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EDITION 3 | GEOMETRY STEAM TRUNKCreate! Encourage children to build with, and transform a variety of, 2-D and 3-D shapes.Talk about geometry! Describe shapes and their characteristics.Move! Go over, under, and through geometric spaces!1Circle Time Magazine is supported by funding from the Washington State Department of Early Learning and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Washington State Department of Early Learning or the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.Circle Time Magazine is the creation of Dr. Gail Joseph at the University of Washingtonchildcare quality & early learningUniversity of WashingtonCENTER FOR RESEARCH AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENTFor questions or comments contact CTmag@uw.eduContentsGeometry and Spatial Sense: .......... 2–3 Highlights and Key IdeasActivities for the Materials: ........... 4–11• Geoboard and craft loops• Soft shape blocks• Shape-art sponges• Shape stencils and foam paper• The Secret Birthday Message math book• Geometry cheat sheetGeometry describes the shapes of objects and their relative positions in the environment. In the early years, young children learn to understand shapes, their characteristics, and how objects relate to each other in space. Young children learn about shapes as they explore objects in their environment.Gross motor activities and block constructions help children learn spatial concepts about location (Where?), distance (How far?), and direction (Which way?). Mathematizing means bringing out the math in what children are doing. Focus on geometry concepts by making comments and asking questions as children explore everyday objects and move their bodies and objects in their environment. You mathematize as you:• Talk about two- and three-dimensional shapes (e.g., a ball is a sphere) and their characteristics (e.g., a round cracker, a curved line, a sharp corner).• Provide opportunities for children to manipulate shapes (e.g., shapes for an infant to feel).• Use vocabulary words about position and movement (e.g., up, down, in, out, next to, on top, over, under, forward, backward).• Engage in activities where children combine, fold, or cut 2-D shapes, or manipulate play dough to transform 3-D objects. • Create simple maps using landmarks, toys, or drawings.• Sing songs, play games, and read books about shapes and movement.GEOMETRY: Highlights and Key Ideas2Shapes!Young children use many two- and three-dimensional objects during daily activities. They learn that the shape of an object remains the same even though it looks different when viewed from different perspectives.Spatial sense! Spatial sense is knowing how one’s body moves in the environment and learning about the characteristics and relations of objects in space. Children use spatial concepts to describe shapes and location in space.For guidance on what children know and experience about math, refer to the Washington State Early Learning and Development Guidelines (https://www.del.wa.gov/helpful-resources/washing-ton-state-early-learning-and-developmental-guidelines) and the Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework (https://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/interactive-head-start-early-learning-outcomes-framework-ag-es-birth-five). Here are some highlights related to this trunk of materials:Learning About My World: GeometrySupporting Dual Language Learners• Describe shapes, directions, and positions using words in children’s home languages.• Use gestures, movement, and pictures to define words. • Sing songs that include gestures, pictures, and movement.Individualize• For more support, use nonskid mats as a surface for making designs with shapes.• For more support, model and show children how to create shapes (e.g., how to make a triangle with sticks).• For more challenge, encourage children to move and transform shapes by sliding, rotating, flipping, or folding.• For more challenge, ask children to make predictions of what the transformed shape will look like.• For more challenge, ask children to draw maps of the room, or of how they get from home to school.3Infants begin to learn about shapes through hands-on experiences. Educators can provide many opportunities for infants to explore different objects, and how things fit together. Lift infants up and encourage them to crawl in order to provide experiences with moving their bodies. Use gestures and talk about objects as they move through space. • Play with toys and objects of different shapes and sizes.• Put things together, such as simple matching puzzles, nesting cups, blocks.• Follow simple directions that use words like “in,” “on,” “up,” and “down.”With toddlers, talk about names and characteristics of simple shapes. Encourage them to move their bodies and objects through space, and help them understand how objects fit together or inside other things. Provide smaller objects that they can put into a larger box and help them do simple puzzles.• Match simple flat shapes (circles, squares, triangles).• Identify two geometric shapes, such as a circle and a square.• Follow simple directions for position—such as up, down, in, on.With preschoolers, educators provide opportunities to identifiy, describe, compare, and compose shapes. Discuss characteristics of shapes such as the length of sides, number of sides, and number of angles. Encourage children to create and build shapes from different components. Have children practice following directions involving their own position in space, such as “Stand up” and “Move forward.” Model and encourage using language to describe where things are in space. • Sort and describe items by size, color, and/or shape.• Match and sort simple flat shapes (circles, squares, triangles).• Understand words that tell where things are (such as behind, under, in, on). Use these words to identify locations.• Work puzzles with up to 10 pieces.• Follow simple directions for position (beside, next to, between, etc.)Soft Shape BlocksThis set of soft shape blocks provides ideal opportunities for children of all ages to safely explore both two- and three-dimensional shapes. The blocks can be stacked, turned, examined from different view points, and labeled to expose children to a broader math vocabulary. 