Lesson plan
Shapes and Shadows
Learning Objectives
Students will be able to identify the shapes square, rectangle, and triangle.
The adjustment to the whole group lesson is a modification to differentiate for children who are English learners.
Introduction
(5 minutes)
- Gather your students at the group area where you have set up the projector.
- Start with a simple object that the children can easily identify and make a shadow with it. Have your students identify it.
- Show your students the object. Identify it verbally and visually and then place it on the projector again.
Explicit Instruction/Teacher modeling
(5 minutes)- Tell your students that you will be identifying shapes like you did with the object that made the shadow.
- Show the students some of the different shapes and identify them as a group.
Guided Practice
(5 minutes)- Review the qualities of the shapes. For example: "A square has four sides that are the same size."
- Place a shape on the shadow board and have students identify it.
Independent working time
(15 minutes)- Have students interact with the shapes and shadows.
- Students may construct creations with the shapes (for example, a house with a square and a triangle on top).
- Encourage students to work with a partner and identify the shapes they are using in their figures.
Differentiation
Support:
- Have struggling students match different shapes that you traced onto a transparency as a review activity.
Enrichment:
- Encourage advanced students to work with and identify 3D shapes, such as cylinders, cubes, and pyramids.
Assessment
(5 minutes)- Have students identify shapes as you point to them.
- Have students complete one or more of the following worksheets: Shape Jumble, Shapes 'n' Sizes, or Tracing Basic Shapes.
- Collect the worksheets and review them later to assess students' understanding of the lesson content.
Review and closing
(15 minutes)- Have students work collaboratively on a class mural by gluing the shapes onto the poster paper.
- Allow volunteers to label the shapes.
Related Guided Lesson
Based on your interest in Shapes and Shadows.
My Shadow
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