Third Grade Geometry

Geometry is such a fun unit to teach, because it easily lends itself to hands-on activities. In my Third Grade Geometry Unit there is a major emphasis is quadrilaterals and the properties and features of quadrilaterals.

Like most geometry units, there is a heavy emphasis on vocabulary. In the unit, I included a vocabulary booklet, with all required key terms. You can print all of the vocabulary words or just the words you want to focus on. I like having students refer to the vocabulary books on a regular basis.

After I’ve taught the basic vocabulary of symmetry, angles, and lines, I begin going in-depth on types of polygons. I always begin with reading Grandfather Tang’s Journey, and I have students experiment building different shapes with tangrams. I encourage students to embrace the struggle in this activity, because even after teaching this lesson many years, I still can’t build all of the shapes. The purpose of the lesson is in the process and the exploration, not an end result.

I also like having students complete activity where they go on a Geometry Scavenger hunt. This always makes learning so much more relevant and memorable to students.

In one activity students draw irregular polygons, because it forces students to think outside the box and not to rely on traditional images they have memorized. Instead, students have to focus on the attributes of each shape.

In one activity, students make geometric observations, where they choose two shapes and list what the shapes have in common and the differences between the shapes. Once again, students are required to think about the properties of quadrilaterals, and I like that there is an element of choice in the assignment.

I also love this hierarchy of quadrilaterals graphic organizer, because it really is a complex concept for students. This allows students to see how shapes can have more than one name and which name is the most specific.

Students continuously review through geometry task cards (included in the unit) and other games such as geometry riddles.