early childhood lesson plan outline -...

ELED 433 Math Methods

TITLE OF LESSON Quadrilateral Sorting

CONTEXT OF LESSONThis lesson will come after the students study circles, angles, and triangles. It should be used as an introduction to quadrilaterals.

LESSON CONCEPTSThis lesson will address quadrilaterals, including trapezoid, parallelogram, rhombus, rectangle, and square, and their relationships with each other as a way to figure out which type they are.

LESSON OBJECTIVES1. The students will sort quadrilaterals into different categories based on characteristics

provided.2. The students will separate out the five specific quadrilaterals from other types of

quadrilaterals.

ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING1. To assess objective one, I will have each student, or group of students, record the sorts

they completed and have them discuss why they sorted it that way2. To assess objective two, the students will glue the quadrilaterals in the categories they

belong to, and then draw another example.

RELATED VIRGINIA STANDARDS OF LEARNING5.13 The student, using plane figures (square, rectangle, triangle, parallelogram, rhombus, and

trapezoid), willa) develop definitions of these plane figures;

MATERIALS NEEDED Quadrilateral Pieces, cut out for each group and set for teacher. (attached) Labels for sorting, cut out for each group and set for teacher. (attached, only tasks 1,

2, 3, and 5) Mystery Rings worksheet, for students that finish sorting early. (attached) Venn Diagrams for students to write their sorts. (attached) Paper for students to glue their final sort. (attached) Measurement tools in case the students want to measure sides or angles. Glue and pencils

PROCEDURE

Before Anticipated Student ResponsesThese students have seen these shapes before but may not know the names or characteristics. Before the lesson, they will brainstorm the properties of each shape.

ELED 433 1Spring ‘14Wallace

In a PowerPoint each shape will be displayed with its name and an example or two (separate slide for each shape). The teacher will write on the SMART Board what they say after giving them time to think about it.

The teacher will ask what they know about trapezoids. (Two examples on slide, one an isosceles trapezoid, the other does not have congruent legs).

Now there is a slide of a parallelogram. Again the teacher asks what the students see and know.

Student 1: It looks like a triangle, but without the top.Teacher: That’s a good observation, anyone else see anything?Student 2: Only one of those is a trapezoid, I don’t know what the other is.Teacher: Why would you say that?Student 2: Because when we use the wooden shapes, the trapezoids only look like that first one.Teacher: Is there anything you can see that is similar between the two? Maybe they look different but are still both trapezoids?Student 3: No, they don’t look alike at all!Teacher: If I extent these lines, does that help you see something?Student 4: They look parallel.Teacher: We will be able to look more into that when we get into our activity to see if you are correct. Are there any more observations?

Student 1: It looks kind of like a rectangle, but not quite.Teacher: Why do you say that?Student 1: If you turned the sides a little bit, it would be standing up just like a rectangle, so it looks like someone pushed it over.Teacher: Does anyone else see that? Is there anything else you see?Student 2: Are the sides parallel? It has parallel in its name, so I think the sides may be parallel.Teacher: Which sides would be parallel? They can’t all be parallel to each other or it wouldn’t be a shape because the side would never touch.Student 3: I think the sides are parallel to each other, and the top and bottom to each other.Teacher: (circles the pairs in different colors)


Rectangles so up on the next slide. Teacher asks again what the students can tell her about the shape.

Rhombus is shown on the board, with the same question presented.

Square is the last slide. The questions remain the same.

Like this?

Student 1: That’s a rectangle, it looks right now.Teacher: What do you know about rectangles?Student 2: The top and the bottom are congruent.Teacher: Are those the only ones that are congruent?Student 3: No, the sides are congruent to each other too.Teacher: What else do you know?Student 4: The angles, they are all the same, they are right angles.

Student 1: Isn’t that a square?Teacher: I don’t know, do you think it is a square?Student 2: No, it can’t be a square, it’s not upright, it’s like the parallelogram, and it’s pushed over.Teacher: So what makes it like a square?Student 3: All the sides are the same length.Teacher: They all have congruent sides?Student 3: Yes, that’s what I said.Teacher: Are the angles congruent?Student 4: No, two of them are small, what’s that word? A…a something?Student 5: Acute!Student 4: Yeah, two of them are acute, and the other two are obtuse.’

Student 1: That’s a square!Teacher: So what do you know about squares?Student 2: All the sides are the same.Teacher: Anything else?Student 3: The angles are right angles, just like the rectangle.

DuringGive each student a set of shapes and have them sort in groups of two or three The teacher sets the first task up on the document camera and has the students follow along with their pieces. When they finish sorting, the teacher will have the students write their

Teacher: We are going to sort these shapes together. Let’s find shape number one. Does this shape have a right angle?Student 1: No.Teacher: How do you know?Student 1: Because there is no box on the


answers on a Venn diagram provided.

Teacher will then start the next sort on the document camera. This is just to show them what to do if the shape falls into both categories. Pick number 11 to demonstrate.

Students complete tasks 2, 3, and 5 in groups and record answers on the Venn diagrams. Teacher walks around asking students to defend their answers. She talks with the groups about what kind of shapes fall into each category based on what they talked about at the beginning of the lesson. She is trying to get the students to make connections with what characteristics each shape has. If the students have questions they can ask their neighboring groups what they did, or ask the teacher. The last task the students will

corner.Teacher: Is that the only way to tell if it is a right angle?Student 2: No, you could measure them, but it doesn’t look like any of them are.Teacher: Class, do you agree that this does not have a right angle? Who agrees? (raises hand) Who disagrees? (Raises hand). Ok, we say there is no right angle.Continue with rest of shapes.

