Tuesday, March 08, 2005

We started our geometry unit yesterday... my favorite of the year. We always start by cutting tangrams and then using the tans to create shapes. WOW! I love this stuff so much... having the kids cut their own is a trial, no doubt, but we get through so much great vocabulary as we do it. squares, rectangles, parallelograms, trapezoids, similar, acute, obtuse, hypotenuse, etc... it is such a fun lesson for me and them, and they really pick up on it quickly. And I love their enthusiam for making the shapes, and their frustration when they can't.... and the groans, and moans of THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE!!! OH WAIT I GOT IT!! This is what it's all about :-)

2 comments:

traceofblistex said...

What grade do you teach?
-and-
What is a tangram?

cossondra said...

7th grade math and 6th grade technology
Tangrams are ancient Chinese puzzles - you cut them from a square. Great way to challenge kids problem solving abilities, learn about shapes, similarity, fractions, etc... Search at google for tangrams and you will find a variety of interactive online resources