but the rectangle has 2 long and 2 short sides.

Corners and sides

Count the corners and the sides of each shape. Write the numbers in the chart.

Sort the shapes

Write each shape name in the right box: circle, triangle, square, rectangle.

Make a shape

Making a shape teaches its features from the inside. To build a triangle you need three corners and three sides; to build a square you need four. Sticks, string and drawing all do the job.

We are learning to

• make a triangle and a square from sticks,
• make a circle from string or a curved line,
• say how many sticks each shape needs, and why.

Success criteria

• I can make a triangle and a square.
• I can say how many sides and corners my shape has.

You need

A handful of craft sticks, matchsticks or straws per pair, and a short length of string or wool. The worksheet, one per child, and pencils.

Lesson flow (about 40 minutes)

Two half-sessions instead? End Session A after sticks and string; start Session B with join the dots.

Watch for these ideas

• Leaving a gap so the sticks do not close: a shape has to join all the way around.
• Making a triangle with 4 sticks or a square with 3: count the corners as you build.
• Bending a stick to fit: the sides of these shapes are straight.

Answers

• A triangle needs 3 sticks. A square needs 4 sticks.
• A circle has no straight sides, so a loop of string or a curved line makes it, not sticks.
• Joined-dot shapes vary: check the triangle closes with 3 corners and the square with 4.

Make it yourself

How many sticks?

A triangle needs ____ sticks. A square needs ____ sticks.

A circle needs ____ sticks. (Careful: it is round, with no straight sides.)

Join the dots

Join the dots to make a triangle, then join the dots to make a square.

Make a circle

A circle is round, so draw it in one smooth line, like a loop of string.

Shapes in things

Shapes hide in everyday objects. The curriculum asks children not just to spot them but to give a reason: a plate is a circle because it is round with no corners. That reason is the real learning.

We are learning to

• find a familiar shape inside a real object,
• name the shape I have found,
• give a reason, using a feature like corners or round.

Success criteria

• I can name the shape in an object.
• I can say why, using corners, sides or round.

You need

A few real objects to pass round: a plate, a book, a tissue box, a triangular flag or bracket. The worksheet, one per child.

Lesson flow (about 40 minutes)

Two half-sessions instead? End Session A after what shape and why; start Session B with the detective task.

Watch for these ideas

• Naming the object, not its shape: “it is a door” instead of “a rectangle”.
• Guessing with no reason: the descriptor asks for the feature that gives it away.
• Calling every four-cornered thing a square when a rectangle has 2 long and 2 short sides.

Answers

• A plate is a circle because it is round with no corners.
• A window is a square because it has 4 equal straight sides.
• A sandwich cut corner to corner is a triangle because it has 3 straight sides.
• A door is a rectangle because it has 2 long and 2 short sides.

Shape detective

What shape is hiding in each object? Write the shape, then give a reason.

My own object

Find one more object in the room. Draw it, name its shape, and give a reason.

Shape hunt

A walk around the room becomes a lesson when a child names the shapes they pass and says how they know. Today the week’s four shapes come together in a hunt, and then the mini-check.

We are learning to

• hunt for the four shapes around the room,
• name each shape I find and give a reason,
• show what I have learned in the mini-check.

Success criteria

• I can find each shape in the room.
• I can name it and say how I know.

You need

The worksheet, one per child, and pencils. The mini-check from the back of the pack, one per child, for the last ten minutes.

Lesson flow (about 40 minutes)

Two half-sessions instead? End Session A after the hunt and tally; run the mini-check in Session B.

Watch for these ideas

• Naming a shape with no reason: always ask how you know.
• Counting the same object twice on the hunt: one tally mark for each thing found.
• Calling a round ball a circle: it is round like a circle, and that is a good start.

Answers

• Answers vary with the room. Check each find shows the feature: a clock for the circle, a window pane for the square, a book or door for the rectangle, a flag or bracket for the triangle.
• The class tally varies; there are usually more rectangles and squares than triangles.

My shape hunt

Find one thing in the room for each shape. Draw it and write what you found.

Class tally

Make a mark for each shape the class finds. Which shape wins?

Shape cards

Cut out the cards. Each shape comes in a big size and a small size, so children see that a small square is still a square. One set per pair is plenty for the week.

Teacher note: two colours and two sizes let children sort by shape while ignoring colour and size, the same shapes the interactive unit uses on screen.

Shape-sorting mats

Cut out the three mats. Children place their shape cards on the mats by counting the corners. Use them on Day 2 to sort, and again on Day 5 to check.

Teacher note: the three mats match the three buttons on the Sort by Corners picture, so the floor sort and the screen agree.

What we know: Familiar Shapes

Work on your own. Say how you know if you can.

1. A shape that is round with no corners is a ____.
2. How many corners does a triangle have? ____
3. A square has ____ corners and ____ sides.
4. A wheel is a ____. It is that shape because ________________________.
5. Tick the shape with 4 corners and 2 long, 2 short sides: circle □ triangle □ rectangle □
6. A party hat has a pointy top and 3 straight sides. What shape is it? ____
7. Draw a line from each shape to its group.
   circle

   triangle

   square

   no corners

   3 corners

   4 corners
8. Find one thing in this room that is a rectangle. Draw it, then finish: it is a rectangle because ____________.

Answers and marking guide

Answers

1. circle.
2. 3 corners.
3. 4 corners and 4 sides.
4. A wheel is a circle, because it is round with no corners.
5. rectangle (a circle has no corners; a triangle has only 3).
6. triangle.
7. circle to no corners; triangle to 3 corners; square to 4 corners.
8. Answers vary: check the object really is a rectangle (2 long and 2 short sides) and the reason names a feature.

A quick three-level guide

Eight questions, four ideas. A child at standard names the shapes, sorts them by corners, and gives a reason.

Weekly class record

Jot a tick as you move around the room; the mini-check fills any gaps. A tick a day is plenty.

The five columns are the five days: name, sort, make, spot, and hunt.