Creating different groups occasionally is always good
to get to meet new classmates and have the opportunity to collaborate and share
ideas with each other. The separating of our new group this week was a great start
to part one of the lesson plan, which lead directly into our ‘Minds on’ portion.
Starting the class talking about congruent shapes and similar shapes indirectly
had us discussing the lesson, relating our Halloween pieces to one another.
This activity could easily be done using a number of different objects related
to different seasons or different holiday and events coming up. Another aspect
of the beginning portion of our lesson plan was when we had to reflect back on
the different shapes we share today that were both symmetrical and
asymmetrical. Starts getting the students reflecting on everyday objects that
are seen and compared to what is being learned in math class, the connection of
classroom to real-life experiences.
Children’s literature is something that has been used
over the course of the this semester, it is a great resource future educators
can use to help students learn about certain topics relating to math. The
Greedy Triangle by Marilyn Brown not only began introducing students to different
shapes but could relate to real-life situations on how to treat friends and the
values of having something and wanting something one can’t have. Stories can be
used to draw student’s attention, knowing your students and the types of
learners they are play a crucial role with the tools an educator can use. As an
educator you can stop at anytime to ensure students are staying on track and
have them reflect throughout to ensure their understanding.
Geometry was a subject that I never enjoyed a whole
lot, which was surprising because I am very hand on and need manipulative and
objects to learn and I find it hard to learn about shapes without using
objects. This weeks activities were very practical and required using shapes to
learn, key to learning geometry is “making it as physical as possible,”
something Patricia explained to us throughout the class. Manipulatives can help
develop a different part of our brains that benefit our learning and to grasp
the concepts of symmetry and congruent shapes quicker.
This picture of the pattern blocks shows us using
shapes to conjure shapes and then further create bigger shapes. We worked
together in our groups to create shapes and structures that were visually
demonstrated first on a worksheet. This activity worked on group work and teamwork
but also can target the students of different learning styles, who need to
physically see an object or just envision it on paper. Working with different learning
styles comes with knowing your students to create lesson plans that will
benefit all the students.
Learning about
polygons was one of the more challenging parts for me this week. I was never
comfortable with polygons and had a hard time differentiating them based on
their characteristics. The tangram duo’s worksheet was an activity that
benefited me as a learner because it had me physically working with objects to
create different polygons. Two key points I took away from Tuesday was;
·
Look
for number of sides…important!
·
Look
for parallel sides when comparing quadrilaterals
The mini lesson plans were all done well by each
classmate. They all had create activities that connected well with their lesson
and were each different that got us learning about shapes in a variety of
different ways. Lianne’s activity got us using an alternative to physical
manipulative and that was jube jubes. The matching game done by Amber was
creative and has us talking the language of geometry and shapes. Courtney’s
activity focused on symmetry and reflective symmetry with different shapes, and
got us accomplishing a task at the same time, which sometimes brings out
motivation in students to learn and progress through the lesson or activity. Overall
done well by each one of the presenters!
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