2D and 3D Shapes
Lessons in this chapter
About 2D and 3D Shapes
Shapes Around Us takes the naming kindergarten did and adds properties, which is the shift from recognizing a shape to being able to describe it.
Identify Types of Plane Shapes and Identify Properties of Plane Shapes are deliberately two lessons. Naming a square is recognition. Saying it has four equal sides and four square corners is a property, and properties are what let a child identify a shape they have never seen drawn before.
Identify Solid Shapes and Identify Properties of Solid Shapes do the same for 3D. The properties here are faces, edges and vertices, and counting them on a real object is far more reliable than counting them on a drawing where half are hidden.
Make New Shapes closes the chapter by composing: two triangles make a square, two squares make a rectangle, six squares fold into a cube. This is the first time kids take shapes apart and rebuild them, which is the thinking behind area, nets and surface area in later grades.
Five lessons, each a worksheet opened in the page. Identify Properties of Plane Shapes and Identify Properties of Solid Shapes move past naming into counting sides, faces and corners, and Make New Shapes asks a child to build one shape out of others. All five are free and scored as you go.
Frequently asked questions
Five lessons. Identify Types of Plane Shapes and Identify Properties of Plane Shapes cover 2D shapes and what can be said about them, Identify Solid Shapes and Identify Properties of Solid Shapes do the same for the solids, and Make New Shapes asks children to compose: two triangles into a square, six squares into a cube. This is the Common Core's first grade Geometry domain (1.G).
A plane shape is flat and 2D, like a square drawn on paper. A solid shape is 3D and takes up space, like a cube you can pick up.
For plane shapes, the number of sides and corners and whether sides are equal. For solid shapes, the number of faces, edges and vertices.
A face is a flat surface, an edge is where two faces meet, and a vertex is a corner where edges meet. A cube has six faces, twelve edges and eight vertices.
Because properties need something to attach to. Once a child can name a square, asking what makes it one is a real question. Asked first, it is just vocabulary.
That shapes can be taken apart and rebuilt. Two triangles make a square, two squares make a rectangle. It is the thinking behind area and, later, nets and surface area.