Geometry Games for 5th Graders

Geometrical knowledge connects mathematics to the physical world. At an infantile stage, humans start observing and classifying shapes on the basis of the sizes and colors of the shapes. Geometry and spatial understanding are as important as possessing knowledge of numbers. It proves beneficial in understanding concepts like graphs and maps. It also helps in understanding number and arithmetic skills. Hence, geometry plays an important role across all grade levels and across various fields.

Learning Geometry through Games

Teaching a mathematical concept through cool math games have proved beneficial in many ways. Math games give kids an opportunity to explore their newly learned skills. The engaging math games encourage kids to deepen their mathematical understanding by continuously practicing their skills. Therefore, math learning games have become an inevitable part of every classroom.

 Math games have the potential to develop familiarity with the number system in kids. This is achieved by engaging them into interactive computational practice. The mathematical field like geometry can be made fun and interesting when learnt through games. Geometry is a field that connects well with the physical world. Playing geometry games that connects math to the real world can help in achieve deeper understanding of geometrical concepts among kids.  

Progression of Geometry with Grades

The progression of Geometry according to two categories:

• Geometric Shapes and their attributes: The kids start observing shapes around them much before their preschool. At pre k and kindergarten levels, the kids distinguish shapes acecording to non-defining attributes like colors and size.

With formal knowledge in grade 1, the kids develop skills to reason with shapes and the attributes. They analyze shapes according to defining attributes like the number of sides.

In grade 2, the kids learn to identify shapes like hexagons, pentagons, cubes, and quadrilaterals. They develop skills to partition rectangles into equal parts. They develop an understanding of math terms like halves of, thirds and quarters.

In grade 3, the kids develop skills to classify shapes according to their attributes. They understand quadrilaterals as a figure with four sides and four edges.

In grade 4, the kids learn features of points, lines, line segments, and rays. They also learn about the parallel and perpendicular lines. They identify geometry angles in 2d figures and learn about the different sizes of angles. They also learn about the different types of triangles like equilateral, isosceles and scalene triangles. The kids also learn about line of symmetry and identify line symmetric figures.

In grade 5, the kids develop a deeper understanding of two-dimensional shapes. For example, they recognize that the diagonals of a rhombus are perpendicular bisectors of each other. Besides shapes, the kids get introduced to coordinate geometry plane. They learn to locate points on the coordinate plane.

• Geometric measurement: In grade 3, the kids develop skills and recognize the area as a 2D shapes’ attribute. They understand that a square with side length 1 unit has an area of 1 square unit. They also understand that a plane figure that can be covered with n unit squares without overlaps or gaps have an area of n square units. The kids learn to measure areas by counting unit squares. They learn the units of area measurement like square cm, square ft, square inches. They relate area to the operation of addition and multiplication. They also solve real world problems relating to calculating the perimeter of polygons or find side length when the perimeter is given.

In grade 4: The kids start recognizing angles as the common endpoint of two rays. They understand the concept of angle measurement. They begin by measuring angles with reference to a circle. They place the common endpoint of the two rays on the center of the circle and measure the fraction of the circular arc between the two rays. They learn that the angle that turns through n one-degree angles measure n degrees. They also learn to measure angles using a protractor. The kids recognize angle measure as additive. They solve real-world problems involving addition and subtraction of angles to find unknown angles on a diagram.

In grade 5: The kids recognize volume as an attribute of 3D geometric shapes. They understand cube with side length 1 unit is called as a “unit cube”.  They measure the volume of a shape by counting unit cubes that can be fitted in the shapes without overlapping or gaps. The kids solve real world problems by relating volume to the operations of addition and multiplication. They recognize volume as an additive and find the area of two non-overlapping right rectangular prisms. They also learn the units of volume measurement like cubic cm, cubic ft, and other improvised units.

Overview of Grade 5 Geometry

1. Geometric shapes and their attributes

Hierarchy of two-dimensional figures: Kids extend their understanding of two-dimensional figures and classify them. Based on the geometric properties, they arrange two-dimensional figures in a hierarchy. For example, they understand that square has all properties of rectangles and squares. They also identify that the diagonals of a rhombus bisect each other at a right angle.

Introduction to Coordinate System: The kids are introduced to coordinate system in grade 5. They extend their understanding of perpendicular lines. They recognize coordinate plane as a plane with a pair of perpendicular number lines, called axis. The intersection point of these lines is arranged to overlap at 0. A point is located on the coordinate plane by its ordered pair called coordinates. For example, the coordinates of a point A can be represented by A (3, 5). The kids understand that the first number of the coordinates represent horizontal movement on the plane and the second number represents the vertical movement on the plane. They learn the geometric terms associated with the coordinate planes. They learn terms like x-axis, y-axis, x-coordinates, and y-coordinates.

The kids learn to locate points on the coordinate plane based on these understandings. Initially, the kids may find it difficult to understand two different directions while plotting. However, with practice, they may achieve fluency in locating points on the coordinate plane. The kids solve real world mathematical problems based on their understanding of coordinate plane.

2. Geometric Measurement

In grade 5, kids develop an in-depth understanding of shape composition and decomposition. They also develop a deeper understanding of spatial shaping of rectangular arrays. These understandings form a base for developing skills required for the learning concepts like area, volume, and coordinate plane. For instance, finding the area of a shape requires knowledge of shape composition and decomposition.

For the calculating the area of this composite shape, the kids need to decompose the shape into two rectangular regions.  

Understanding concepts of Volume: The kids recognize volume as an attribute of 3D geometric shapes. They develop an understanding of volume by manipulating several cubic units. Concrete manipulation of solids enables kids to develop volume geometry formulas. They explore and find the volume of a right rectangular prism by counting unit cubes. They apply formulas like V = b × h and V = l × w × h to determine volumes of right rectangular prisms.

The kids also extend their understanding of 2D figures. They apply their understanding of area to calculate the volume of figures with fractional side lengths.

They apply their previous understanding of composing and decomposing figures and decompose layers of the right rectangular prism to get a deeper understanding. They apply their multiplication knowledge to calculate volume. They understand that a cube with sides 1-unit length is called one cubic unit or unit cube. They also understand that a solid figure that is packed with n unit cubes without overlaps or gaps is said to have a volume of n cubic units. They learn to calculate volumes in cubic cm, cubic ft, cubic in and other improvised units.