Pentagon - polygons with five sides. In the class, my first reaction to the total interior angles is 360 degrees. However, after folding the paper into numerous squares; I realised that the sum of interior angles is 540 degrees, with four right angles and two 45-degrees angles!
The development of geometric thinking by van Hiele enables us to understand the five levels of thinking processes used in geometric contexts. For the six year olds children, I believe they would have reached level 1: analysis of the van Hiele levels of thinking processes, with some children achieving level 2: informal deduction where children are able to understand the various properties of shapes. Understanding the children's level of development enable us to plan meaningful developmentally appropriate activities for the children.
The "Shape Sorts" activities in the textbook facilitate learning of mathematical concepts, and promote language skills and logical thinking skills. As educators, we must give time for "students to do activity using ideas they own and understand" (Van de Walle, 2010, p. 406).
In the photograph, the children decided to share a piece of square bread. So, they requested the teacher to cut one square bread into two triangles; they could have asked the teacher to help them cut into two rectangles. The simple activity that the 3 year olds children engaged in showed that they have learned geometrical concept, developed spatial visualisation skill, appreciation of friends as well as capable of using ideas that they have learned earlier in class.
In class, we used tangrams to form a square. This activity was exciting as we had to race against time to form square with increasing pieces of tangrams used. Though there are only 7 tangram pieces, the learning opportunities are unlimited. Through playing with those tangrams, we realised that two small triangles make a paralleogram, a square and even another bigger triangle. It can also be used to build different objects with odd shapes or use it as an estimating tool.
In the class, I learned that 'diamond' is not a shape. I may, in my years of teaching, been teaching diamond as one of the shapes. This lesson prompted me to research more on shapes and the website link below reaffirmed that diamond is NOT a shape!
It is important, for educators, to research and refine our knowledge, prior to teaching concepts and knowledge to children.
Website link for shapes:
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