Throughout the first week of school, we focus on introducing 2D shapes in our math block using these cute shape poems, songs, games, and other centers and activities. These shape poems are a catchy way to teach your students the names of the 2D shapes, as well as their attributes. We like to introduce one shape a day, then hang the shape poem posters up in our classroom to help my students remember the names and properties of each shape {and they refer to them all year long!}.
2D Shape Poems
My students always love to learn these poems! Each day, we learned about a new shape, recited the poem, and talked about the characteristic of each shape. I printed the posters two to a page so they printed out smaller than a regular sheet of paper. You can sign up HERE to get these posters sent straight to your inbox!
We just started with the most common 2D shapes, but I included all of these in case you need them all! The following posters are included: circle, square, rectangle, triangle, oval, rhombus/diamond, hexagon, pentagon, octagon, trapezoid, heart, and star.
After we learned about each shape, we hung the posters up in our classroom and we were able to refer back to them all year long!
The Shape Game
During our shape unit, we also like to play this super fun shape game!
I invite my students to come sit in a big circle {applying what we learned about circles!} and we review all of the shapes we have learned so far. Then I walk around the circle with a bag full of plastic shapes. Each student pulls out one shape and hides it in their lap. When I give them the go ahead, they turn to their neighbor and tell them what shape they pulled out. I like to wait to give my students think time, and they can also help their neighbor if they can’t remember the name of their shape. Then we play the Shape Game!
I sing the song and replace the underlined word with a different shape until every student has had a chance to stand up. Then we switch our shapes and play again until we’re out of time. The students always have a lot of fun playing and it’s an easy way to get them up and moving in a meaningful way.
You can read about what else we do during the first week of school in this blog post!
