3-D Scavenger Hunt

Explicit Instruction/Teacher modeling

• Put students in small groups and pass out a copy of the Vocabulary Cards worksheet to each student.
• Project the Vocabulary Cards worksheet on the whiteboard and read through the student-friendly definitions. Pause after you introduce the first shape and model how to use the sentence frame below to come up with another object that you've seen at school or at home that resembles the shape:
  • ____ (insert shape name) also reminds me of a ____ because ____.
• Explain to the students that you want them to think about another example of each of the shapes on the vocabulary cards. Say, "Look around the classroom and think back to your house. What shapes have you seen that remind you of a ____ (e.g. cone, rectangular prism, square-based pyramid)?"
• Instruct students to think-pair-share their ideas with a partner after you read each shape's definition and show the corresponding visual.
• Explain to the students that today they will be going on a scavenger hunt to find examples of 3-D shapes in their classroom!

Guided Practice

• Display the examples of 3-D shape models so students can see them.
• Play the "Faces, Vertices, and Edges" Song for the students.
• Have students think-pair-share with an elbow partner one thing they learned from listening to the song. Provide sentence stems, such as:
  • I learned that a(n) ____ (attribute) is a ____.
• Project the 3-D Scavenger Hunt Activity on the whiteboard. Hold up the 3-D cube model so all students are able to see.
• Complete the example problem with the class. Use the visual on your cube vocabulary card to complete Real-World Example #1 on the worksheet. Next, ask a student volunteer to find an object in the room that resembles a cube. Draw a picture of the object under Real-World Example #2. Next, ask a student to come up to the front of the room to help you count the faces, vertices, and edges on the 3-D cube model. Fill in the correct information on the worksheet.

Group work time

• Pass out the 3-D Scavenger Hunt Activity to each student. Keep students in their partnerships and explain that first they will use their vocabulary cards to fill in Real-World Example #1 on their worksheets. Next, they will look around the classroom to find example objects for the shape. Finally, they will count the shape's faces, vertices, and edges.
• Elaborate that it's important for partnerships to work together as they fill out their worksheets. If students disagree with their partner, they need to explain why. Write sentence stems/frames on the whiteboard and model completing them prior to letting students begin their scavenger hunts. Example sentence stems/frames include:
  • I agree that ____ (object) is a ____ because ____.
  • I disagree that ____ (object) is a ____ because ____.
• Rotate around the classroom as students are completing their scavenger hunts and observe student discussions and choices.