Shape Activities

Goals Included:

· Math: Shape Identification, Counting & Comparing, Pattern Making

· Literacy: Story Comprehension & Story Making

· Fine Motor Development

· Artistic Expression

1. Watch Ms. Laurel read Circus Shapes, by Stuart Murphy:

· Go on a Shape Hunt! Print the Shape Hunt sheet provided. Ms. Laurel provides instructions at the end of the video, Circus Shapes. Have your child write a tally mark each time they find a shape in an object in your home/backyard. (Ex: They could look at a pot from above to see a circle).

· After the hunt, have your child count their tally marks to see which shape you have the most of. Write the numbers after counting.

2. Watch Ms. Laurel read Elmer, by David McKee.

· Make your own Elmer-inspired Elephant!

Print the Elephant coloring pages provided (2 pages on one document). One elephant has square markings like the character in the book. They can color it to look like Elmer. Another elephant is blank for your child to fill in with shapes and design of their choosing.

3. Make Shape Artwork: Pre-Cut out different shapes for your child (colored paper, cut outs from magazines/junk mail). Give them a whole piece of paper, glue stick and their pre-cut shapes. Challenge them to create objects or animals using just the shapes.

· Ask your child to tell you a story about the character they just created. Write their story for them next to their artwork.

4. Create Shapes using Playdoh- Choose a different method each day!

· Shape Lines: Have your child start by creating “snakes” with their playdoh. They then can build their shapes remembering how many lines are used to create the shape (ex: a triangle has three sides, so you will need three snakes to build your triangle).

· Cut out Shapes: Give the students a rolling pin and pizza cutter or butter knife. Have them roll out their playdoh and then cut the lines to create their shapes.

· Build Shapes: Give your child toothpicks or equal length pieces of straws to build their shapes. Make small balls of playdoh to connect each toothpick at each corner.

· Press Shapes: Have your child hunt for objects they can press into the playdoh (don’t use anything made of fabric) to create different shaped indents

5. Make a pattern using pre-cut shapes or by drawing the shapes. The younger students are working on making two-variable patterns (circle, square; circle, square; circle, square). Older students should be making patterns using 3 or 4 variables.

6. Print Shape Name Tracer. Have your child trace the shape’s names and practice free-writing the words.

Additional Shape Themed Books read by Ms. Laurel:

Put Me in the Zoo

A Bad Case of the Stripes

Calendar:

Print the April Calendar Tracer OR the April Calendar Fill-In Page. Have your students either trace or free-write the numbers into the month of April. They can cross out each day to help keep track of what day of the week it is!

· Daily questions:

· “What week day will it be tomorrow?”

· “What date will it be tomorrow?” (practicing ordinal counting, such as “the 4^th”)