Five pages about building flat shapes. Page 1 shows six shapes made of craft sticks joined with clay balls: students count the sticks and circle the shape's name, triangle, square or rectangle. The first one is done as an example, and the big shapes use more sticks on each side, so a triangle can have 6 sticks. Page 2 has four piles: 3 sticks the same, 4 sticks the same, 2 long and 2 short straws, and a pipe cleaner. Students draw a line from each pile to the shape it can make. Page 3 traces a triangle, a square, a rectangle and a circle, then joins clay balls with straight lines to build each one twice more. Page 4 is a stick house, rocket, boat and truck: students count the triangles and squares, or the squares and the pipe-cleaner wheels, in each one. The box on the truck is a rectangle, not a square. Page 5 asks whether the sticks meet at every corner, then has students build 2 squares and 2 triangles on clay balls and count the sticks they used.
Build first with real materials: craft sticks or straws and balls of play dough, and a pipe cleaner for the circle. Let children make a triangle, then ask how many sticks it took and what happens if they add a fourth. Read each direction aloud and name the pictures on page 2 together. Page 5 works well in pairs: one child builds 2 squares with real sticks while the other counts.
Toothpicks and mini marshmallows, pretzel sticks and grapes, or cotton swabs on the table all make good shapes. Ask your child to build a square, then a rectangle, and to tell you how they are different. Look for triangles, squares, rectangles and circles in windows, roofs and wheels on a walk.
This pack supports the following Common Core State Standards for Mathematics:
© Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved.
A 5-page shapes pack for Pre-K and kindergarten about building flat shapes from craft sticks, straws, clay balls and pipe cleaners. Count the sticks in a shape and circle its name, match a pile of sticks to the shape it can make, trace a triangle, a square, a rectangle and a circle and then build each one on clay balls, count the triangles, squares and circles in a stick house, rocket, boat and truck, and decide whether the sticks meet at every corner. Every page comes in color and in black and white. Answer keys included.
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