{"id":3935,"date":"2015-07-22T14:38:30","date_gmt":"2015-07-22T22:38:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?p=3935"},"modified":"2015-07-22T14:38:30","modified_gmt":"2015-07-22T22:38:30","slug":"hook-them-with-geometry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?p=3935","title":{"rendered":"Hook Them with Geometry"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of my goals for the beginning of the new school year was to get my students excited about math from the moment they walked in the door. \u00a0To do this I started our math lessons in the area (no pun intended!) of geometry through hands-on activities and projects. \u00a0I discovered that through allowing kids to design, create, and build – something all kids love – I could sneak in important ideas in math.<\/p>\n

But the other thing I discovered was that it was a great way to build their mathematical confidence right from the very start. \u00a0And in a subject area where too many kids feel they aren’t “good” enough, this confidence can go a long way.<\/p>\n

So I’ve listed below some activities you can do to support the geometry standards. \u00a0Most of the activities require the use of manipulatives so you’ll want to make sure that you give students enough time to “free explore” before getting into the lesson. \u00a0This helps minimize distractions with the manipulatives when you’re ready to focus the lesson. \u00a0While students are exploring, walk around the room, ask questions about their work and talk about the math you see. But make it pretty informal.\u00a0\u00a0I love how you used two triangles to create a parallelogram!<\/em>\u00a0 And have students who are interested share their work with the class. \u00a0Again, you’re building that confidence which is so important for success in math.<\/p>\n

In addition to the ideas below, you can also tap into some of my Family Math Night Collaborative Projects<\/a> which lend themselves well to a classroom environment. \u00a0These are great hands-on STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, mathematics) projects. \u00a0If you have a buddy class, the older students can help the younger ones with their part of the project. \u00a0This is a great way for them to get to know each other while doing something fun and educational!<\/p>\n

Geoboards<\/a><\/p>\n

Activity 1 – Shapes:<\/strong> \u00a0Students create shapes according to the attributes you give them. \u00a0Ex: \u00a0Design a closed shape with exactly three sides<\/em>. \u00a0Share samples, compare different shapes and have the students come up with the definition for ‘triangle’.<\/p>\n

Activity 2 – Symmetry:<\/strong> \u00a0Put one geoband down the center of the geoboard. \u00a0Students create a design on one side of their geoboard. \u00a0Their partner needs to use the other side to create the mirror symmetry. \u00a0(You may need to start by limiting the number of geobands used.)<\/p>\n

Pattern Blocks<\/a><\/p>\n

Activity 1:<\/strong> \u00a0Students place pattern blocks inside hinged mirrors<\/a> then re-create what they see in the mirror.<\/p>\n

Activity 2:<\/strong> \u00a0Students create task cards<\/a> for each other to solve. \u00a0They do this by creating a design with the blocks on triangle paper<\/a>, tracing the perimeter and cutting it out. \u00a0They then re-trace just the perimeter on construction paper. \u00a0These are now the task cards. \u00a0As a variation, have students write clues such as the number of hexagons needed.<\/p>\n

Tangrams<\/a><\/p>\n

Activity 1:<\/strong> \u00a0Students use all 7 of their tangram pieces to fill in the design on their task cards (see Grandfather Tang’s Story<\/a> for task card ideas).<\/p>\n

Activity 2:<\/strong> \u00a0Students create polygons using a specific number of tangram pieces and fill in the chart<\/a>\u00a0(scroll down to ‘Tangrams’ and click on the banner link).<\/p>\n

Straws and Twist Ties*<\/p>\n

Activity:<\/strong> \u00a0Provide students with straws\u00a0and twist ties. \u00a0Let them build whatever they want. \u00a0Talk about the attributes of the shapes you see. \u00a0Discuss the difference between 2-D and 3-D shapes.<\/p>\n

*I like to use cocktail stirrers and cut up pipe cleaners if I can’t find twist ties.<\/p>\n

Another fun activity for 5th graders and up that reinforces the use of a protractor is my Hunting for Buried Treasure<\/a>\u00a0project. \u00a0I also have some videos of geometry projects on my YouTube Channel<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Finally, if you’re looking for a fun way to involve parents in some of these hands-on activities, there’s our Gellin’ with Geometry Family Math Night kit<\/a>. \u00a0Some of the activities described above are in the kit along with lots more fun stuff!<\/p>\n

I know many of you are already in your classrooms planning out the year. \u00a0Since we have to teach geometry anyway, why not switch it up a bit and start with something different? \u00a0I know your students will love it!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of my goals for the beginning of the new school year was to get my students excited about math from the moment they walked in the door. \u00a0To do this I started our math lessons in the area (no pun intended!) of geometry through hands-on activities and projects. \u00a0I discovered that through allowing kids to design, create, and build – something all kids love – I could sneak in important ideas in math. But the other thing I discovered…<\/p>\n

