Mental Mondays #14

This starter idea focusses on 2D Shape. In particular the properties of shape and the correct use of shape related vocabulary. Like most of our mental and oral starter ideas it can be used as a group or individual activity too.

It is related to the "Target Board" activity we explored in Mental Mondays #13

Here's how this one works. You show a grid of 30 numbered shapes:

Then ask children to write on mini-whiteboards the identification numbers that refer to particular shapes they can see on the grid, for example:

- A pentagon...

- A regular pentagon...

- A quadrilateral...

- A parallelogram...

- A shape with only one line of symmetry...

Clearly, the statements can be as complex or as simple as necessary. As we said in the description of our last Mental and Oral activity, the power that drives the learning here is in the discussions that the children have about what they are doing.

Many other potential statements can be created:

-  A hexagon with a right angle...

-  An octagon with only one line of symmetry...

-  Two pentagons where the identification numbers sum to 26...

And of course, the children could be encouraged to play their own version of "I'm thinking of a shape..."

The attached file is a large (1200 x 998) .jpg image of the 30 shapes, so you can use this as part of a PowerPoint, or display it directly on an IWB.

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