Lesson 1

The purpose of this lesson is for students to use informal language to describe shapes and what they know about different shapes.

Students look for shapes in a picture book as well as a given image. They discuss what shapes they see and what they know about the shapes. This lesson is an opportunity to formatively assess the language students use to share what they know about shapes. In this lesson, there is no expectation that students will name shapes or discuss any specific attributes. Students initially understand shapes visually by connecting them to familiar objects that have the shape. Students may describe shapes as “That shape looks like a door” or “That plate is round.” 

Throughout this and the next several lessons, students develop language to describe shapes around them. They listen to one another and appreciate that there are different ways to describe the attributes of shapes (MP3, MP6).

• Gather materials from:
  • Picture Books, Stages 1-3
  • Bingo, Stages 1 and 2
  • Shake and Spill, Stages 1 and 2

Reflect on whose thinking was heard today. Reflect on whose thinking was not heard but could have enriched the conversations. What prompts or structures might better enable the latter to share their voices and reasoning?