Identity Properties

The hardest, worst page in the journal!!!! I have to show my sarcasm sign to my students after I say this.

 

 

Reason: To justify and give that "understood one" meaning and a mathematical reference.

 

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Commutative and Associative Properties

 

 

I have found that even after defining these two properties, students do not really recall or understand them. I added these four practice problems and focus the guiding questions on which method would be easiest or most appealing for mental math.

After we worked through the above problems, students were able to identify the properties when asked and even identified them when they were applied later on.

 

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Venn Diagrams: Quadrilaterals and other Polygons

These activities are AWESOME! I love the discussions that come up, the type of thinking that occurs, and the multiple possibilities there are.

These materials were provided through a workshop. I have yet to use them in my classroom, but I have no doubt these would be an excellent addition to the unit of quadrilaterals.

You start with four different Venn Diagrams.

 

 

 

You have a selection of set titles and shapes.

Here are some examples of the use of these materials.

(Don't forget about the universal set on the outside of the circles.)

 

 

Some suggested strategies/conversations:

• Have a student demonstrate their Venn Diagram.
• Have students justify their decisions.
• Start with with set titles and categorize shapes.
• Start with categorized shapes and determine the set title.
• Ask students where they started and how they categorized the shapes.

 

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Quadrilaterals Project From My Second Year

My secret.... Sometimes when I'm not sure where to start, I go to my students. My second year of teaching, I got to the unit of quadrilaterals and had no idea where to start. I decided to assign an exploratory based project to my honors class and see what turns up.

Objective: Students design and create a graphic organizer on the topic of quadrilaterals.

It began as a very open project and resulted in some unique results. I gave them several days to research, design, and produce their graphic organizer. We used a round robin strategy to evaluate and rate the graphic organizers on display. After this, the students were to choose a graphic organizer and complete one of their own for their journal containing the generalized information of the class.

 

The following are student products and may contain copyright violations and incorrect information.

1. Multi Shutter Fold within Large Shutter Fold

This was by far the most creative and the inspiration for the Properties of Quadrilaterals foldable I now use.

2. Basic Half Page Book Fold

3. Shutter Fold

4. Shutter Fold

5. Half Page Book with Post-it pop ups

This student is one that always makes me smile-unique, challenging, and brilliant. His graphic organizer turned into "what is not a quadrilateral" and I think he enjoyed exploring other shapes more. He used post-its to summarize/justify why the shape is not a quadrilateral.

6. Attribute Pop-up

This graphic organizer is great!! They drew individual quadrilaterals and added pop-ups for definitions. Not overly organized, but I still like it.

7. Trifold Computer Generated

8. Half Page Book

I don't know how I feel about the quadrilateral web, because it depicts a parallelogram as being a subcategory of a trapezoid. That was another gray area topic. It was a good conversation to listen to when the kids evaluated this graphic organizer.

9. Half Page Book

10. Layered Flip Book

 

I collected the above graphic organizers, combined some styles that I liked, and produced the following graphic organizer that I used this past year. I am always still working on facts and information. So if you have any critiques or suggestions, please comment.

 

 

 

The second half of the project consisted of an essay.

Options:

• Write two full pages analyzing the attributes and relationships of quadrilaterals.
• Depict the attributes and relationships of quadrilaterals using fiction.

I ended up with quite a bit of plagiarism which was a violation of the course syllabus and resulted in failing grades and reprimands.

However, the best result is the relationship a student told of a rectangle and a rhombus. "Rectangle and Rhombus stayed out late one night, and nine months later they had Square."

 

EXTRA: This is my first quadrilateral foldable experience from a journaling workshop.

 

 

 

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