Second Grade Math

Second graders have been exploring the features of two-dimensional and three-dimensional shapes.  We have been sorting polygons based on the number of sides and learning about their names.  Next, we sorted our four-sided shapes (quadrilaterals) and used a square tile to figure out if they had any right angles.  We determined that rectangles, including squares, have four sides and four right angles.

It has been is fun to look around our classroom and notice all of the 2-D and 3-D shapes that surround us every day.  The best part, however, was when I asked the class if they would like some of my 6-sided crackers.  They happily joined in eating these hexagons and then began to notice their own snack shapes.  Some kids had crackers that were circles, triangles, rectangles, and squares.  We also noticed that many of our snack containers and lunch boxes were cylinders and rectangular prisms.  

We worked on filling larger shapes with different numbers of pattern block shapes.  As we worked, we discussed the ratios, such as how a triangle is half of a rhombus and that it takes six triangle pattern blocks to fill a hexagon.

Another day, we played a sorting game with three-dimensional shapes.  Students were given a rectangular or triangular prism and had to look closely to describe its attributes.  Then, they picked an attribute to name when was their turn and the rest of us had to decide whether our shapes matched or didn't match according to the attribute.  We also had fun building with geoblocks and drawing our 3-D sculptures.

As you can probably imagine, we have learned a lot of new vocabulary words as part of our geometry unit, including polygons, angles, vertices, edges, and faces.  We also learned the names for polygons with various numbers of sides, such as triangles, quadrilaterals, pentagons, hexagons, and octagons.