Mathematics Grade 4
Strand: GEOMETRY (4.G.) Standard 4.G.1
Mathematics Grade 4
Strand: GEOMETRY (4.G.) Standard 4.G.2
A variety of activities to help students understand geometric terms, angles and shapes.
Additional Resources
Books
Geometry is more than just naming lines and shapes. Geometry also includes moving, combining, and comparing lines and shapes. Students need to explore kinesthetically in order to better understand different geometric ideas and concepts.
Definitions:
- Line -- a straight path continuing without end in both directions.
- Point -- an exact location in space represented by a dot.
- Line segment -- a part of a line with two endpoints.
- Ray -- a part of a line that has one endpoint and goes on forever in one direction.
- Horizontal line -- a line that is parallel to the horizon. A horizontal line is straight across.
- Vertical lines -- a line that has right angles to the horizon. A vertical line is straight up and down.
- Intersecting lines -- lines that meet or cross at one point.
- Parallel lines - lines in the same plane that are always the same distance apart - that do not cross.
- Angle -- formed by two rays or two line segments with a common end point.
- Right angle -- an angle that forms a square corner--measures exactly 90 degrees.
- Obtuse angle -- an angle with a measure greater than 90o and less than 180 degrees.
- Acute angle -- an angle with a measure less than 90o.
- Polygon -- a closed plane figure made by three or more line segments.
- Quadrilateral- a four-sided polygon with four sides.
- Pentagon -- a polygon with five equal sides
- Hexagon -- a polygon with six equal sides
- Octagon -- a polygon with eight equal sides
- Parallelogram -- a quadrilateral with two pairs of parallel and congruent sides.
- Similar -- same shape -- not necessarily the same size
- Congruent -- having exactly the same size and shape.
3. Reason mathematically
4. Communicate mathematically
5. Make mathematical connections
Invitation to Learn
Invite students to come to the floor. Demonstrate to the students each vocabulary word with your body and have students mirror the body positions associated with each geometric term.
Show students what a "right angle" looks like with both arms (in several different ways--going out to the right and other hand down-- top right, top left, bottom right, bottom left.
Have the students stand and play Geometry Says (Simon Says): with the geometric terms. When a student gets one wrong, they sit down. The last student standing is the winner. You may want to do this in pairs or triads to give students with the most need, practice partners to work through the experience.
An optional way to assess students' knowledge is to place students into small groups and give a point to the first group that has all the students with the correct position. Or the students as a team have to show the geometric term (standing, connecting arms).
Instructional Procedures
- Polygon -- a closed figure with three or more sides made up of line segments.
- Quadrilateral- a polygon that has four sides.
- Pentagon -- a polygon with a five equal sides.
- Hexagon -- a polygon with six equal sides.
- Octagon -- a polygon with eight equal sides.
- Parallelogram -- a quadrilateral with exactly two pairs of parallel and thereby also having two pairs of congruent sides.
Curriculum Extensions/Adaptations/ Integration
Line segment star art: You will need white art paper, pencil, ruler, colored pencils, scissors, and contrasting colored paper to mount finished design.
Family Connections
Research Basis
Clements, D. H., & McMillen, S. (1996). Rethinking concrete manipulatives [Electronic Verson]. Teaching Children Mathematics, 2(5), 270-279. Retrieved July 5, 2004, from Ebscohost database.
This article discusses what mathematical manipulatives are and how they might be used effectively. It also gives definitions of types of manipulatives and how to select and use them effectively.
Pickreign, J. (2000). Alignment of elementary geometry curriculum with current standards [Electronic version]. School Science & Mathematics, 100(1), 243-251. Retreived April 24, 2004, from Ebscohost database.
The subject of geometry in the curriculum is an area of concern among educators. This article identifies models for acquisition of geometry with concrete modeling, pictorial modeling, real-world situation, oral language, and symbolic representations.