Teacher: Ok, onto the next task. Let’s start with number 11. Which category does this fall?Student 1: Well, it has an acute angle! It actually has two of them.Student 2: But the sides are all the same, I just measured them!Teacher: So what do you think we should do about it?Student 3: Well, can we put it in just one category? It does have the quality of either one so it would fit.Teacher: But won’t that be confusing? What if Johnny puts it in this category, while Hannah puts it in the other one? Then everyone’s answers will be different.Student 4: What if we put it in the middle? That means it falls into both at once.Teacher: That is a good idea. What do you guys think? Is this how we will deal with shapes that fall into both categories?Everyone: YeahTeacher lets students sort the rest of the shapes.


complete is they sort the shapes by their categories (Trapezoid, parallelogram, rhombus, rectangle, square, and quadrilateral). They will glue down their answers on the sheet provided, so the teacher can see what they came up with.AfterTeacher will lead a discussion in what they learned about the relationships of each shape. Focus on squares mainly, but if there is time, can talk about how rectangles, rhombuses, and squares are all parallelograms.

Teacher: Did you see anything similar between any of the shapes?Student 1: Rhombuses and squares both have congruent sides.Student 2: Yeah, and rectangles and squares have right angles.Teacher: Squares are interesting, based on what we said at the beginning of the class (flip back to PowerPoint if need be) can a square be categorized into a different shape?Student 3: Well, it does have the congruent sides of a rhombus, but not the obtuse and acute angles, so it can’t be that.Student 4: It can’t be a rectangle either, because it doesn’t have two pair of congruent sides, they are all congruent, so no pairs.Teacher: Let’s look at the rhombus first. You said it can’t be a rhombus because of the angles?Student 3: Yeah, they are all right angles.Teacher: A normal rhombus does have two obtuse and two acute angles, but that is not actually part of the definition. The definition only says it needs all sides to be the same.Student 5: Well then a square does have that, does that mean a square is a rhombus?Teacher: Yes, can you tell me why?Student 5: Because both the rhombus and square have all congruent sides.Teacher: Very good. Now let’s look at the rectangle. Why did you say a square couldn’t be a rectangle?Student 4: Because it doesn’t have two pairs of congruent sides.Teacher: Which sides make the pair?Student 6: The left and right sides are one, and then top and bottom.Teacher: Are the left and right sides congruent in a square?Students: yes.


Teacher: What about the top and bottom?Students: Yes.Teacher: And does a square have all four right angles?Students: Yes.Teacher: Then does that mean it’s a rectangle?Student 7: No, because the sides aren’t different like in a rectangle.Teacher: But didn’t we just make the pairs of congruent sides?Student 7: Yes, but they aren’t different so it can’t be a rectangle.Teacher: Just like with the rhombus, normally a rectangle has different pairs of congruent sides, but a square is a special case. We will work on this more tomorrow.

MODIFICATIONS FOR STUDENTS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS CHALLENGE Problem: Student who finish early will be given the “Mystery Rings” worksheet. They will need to come up with categories for each sort already given.

REMEDIAL Problem: For students who are struggling, remove the shapes that are not one of the five we are focusing on. That would be shapes 2, 3, 5, 7, 15, and 16. They will also not sort task 5, and after task 3 just move on to sorting into the specific categories.

Gavin, M. K., & Cuevas, G. J. (2001). Roping in quadrilaterals. In Navigating through geometry in

grades 3-5Reston, VA: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.

WHAT COULD GO WRONG WITH THIS ACTIVITY AND WHAT WILL YOU DO ABOUT IT?1. A student might not understand one of the key words used in the labels. The student

will be allowed to ask the teacher or another student what it means. If I am asked, I will give a synonym or short definition, and even point it out on a shape, to make sure the student understands.

2. Technology-If the SMART Board or document camera breaks, I will do the before and after discussions on the white board. The demonstration of sorting will be done with the students sorting at their desk (as was originally planned) and the teacher will just be discussing where to place the pieces, walking around to make sure each group understands.

3. Time- If there is not enough time, task 5 will be taken out. Also, the ‘after’ discussion can be moved to the next day for further in depth discussion.

4. If an emergency drill happens, we will follow the indicated emergency plan. After it is over, I will assess how much time we have left for the lesson and what to do, following number 3 if necessary.


Data Collection Sheet:

Name: Student sorted the quadrilaterals under the correct labels. (yes/no)

Student could defend groupings of shapes. Anything interesting they said?

How many did they group correctly in the final sort? Were they able to draw another example?

Student 1

Student 2

Student 3

Student 4

Student 5

Student 6

Student 7

Student 8

Student 9

Student 10

Student 11

Student 12

Student 13

Student 14

Student 15

Student 16

Student 17

Student 18

Student 19

Student 20

Student 21

Student 22



At least one right angle No right angles

All sides the same length At least one acute angle

Directions: Write the number of the quadrilateral in the Venn diagram where it belongs.


At least one set of parallel sides At least one obtuse angle

All sides the same length At least one obtuse angle

At least one right angle

Directions: Write the number of the quadrilateral in the Venn diagram where it belongs.

Final Sort: Glue the shapes into the categories they belong to. When done, draw another example of each quadrilateral.

Trapezoids:

Parallelograms:

Rhombuses:

Rectangles:

Squares:

Quadrilaterals:


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