Read More Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[123,76,46,54,44,184,82],"tags":[102,81,63,21],"class_list":["post-3935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-activities","category-family-math-night-2","category-geometry","category-geometry-kids-and-math-3-5","category-kids-and-math","category-elementary-mathematics-2","category-nifty-numbers-kit","tag-common-core-state-standards","tag-family-math-night-activities","tag-geometry-2","tag-karyn-hodgens"],"yoast_head":"\nHook Them with Geometry - Karyn's Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?p=3935\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hook Them with Geometry - Karyn's Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"One of my goals for the beginning of the new school year was to get my students excited about math from the moment they walked in the door. \u00a0To do this I started our math lessons in the area (no pun intended!) of geometry through hands-on activities and projects. \u00a0I discovered that through allowing kids to design, create, and build – something all kids love – I could sneak in important ideas in math. But the other thing I discovered... Read More Read More\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?p=3935\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Karyn's Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/facebook.com\/familymathnight\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-07-22T22:38:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Karyn\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Karyn\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?p=3935#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?p=3935\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Karyn\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/8315e40892235d198a376ee61ef7f093\"},\"headline\":\"Hook Them with Geometry\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-07-22T22:38:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?p=3935\"},\"wordCount\":710,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Common Core State Standards\",\"family math night activities\",\"geometry\",\"karyn hodgens\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Activities\",\"Family Math Night\",\"Geometry\",\"Geometry\",\"Grades K-2\",\"Mathematics -The Elementary Years\",\"Nifty Numbers, Math Medley and Gellin' with Geometry Kits\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?p=3935#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?p=3935\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?p=3935\",\"name\":\"Hook Them with Geometry - Karyn's Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-07-22T22:38:30+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?p=3935#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?p=3935\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?p=3935#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Hook Them with Geometry\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Karyn's Blog\",\"description\":\"Ideas, Lessons, and Musings on Kids' Math\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Family Math Night\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/fmnlogo-large.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/fmnlogo-large.png\",\"width\":712,\"height\":206,\"caption\":\"Family Math Night\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/facebook.com\/familymathnight\",\"https:\/\/instagram.com\/familymathnight\",\"https:\/\/youtube.com\/familymathnight\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/8315e40892235d198a376ee61ef7f093\",\"name\":\"Karyn\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8822970fc0e614aab3c5814aa4e2f399870dbe6a34aca22991e0204c455f23c2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8822970fc0e614aab3c5814aa4e2f399870dbe6a34aca22991e0204c455f23c2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Karyn\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?author=2\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Hook Them with Geometry - Karyn's Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?p=3935","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Hook Them with Geometry - Karyn's Blog","og_description":"One of my goals for the beginning of the new school year was to get my students excited about math from the moment they walked in the door. \u00a0To do this I started our math lessons in the area (no pun intended!) of geometry through hands-on activities and projects. \u00a0I discovered that through allowing kids to design, create, and build – something all kids love – I could sneak in important ideas in math. But the other thing I discovered... Read More Read More","og_url":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?p=3935","og_site_name":"Karyn's Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/facebook.com\/familymathnight","article_published_time":"2015-07-22T22:38:30+00:00","author":"Karyn","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Karyn","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?p=3935#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?p=3935"},"author":{"name":"Karyn","@id":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/8315e40892235d198a376ee61ef7f093"},"headline":"Hook Them with Geometry","datePublished":"2015-07-22T22:38:30+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?p=3935"},"wordCount":710,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/#organization"},"keywords":["Common Core State Standards","family math night activities","geometry","karyn hodgens"],"articleSection":["Activities","Family Math Night","Geometry","Geometry","Grades K-2","Mathematics -The Elementary Years","Nifty Numbers, Math Medley and Gellin' with Geometry Kits"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?p=3935#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?p=3935","url":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?p=3935","name":"Hook Them with Geometry - Karyn's Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-07-22T22:38:30+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?p=3935#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?p=3935"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?p=3935#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Hook Them with Geometry"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/","name":"Karyn's Blog","description":"Ideas, Lessons, and Musings on Kids' Math","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Family Math Night","url":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/fmnlogo-large.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/fmnlogo-large.png","width":712,"height":206,"caption":"Family Math Night"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/facebook.com\/familymathnight","https:\/\/instagram.com\/familymathnight","https:\/\/youtube.com\/familymathnight"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/8315e40892235d198a376ee61ef7f093","name":"Karyn","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8822970fc0e614aab3c5814aa4e2f399870dbe6a34aca22991e0204c455f23c2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8822970fc0e614aab3c5814aa4e2f399870dbe6a34aca22991e0204c455f23c2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Karyn"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.familymathnight.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?author=2"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3935","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3935"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3935\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3936,"href":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3935\/revisions\/3936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}