4 ExtensionInvolve the children in drawing a map of the outside play space by using the soft shape blocks to represent landmarks, equipment, and areas. Make copies of the map, then set up a treasure hunt, marking treasure locations on your map.ActivitiesInfants will enjoy experiencing these soft, colorful blocks. Let them sense shapes by encouraging infants to examine, touch, climb on, mouth, and clap the blocks together. Playfully place different shapes in, on, under, or next to other toys that are nearby.Show toddlers how the blocks can be stacked to build a tower, then let them knock it over. Encourage them to build their own tower. Trace the base of each shape on a large carboard box and cut out the shapes. Ask them to fit the blocks through their corresponding shape on the box. Play Simon Says, giving toddlers simple directions with the blocks, in order to teach spacial concepts.Encourage preschoolers to build something of their own design. Hand them one block at a time and ask them to see how many things in their environment are the same shape. Hide the shape blocks around the room, then give spatial directions to find them. Trace the base of each shape on a large piece of paper and ask preschoolers to match the blocks to their corresponding shape on the paper.5Developing Geometry SkillsUsing soft shapes provides opportunities to address the following measurement skills; additionally, you can use these to create learning goals:• Play with objects and toys of different shapes and sizes.• Follow simple directions that include position words (“in,” “on,” “up,” and “down.”)• Identify and label shapes.• Understand words that tell where things are (such as behind, under, in, on). Use these words to identify locations.Mathematizing Teaching Moves• Use your eye gaze to direct infants’ attention to the shapes as you’re talking about them.• Make comments about where shapes are in space (in, on, under, next to).• Model language by naming the two- and three-dimensional shapes, and talking about their sides, angles, lines, and curves.• Scaffold (e.g., if a child can almost fit the block in it’s corresponding shape in the box, offer a gentle prompt to help the child rotate the block as needed to fit).• Model where to put the block while playing Simon Says, then phase out modeling to see who can do it independently.• “You are holding a cube!”• “What does the triangle feel like?”• “You’re putting the block on top of another one.”• “This flat side is a square, but the whole thing is a cube.”• “Simon says put the sphere under the bucket,” and “Simon says, put the pyramid on your head.”• “To find the cone, take three big steps toward the window, then look under the box,” or “Walk around the table, then toward the sink and tell me if you see the cube.”TALKabout it!Shape-Art SpongesUsing shape-art sponges provides children the opportunity to combine creativity with their awareness of shapes, their properties, and where the shapes are relative to each other on the paper, or any other material they are painting on.ActivitiesEncourage toddlers to dip the sponges in paint and experiment with the shapes and pictures that they can create. Make a template with a stamp of each shape to see if they can match their stamp to the template. Let them stack the sponges to explore three-dimensional structures. Show them what shapes look like when stamping them upside-down or slightly rotated. Prompt toddlers use spatial language to tell you where they want you to stamp your shapes.Talk with preschoolers about the landscape, equipment, and unique spaces of the inside or outdoor learning environment and help them design a map using the sponge stampings. Ask a child to secretly stamp a shape on their paper, cover it, then describe it to see if others can guess the shape. Hide a shape in your hand and have children close their eyes and imagine a shape that you describe.6Infants can experience these sponges through their senses by examining, squeezing, pressing, and throwing them. Infants who can sit up in a supportive structure can begin doing simple art projects by dipping the sponges in paint, and stamping shapes on surfaces.7Developing Geometry SkillsUsing shape sponges provides opportunities to address the following geometry skills; additionally, you can use these to create learning goals:• Play with toys and objects of different shapes and sizes.• Follow simple directions that include position words (“in,” “on,” “up” and “down.”)• Match simple flat shapes (circles, squares, triangles).• Identify and label geometric shapes.• Use spatial memory to create mental images of shapes.Mathematizing Teaching Moves• Label shapes and comment about their position in space, relative to other shapes on the paper (or other medium).• Scaffold (for children who are almost ready to use other shapes to create a larger shape, model using two triangles to make a square for a house).• Count aloud the number of sides and angles of shapes on the children’s art work.• Draw attention to straight lines and curved lines.ExtensionPut a large pool of paint in the middle of each child’s paper, fold the paper in half and press, then open it back up to see the resulting shape. Ask about their observations and explain what symmetry is.• “You made a circle!”• “You put a rectangle between two circles.”• “These shapes on your paper are flat and 2-dimensional, how is your sponge different?”• “What does your cylinder feel like?”• “My shape has four sides and four corners and all sides are the same length.”• “Does your shape have any curved lines?”• “I wonder what else we could add to our map?”TALKabout it!Developing Geometry SkillsUsing geoboards provides opportunities to address the following geometry skills, which you can use to create learning goals:• Identify, match, and compare shapes.• Describe shapes by their characteristics.• Put two shapes together to make another shape.• Make predictions of what a transformed shape will look like.Mathematizing Teaching Moves• Give gentle prompts to guide children who need extra help with manipulating the rubber bands.• Model how to make a simple shape.• Talk aloud while describing attributes of shapes.• Explain that lines are a series of dots or points, and that corners are the point where two lines come together.8Geoboards and Craft LoopsInvite children to work individually or in pairs to create and transform shapes with craft loops on the geoboards. Each geoboard has two sides. On one side, children can practice making a circle and a square and the other side provides options to create a variety of shapes of different sizes. Children can create shapes as they please or copy a shape seen on another geoboard. ActivitiesInvite preschoolers to identify names and describe the attributes of shapes they make. Encourage them to add new shapes or break them apart. Provide cutout laminated shapes in various colors and sizes for children to use as models. Have many different and unusual examples of a same shape. Get really creative and encourage children to make designs with their craft loops.ExtensionUse ribbon to measure objects or body parts that curve. Show children how to wrap the ribbon around different parts of their body and mark the ribbon. Then stretch it out and measure it against a tape measure.• “Your shape has three sides and three corners. You made a triangle!”• “Let’s count the sides and corners to find out what shape this is.”• “Alicia’s rectangle is long and skinny. Kumar’s rectangle is wide and fat. They are both rectangles because they have four sides and four straight corners, but two sides are longer than the other.”• “Can you think of another way to make a triangle?”• “You made a rectangle. How can you turn it into a triangle?”TALKabout it!Next >