Polygons

This week we're starting my favorite unit in math- geometry! We'll be learning about polygons and polyhedrons, congruent figures, and lines and angles.

I usually start this unit with a read aloud of The Greedy Triangle by Marilyn Burns to build schema and review what they already know about polygons. My friends will identify the polygons that the triangle becomes in the story and we'll discuss real world examples of each kind of polygon. In the past I've had then create the polygons on geoboards. (After moving around so much, these seem to have disappeared along the way.)

First, we'll get into comparing similar and congruent figures.  We'll start with taking notes and cutting out figures for our math notebooks. We'll discuss the difference between similar and congruent figures.  In teams, they'll be given samples of polygons and will have to determine which polygons are congruent and explain why.

Next, we'll really dig deeper into polygons- naming and labeling them based on # of sides and angles, comparing types of quadrilaterals, and naming types of triangles. The hardest thing for my kiddos has always been understanding quadrilateral relationships. I found a great visual that should help with this misunderstanding- check it out here!  Can't wait to try it out!