WHAT IS THIS? A LESSON ON EXPLORING SHAPES? YOU MEAN GEOMETRY IN A PRESCHOOL?

 

Any preschool classroom without tangram puzzles is a bore.  The amount of learning that children can gain from it is endless.  Recently, my colleague and I went on a strike when a leader asked, “Why do I see pattern blocks at your learning centre all year around?  Children will get bored you know…” I was telling myself, “Hmm.. actually, a simple and boring tool as such can create wonders….”.

Call us outdated or inflexible; these are objects that are precious to my K2 children.  So, when I attempted to remove it, I received a lot of disapproval and unhappy grunting.  Of course, I asked them, “It’s not fun to keep old stuff…” and one boy replied, “But pattern blocks can be used everywhere!  Can use for playing blocks, can make puzzles, can make things, can use for drawing, can use for art!  Whyyyyy?”

So, in the end, they won of course.  His reply sums up preschool learning; the path for life-long learning.   “Geometry”, a ‘fancy’ name for learning about properties and dynamics of space, shape, size and proportions; that can be applied to practical applications in life.    That’s what we did in class today; forming congruent shapes through “PLAY”. 

 

Similarly, playing with objects as such, trains children’s mind, hands and senses to understand these properties which lays the foundation for primary school learning.  This can happen with “PLAY! PLAY! PLAY!”; purposeful and meaningful play.  The emphasis therefore, is on creating familiarity with the basic concepts.

 

"Rather than to schoolify preschool, we must focus on what would be relevant to teach at that stage.  Education is a life long journey, not a short sprint."

                              - Minister for Education, Heng Swee Kiat, MOE Workplan Seminar 201

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are some tips for teaching young children about the properties of shapes.

 Building Knowledge of Shapes

Begin by helping children build a basic knowledge of shapes. Point out all the circles around you, such as plates or cans.  Naming the shapes in their environment is important. 

Analyzing Shapes

Next, involve children in analyzing objects and pictures in their environment by identifying their basic shapes. For example, they might:

·         Find circles in picture books

·         Go on a "shape hunt" and find all the rectangles in the classroom

·         Look for shapes such as triangles or squares that you have hidden all around a room  When you are teaching about shapes that are not as numerous in most environments, such as triangles or rhombuses (diamonds), you can make copies out of cardboard or construction paper.  Make sure you make different shapes and sizes. Children learn limited ideas about shapes unless we show them a variety of examples.

 Supporting Visual Memory

The next step is to build children's visual memory of pictures and shapes. For example,  show a child a very simple picture, such as a line drawing, for only two or three seconds. Then cover it and ask the child to describe it. Move to more complicated pictures as the child's ability increases.

Continue to play this "flash" game with variations. For example, show a child one of three drawings that are very simple for two seconds. Then mix all three up and let the child find the one that you showed. Later, when you have worked with several shapes, and combinations of shapes, this can be fun and challenging: the child might have to remember if she saw a triangle inside a circle or a circle inside a triangle.

 Combining Shapes

As soon as you have worked with several shapes, combine these shapes in your activities. For example, after you have studied horizontal and vertical lines, examine pictures with children, such as city scenes, and invite them to find all the horizontal and vertical lines they can. Talk about the vertical and horizontal lines in your classroom, and how they combine to make different shapes and objects.

 Reproducing Shapes and Combinations of Shapes

After building children's knowledge of shapes and combinations of shapes, encourage them to reproduce them. For example, show a child a square you made with pattern blocks or pipe cleaners. Then, challenge the child to copy the shape.

 Creating with Shapes

Children should use the shapes you are working with to make their own designs and pictures. Soon after reproducing shapes, encourage children to invent their own ways of using the shape to make designs with pipe cleaners, buildings with blocks, and pictures with crayons.

Supply children with a combination of different materials, such as small blocks, pipe cleaners, and paint. Remind children of the shapes you have explored. Then, give them the opportunity to use the materials to create the shapes in their own ways.

Different materials encourage children to think about the shape in different ways. To make a square, you have to choose the correct number of blocks (four equal lengths). Using pipe cleaners, you have to bend them "just right" to make the square corners.

 

A football tossed into the air

Cool isnt’t it! Just look at what's behind children's  thinking.  Done by a K2 girl.