Expected level of development
Australian Curriculum Mathematics V9: AC9M1SP01
Numeracy Progression: Understanding geometric properties: P2
At this level, students compare and classify the properties of common shapes found in the classroom, home or local environment.
Provide opportunities for students to identify common shapes by their geometric names including rectangles, squares, circles and triangles. Students sort and group attribute blocks and describe their classification. Make explicit the properties of the different shapes. Focus on how shapes are similar and different, for example, quadrilaterals such as rectangles and squares.
Use geoboards and elastic bands to create different 2D shapes. Discuss the shapes they make. Ask students to identify the shape based on the shape’s properties, such as, it has four corners and four sides that are equal in length so it must be a square. Compare squares made by other students. Count up the length of sides. Look for any patterns.
Introduce solid attribute blocks that represent 3D objects and follow a similar process as used with the 2D shapes. Make explicit the terms ‘faces’, ‘edges’ and ‘corners’ (technical term ‘vertices’). Contrast a square and a cube. Each has corners, count how many. A square has sides, a cube has edges. A cube has faces. Represent the comparisons visually or using a table.
Play guessing games to practise describing properties of shapes and objects. Place attribute blocks both flat and solid in a feely-bag. Include other small familiar items such as a marble, pencil sharpener, battery, die and drink can. Students identify the shape or object based on the properties they can feel.
Link shapes and objects used at home and in the local environment. Go on a shape and object hunt around the school, or set as a take home task, and find shapes to fill in a bingo grid.
Teaching and learning summary:
- Provide physical materials for students to name, sort and classify familiar 2D shapes.
- Use relevant contexts to describe properties of 2D shapes.
- Identify 2D shapes and 3D objects by their properties.
- Go on a shape hunt to observe shapes and objects in the local environment.
The Learning from home activities are designed to be used flexibly by teachers, parents and carers, as well as the students themselves. They can be used in a number of ways including to consolidate and extend learning done at school or for home schooling.
Learning intention
- We are learning about shapes and objects.
- We are looking at the features that make each shape or object special, which we call its ‘properties’.
Why are we learning about this?
- The shape of something often makes it useful.
What to do
- Open the dotty grid that lets you make shapes on a grid of dots.
Here is a square.
- a. What other shapes can you make? See if you can you make these shapes:
- Two squares of different sizes
- A shape that has three sides. What is this shape called?
- A shape that has four corners but is not a square
- A shape that has six sides
- A shape like a kite
b. What is special about each shape? What are its features?
- Draw the shapes you made or record what is on your screen if you know how to do that.
Success criteria
I can:
- make shapes by drawing lines to connect dots on a grid
- draw and name different shapes
- describe shapes by their special features.
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Teaching strategies
A collection of evidence-based teaching strategies applicable to this topic. Note we have not included an exhaustive list and acknowledge that some strategies such as differentiation apply to all topics. The selected teaching strategies are suggested as particularly relevant, however you may decide to include other strategies as well.
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Explicit teaching
Explicit teaching is about making the learning intentions and success criteria clear, with the teacher using examples and working though problems, setting relevant learning tasks and checking student understanding and providing feedback.
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Concrete, Representational, Abstract (CRA)
The CRA model is a three-phased approach where students move from concrete or virtual manipulatives, to making visual representations and on to using symbolic notation.
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The development of spatial and geometric thinking: the importance of instruction
This article presents levels of geometric thinking and the types of activities required to develop this thinking.
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Teaching resources
A range of resources to support you to build your student's understanding of these concepts, their skills and procedures. The resources incorporate a variety of teaching strategies.
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Stage 1: space and geometry – 2D
Use this guide for ideas for helping students to name and describe common 2D shapes.
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Guess what?
Use a guessing game to practise describing the properties of 3D objects.
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Four triangles puzzle
This task develops understanding of properties of squares and triangles, and encourages students to visualise.
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reSolve: Shape – Shadows
Explore the relationship between objects and common shapes through investigating the shapes of shadows cast by different 3D objects.
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Square dotty grid
Use this online interactive to create 2D shapes using a square grid.
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