Shapes - 2nd Grade

By the end of 2nd grade students should be able identify, draw, and tell the defining attributes of triangles, quadrilaterals, pentagons, hexagons and cubes. When studying quadrilaterals students should already know the names of squares, rectangles, rhombuses and trapezoids from 1st grade. The anchor chart below shows the specific attributes that 2nd grade students are expected to know at this age. At home your child can practice drawing and building these shapes with playdough, marshmallows, gumdrops, pretzels, pipe cleaners and more. Please be sure to challenge your child with some irregular shape examples. S/he can even go on shape hunts around your house, neighborhood or grocery store. When practicing, please have your child list the defining attributes. Finally, students in 2nd grade partition squares, rectangles and circles into two and four equal parts. They are expected to use precise math language, such as halves, fourths, a half of, and a fourth of, to describe the parts.