This week we began our unit on geometry. We spent the week discussing plane shapes (circle, triangle, square, rectangle, trapezoid, rhombus, and hexagon) and their attributes. We made designs with our shapes and graphed how many of each shape we made, used pattern block templates to trace shapes, and played 'Make my Design' and 'Secret Shapes.'
You can play the 'Secret Shape' game with your child at home. One player thinks of a secret shape and describes the characteristics of the shape to their partner. The partner uses their knowledge of shapes to guess the secret shape. Then players rotate. Encourage your child to be specific in their clues and differentiate between the many 4-sided shapes by using amount of sides, corners, curved lines, straight lines, diagonal lines, equal sides, etc.
Next week we will begin our study of polygons and 3D shapes. The following 3D shapes will be taught: sphere, cylinder, cube, cone, pyramid, and rectangular prism. I guarantee your child will come home singing THIS song at some point next week!
AMAZING Animals
Over the past two weeks we have focused on an informational text entitled Amazing Animals. The book was brimming with facts about animals and focused on the special adaptations animals have to survive and grow in their environment. For example, dolphins have tail flukes to allow them to swim faster. And did you know a polar bear's fur is actually clear and only looks white due to the reflection of the sun? Our 1st graders chose one animal that they felt had the most amazing adaptation to give an award to and support their opinion with facts.
Consider going to the library and taking out a few nonfiction animal texts to discover more animal adaptations!
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