Mid Valley Third Grade Team

Geometry Transformations

Objective/Goal:

  • Identify common three-dimensional geometric objects: cubes, prisms, spheres, pyramids, cones, and cylinders
  • Identify line and rotational symmetry
  • Identify and describe the results of performing reflections, rotations and translations

Materials: computer, PowerPoint, document cameras, projector

Anticipatory Set: We’ve been learning about shapes and transformations. Today we’re going to make a slide show that will help others learn about all the geometry we have learned in third grade.

The class brainstormed the geometry words that they wanted to include. (Since the teacher had a math word wall, it was quite easy for students to include all of the expected vocabulary terms for third grade.

Instruction/Guided Practice:

  • Review how to open the PowerPoint application and create a slide in PowerPoint.
  • Students learned how to draw shapes using the drawing toolbar options.
  • Students created a page of shapes. Here is a student example:

After inserting each shape, students inserted a text box and labeled the shape. They included the geometry words brainstormed by the class that could be constructed using the draw tools.

  • Students then inserted another slide.

On this slide, students began to show the transformations in geometry—translate (slide), reflect (flip), and rotate (turn). Here are examples of those slides:

Some students even figured out to create background templates, use textures, word art and other features to create slides.

The last part was creating examples of the different geometry terms. Students chose several to include. Some students used every single word from the brainstorm list and then linked their slides together to create a glossary-type page that people could click on a word and then see an example of that math.

Here is an example of the index page.

On each page that connected, she then included a home button to get back to the start of the show or an index button that would lead back to the index.

When students created all of the slides, they then created a title page and added transitions between slides. Each student displayed his or her show for the class using the presenter. Students loved seeing others’ ideas and then asked to learn special effects from each other.

Students from this classroom then taught students from another third grade class, including the teacher. (The student came in at recess to ‘tutor’ the teacher in using the PowerPoint program.)

Assessment: For an assessment, students created their own whole graphs with the collected data and wrote a reflection about the process.

Closure: Have students review and share some strategies and new discoveries about:

using Word to create a ballot (table)

 using Excel to create graphs

using the document camera to teach or instruct others

why collecting data is powerful and helpful