Teacher:

Matt Sabatowski (Mrs. Schermerhorn

Grade Level:
3
Length of Lesson: 1 hour

Subject Area: Math (Geometry)

Desired Results
Indiana Academic Standard(s)
3.G.2: Understand that shapes (e.g., rhombuses, rectangles, and others) may share
attributes (e.g., having four sides), and that the shared
attributes can define a larger category (e.g., quadrilaterals). Recognize and draw
rhombuses, rectangles, and squares as examples of
quadrilaterals. Recognize and draw examples of quadrilaterals that do not belong to any
of these subcategories.

Enduring Understandings

By simply splitting a large shape

up using line segments into
smaller shapes, these smaller
shapes can be rearranged to
make new shapes (ex. A triangle
can be cut out of a
parallelogram, applied to
opposite side, this makes a
rectangle)
In order to make these new
shapes, you will not add or
subtract any space that exists
within the first shape: you will
just rearrange it

Essential Question(s)
How can a certain shape be
transformed into another
shape without adding or
subtracting anything?
How can we divide up this
existing shape and move the
pieces around?

Knowledge and Skill Objectives

SWBAT divide large shapes into smaller shapes and move these smaller shapes
around into a different combination in order to find a new shape.
SWBAT understand that a shape can be made up of smaller shapes, and can be
modified as such.
Assessment Evidence

Reteaching worksheet with problems regarding the lesson 11-7 Making

New shapes will be presented in class
Worksheet involving 2 large parallelograms must be completed by using
foam shapes in order to create a combination that represents a
parallelogram
Learning Plan

Learning Activities

Name____________________________________ Date_______ Period____

Lesson Plan Evaluation & Teaching Reflection
Was the content worth knowing? Support your response.
I believe the content was worth knowing, as it was a new style of thinking for them. As opposed to
brute memorization and arithmetic, there were multiple right answers and it entirely involved
spatial awareness and geometry instead. A new way of thinking is always good to teach students,
so I believe that it was worth their time.

Describe how the activity was developmentally appropriate.

The activity, while being simple in concept (making a parallelogram out of smaller shapes), it was
definitely a creative exercise, as students tried to come up with unique ways to create the same
shape. This kind of abstract thinking is starting to develop around 3 rd grade, so I believe it was
developmentally appropriate.
Give an example of how you know the activity was interesting to the children.
The final part of the activity included people working in partners to create the parallelogram using
their foam shapes and showing their method on the projector. When it was time to share
examples, literally every group begged me to show theirs on the board, so I know that they were
passionate enough about it to prove to me that they did it right.
Describe how the activity included opportunities for the children to test their knowledge.
The final part of the activity was open-ended, as they employed the concept of making shapes out
of smaller shapes in an example where little direction was given. This testing of the concept was a
good way to test if students truly understood how to perform this task.
Describe a follow up activity that would build on concepts you have presented.
A follow up activity that would build on the concepts would be a similar-premise worksheet, but
instead of creating a set shape using whatever shapes you need, the concept would be flipped
how many different shapes can you make using a set number of shapes? This reversal of the
original concept would further test their ability to form shapes out of other shapes, and would

What behavior(s) did you observe while presenting the activity? What do you think caused the
behavior(s)?
I observed competitive behaviors arise naturally, as without any explicit prompting, they begun to
brainstorm together and race to see if they could get their shape done first. The kids get really
excited when they have a chance to share their answers with the class, so that reward
incentivized them to try and complete their answers by allowing them to be the first ones to share.
How did you involve the children in the closure of the activity?

Again, the closure of the activity was presenting the students answers in front of the class in order
to show the overall concept of there being multiple ways to arrange shapes in order to create
other shapes.
Describe what changes you would make and what you would keep the same if you presented the
activity again.
If I were to do this lesson again, the only thing that I think that I would change would be the
shapes on the worksheet that we completed at the end. On the worksheet, the only 2 shapes were
both parallelograms, one just being rotated 90 degrees. I would include different shapes, such as
trapezoids, triangles, or hexagons in order to further challenge the students and make them think
in multiple different ways.