Planning tool

Students:

• identify and classify different 2D shapes by their properties
• create composite shapes from verbal or written instructions
• identify common 2D shapes that are part of a composite shape by re-creating it from these shapes
• find the area of composite shapes using informal measures such as squares.

Some students may:

• have difficulty recognising plane shapes in different orientations. Students who regularly encounter plane shapes in one specific orientation may have difficulty in classifying shapes correctly and recognising their properties when they look 'different'. For example, a square orientated on one of its vertices may be mistakenly identified as a diamond. Exploring shapes in different orientations (for example, in tangrams) may assist students in addressing this.
• be confused about properties of shapes. To encourage thinking about properties of shapes try using true/false statements. For example, statements may include:
  
  • A square is half the size of a rectangle. (True)
  • Every square is a rectangle. (True)
  • Every rectangle is a square. (False)
  • A square has 4 lines of symmetry (True)
  • A rectangle has 4 lines of symmetry. (False)

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 how to identify the properties of 2D shapes.
• We are learning about how to combine shapes to make a tangram animal.

Why are we learning about this?

• Tangrams help us develop important geometric skills such as spatial visualisation, which is often helpful in design.

What to do

1. Look at this tangram. What animal does it look like? How many different shapes is it made from?

   

2. Take a sheet of paper and draw, colour and cut out the shapes to create the same pattern.
3. Now take the same shapes and rearrange them to make a tangram of a different object. Draw your tangram.

Success criteria

I can:

• name familiar 2D shapes
• create a tangram using a variety of shapes.