In math recently, we've been talking about shapes (specifically, circles and triangles) and using positional words to describe where we've found them. For example, "I see a circle on the wall above the window and next to the color monkeys." (The color monkeys are just that, by the way. An assortment of monkeys in various colors labeled with the color names.) Anyway, that circle I was describing is ..... a clock!
To teach circles and triangles, we read a book about each and reviewed the shape poems.
Circle: Round and round and round I go, I look like a ball,* I'm Circle Joe.
Triangle: Count my sides, 1-2-3, Tommy Triangle, that is me!
*This is deceiving. Really a sphere looks like a ball, not a circle, but since we don't introduce spheres yet I think it's okay.
After we looked at the shapes and said their poems, students got a single page to add to a class book with an outline of a circle on the first day and an outline of a triangle on the second day. Students turned their circles and triangles into something else that naturally has the same shape. We found out that a circle can be.... a whole pizza, a pumpkin, an eyeball, a bowling ball, a pig's face, and much more! A triangle can be... a nose, a triangle in music, a jack-o-lantern's eyes, a cat's ears, a slice of pizza, a piece of cake and a wedge of cheese, among other things!
Our class books turned out so cute that I'm going to turn them into digital books, so I'll upload them and post a link here once I've scanned them in.
To introduce positional words, we had Pete the Cat give us a hand. After reading Pete the Cat The Wheels on the Bus, we reviewed a chart showing what above, below, beside, in front of, behind, and next to mean. Then students got to manipulate a stuffed Pete around their body according to my instructions.
Students practiced manipulating a paper Pete the Cat around a bus cut-out with a partner for independent practice using positional words.
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