Geometry Games for 1st Graders

Overview: Elementary Geometry Learning

Mathematical thinking begins in children much before it is taught in school. Humans find shapes, designs, and patterns attractive right from their childhood.  This observation is reinforced by giving toys, colored pictures and shapes to kids. Infants get fascinated by these objects before they grasp or manipulate these objects. Later, these manipulations provide them hands on learning to develop mathematical skills. These objects and designs form the basis of the math geometry.

The geometry common core math standards include an understanding of shapes. The kids are able to recognize and appreciate geometric shapes around them. They develop geometrical problem-solving skills and reasoning. They apply geometric thinking in other mathematics domains. For instance, they measure area and perimeter of a rectangle. They learn to apply triangle area formula. They also create geometric patterns.

Progression of Geometry with Grades

Kindergarten: In kindergarten, children learn to identify and describe two- and three-dimensional shapes. They are able to identify the geometric shapes and names regardless of their orientation. They analyze and compare shapes of different sizes and attributes. They also learn to compose simple shapes to form larger shapes.

Grade 1: In this grade, children develop skills to reason with shapes and the attributes. They understand basic geometric shapes definition. They analyze shapes from their defining attributes, like number of sides. They compose two dimensional and three-dimensional shapes to make larger composite shapes. They learn to partition rectangles and circle into equal shares. They learn the vocabulary related to partitionings like quarters, fourths and halves.

Grade 2: The kids learn to identify and draw shapes according to the given attributes. They learn to draw shapes as per the specified number of faces or geometry angles. They are able to identify cubes, pentagons, hexagons, quadrilateral, and triangles. They also learn to partition a rectangle into same-size squares. They then count these squares to determine the size of the rectangle. The kids learn to partition rectangles and circles into two to four equal shares. They describe the partitioned shapes using the words like half of, third of, thirds, halves. They understand the wholes as four fourths, three-thirds and two halves.

Grade 3: The kids understand the relationship between shapes according to their attributes. They learn about the larger category shapes with shared attributes. For example, the shapes with four sides are called quadrilaterals. They partition shapes into equal parts. They learn to express the area of each part as a unit fraction of the whole. For example, they partition a shape into three equal parts and describe the area of each part as 1/3 of the area of the whole.

Grade 4: The kids learn about points, line segments, lines, rays and types of angles. The kids identify these in two-dimensional figures. They also learn about parallel and perpendicular lines. They classify the figures on the basis of the parallel or perpendicular lines. They also classify the figures according to the angles of specified size. Also, they learn about the different triangles in geometry. The kids also learn about line of symmetry for a two-dimensional figure. They draw lines of symmetry and identify line-symmetric figures.

Grade 5: The kids are introduced to coordinate geometry. They learn to graph points on a coordinate system consisting of perpendicular number lines called axes. They represent mathematical problems by graphing points on the geometry plane. They also learn to classify simple geometry figures into categories and sub-categories on the basis of the geometric properties. For example, all squares and rectangles are quadrilaterals. All squares are rectangles. They learn to classify two-dimensional shapes in a hierarchy. 

Overview of Grade 1 Geometry

In kindergarten, the kids have learned about circle, squares, rectangles, hexagon, and triangles. They expand their vocabulary to include rhombus and trapezoid in grade 1. Along with sphere, cube, and cylinder learned in kindergarten, kids learn about rectangular prism and cone.

• Identify Shapes: In grade 1, the children learn to identify concrete examples of two-dimensional shapes and three-dimensional shapes. They are able to identify shapes of any form or orientation. They relate 3D geometric shapes with real life examples. For example, they relate a metal can with the cylinder.

The children learn about the term attributes. They are able to identify the defining attributes of a shape. This concept is best taught through interactive activities. For instance, the kids can be asked to create a triangle using straws. Through this activity, they would remember triangle as a three-sided shape. They would describe triangle as a shape with three corners.

• Recognize Non-traditional Shapes: The children apply basic geometry knowledge to recognize a shape. For example, the kid may feel the shape below looks odd. But since it is a close three-sided figure, they recognize it as a triangle.

Sometimes, the children identify these shapes incorrectly. For example, they make think the following shapes are rectangles.

• Describe Shapes: The children learn to describe geometric properties of 2D shapes. At this stage, they may describe a shape incompletely. But gradually, they develop an understanding of geometric terms. They understand terms like faces, edges, and corners. They are able to describe significant attributes of the shapes. For example, they describe “A triangle has three sides.”

• Compose Shapes: The kids use their knowledge of attributes of shapes to form larger composite shapes. They make composite shapes like trapezoids, hexagons from triangles, squares, and rectangles. The kids learn that the same composite shape can be formed from different shapes. For example, a rectangle can be formed from multiple squares. A hexagon can be created using two trapezoids or six triangles.

• Decompose Shapes: The kids identify the hidden shapes within a large composite shape. They use tangrams to explore ways to form new shapes from composite shapes. They also identify that a new shape can be formed from a composite shape.

• Partition Shapes: The kids recognize that some shapes are made from equal and non-overlapping parts. They learn to partition shapes like rectangle and circle into parts. They identify these partitions as halves and quarters. The kids sort shapes that can be partitioned into equal parts and shapes that cannot. They learn terms like half, fourths and quarter. They also learn about the terms quarter-circle and half-circle which are named so because of their size.

Manipulatives for Learning Grade 1 Geometry

The geometric concepts can be learned in several ways. The geometric learning can be done through manipulatives, concrete objects, illustrations, and diagrams. For effective understanding, the kids should have the opportunity to manipulate solid models. The geometric learning should not merely be based on pictures and diagrams. The learning should encourage kids to represent their own mathematical ideas. This can be done using pictures and concrete models.

Some effective manipulative used for learning grade 1 geometry are:

• Geometric Solids: The kids find it easier to learn 2D shapes than 3D geometric shapes. One reason for this is that names of 3D shapes are used less often in day to day routine. Another reason is that in most classroom teachings the 3D geometric shapes are taught through drawings. Unfortunately, many kids cannot understand these 3D drawings. A drawing of a sphere looks like a circle. This makes it difficult to understand the difference between a sphere and a circle. Therefore, to teach geometric shapes 3D to the kids, geometric solids are great.

The kids can touch, hold and manipulate these objects. It gives them a clearer understanding of the attributes of the 3D geometric shapes.

• Tangrams: Tangrams can be used to teach kids about the spatial relationship. It is a Chinese puzzle consisting of 7 tans or shapes. The kids have to arrange these shapes to recreate a given shape. The rule of the puzzle requires all the shapes to be used without overlapping. Playing with tangrams help kids improve their spatial understanding. They also learn about spatial rotation skills and vocabulary associated with it. The kids also learn to calculate areas without learning the formulas.