Suzy Circle

I’m Suzy Circle.
I’m happy as can be.
I go round and round.
Can you draw me?

Tommy Triangle

I’m Tommy Triangle
Look at me!
Count my sides
One, Two, Three.

Ricky Rectangle

Ricky Rectangle is my name.
My 4 sides are not the same.
2 are short and 2 are long.
Count my sides, come right along.
1,2,3,4.

Sammy Square

Sammy Square is my name.
My four sides are just the same.
Turn me around, I don’t care.
I’m always the same.
I’m Sammy Square.

Circle
(Tune: Did You Ever See a Lassie)

Have you ever seen a circle,
A circle, a circle?
Have you ever seen a circle,
Which goes 'round and "round?

It rolls this way and that way
And this way and that way.
Have you ever seen a circle
Which goes 'round and 'round?

Triangle
(Tune: Jingle Bells)

Triangles, triangles,
They have three corners.
Triangles, triangles,
They have three sides.

You can draw triangles
All 'round in the air.
It is fun to use your hands
And make them everywhere.

Rectangle
(Tune: Bingo)

There is a shape that has four sides
But it is not a square ... No!
It's a rectangle.
It's a rectangle.
It's a rectangle.
It is not a square ... No!

Two sides are long, two sides are short.
They are not the same ... No!
It's a rectangle.
It's a rectangle.
It's a rectangle.
The sides are not the same ... No!

Square
(Tune: Three Blind Mice)

One big square
One big square.
See how it's shaped.
See how it's shaped.
Four big corners all around
Four sides the same
And now I've found
I can see squares all over the town.
One big square
One big square

It Looked Like Spilt Milk
by Charles G. Snow
Big Book

Shapes, Shapes, Shapes
by Tana Hoban

Brown Rabbit's Shape Book
by Alan Baker

What is Round?
by Rebecca Kai Dotlich

When a Line Bends...
A Shape Begins
by Rhonda Gowler Greene

  Shared Reading 

    Begin by making predictions about the story. Take a picture walk in the book and tell what is happening in the story. Read the big book aloud to the students, allowing them to chime in when they know the text. Reread it again using an oral cloze procedure, leaving out words and having the students supply them. Model reading by pointing to the text. Focus on the following concepts of print: words tell the story, left to right and top to bottom progression, spacing between words, use of capitalization, use of punctuation, letter recognition, understand letter/sound correspondence, and developing vocabulary and comprehension. 

Introduce the book The Shape of Things by displaying shape blocks.  Ask the children to tell you what they see.  What are their experiences with bright colored shape blocks?  Before reading the story, let the children know that you will ask them to name the shapes that were in the story. 

  Guided Reading 

Mini lessons may include comprehension, story elements, phonemic awareness, or concepts of print.

Make two sets of cards with the words circle, square, triangle and rectangle.   Cut one set into individual letters while keeping the second set whole.   Encourage the children to match the individual letters to letters in the word using a pocket chart.
 

Discuss rhyming words.  Choose one set of rhyming words from the book and ask the children to add new ones.   (sail-tail-mail-rail-gail-fail)  Repeat with another set.
(sky-by-. . . .).

  Independent Reading 

The following books are appropriate for Browsing Boxes and Independent Reading:

Level A (Fountas & Pinnell)
Spots (Wright)
Balloons (Rigby)

Level B (Fountas & Pinnell)
Stripes (Wright)
What Do I See? (Wright)
Shapes (Rigby)
What Can You See? (Rigby)
What Has Spots? (Rigby)

Shared Writing/ Predictable Charts

During this activity each child completes a predictable sentence that the teacher writes on a chart. Sentences may be based on theme studies, or relate to other classroom activities. As the sentences are written, the teacher points out conventions of print such as capital letters, leaving spaces between words or punctuation. Make sure to add the student author's name at the end of the sentence.

A ____ is a (shape).

  Interactive Writing 

     During interactive writing the teacher and class, or small group, work together to create written text. The group agrees on what to write through discussion and negotiation. In order to produce the written words, the students articulate the sounds with the teacher and then write the letters and chunks of words that they hear. The teacher may fill in parts of words or whole words, depending upon the group's stage of writing development.  Interactive writing is used for creating stories, writing poems, the retelling of favorite literature, recipes, directions and lists. The pieces created by the students become a part of the classroom environment and are used for reading and rereading. The class may use the pieces for shared reading or may enjoy reading some independently.

Ask the children to recall the names of the shapes.  List on a chart  or white board by stretching the words to hear the "noisy" letters using interactive writing. 

  Independent Writing 

Using the format of It Looked Like Spilt Milk, encourage the children to look at a shape and think about what it could become.  (Ex. It looked like a circle but it was   an apple tree    .)  Make a class book titled, Kindergarten Shapes.  Laminate the book, if possible, and place in the class library.

  Triangular Numbers 

Triangular numbers are those numbers that can be formed by counting the number of objects used in making a triangle.

In this lesson, students build triangles using Unifix cubes or other suitable equipment. They note down the number of cubes it took to build each triangle, discuss patterns and make predictions

1) Ask the children to make these triangles using Unifix cubes or other suitable equipment. They should note down the number of cubes it took to build each triangle.

2) Discuss the numbers of cubes needed and explain that the number of cubes in each triangle is called a triangular number.

3) Ask them to look for any patterns in their work. How many cubes do they need to add to the bottom of each triangle to make it larger?

4) Is there a way of predicting how many cubes will be needed to build each triangle? How many cubes would be needed to make a triangle which has a base of 100 cubes?

5) You could also try the above activity, using triangles which only have sides (i.e. no middles). What is significant about the numbers in this case?

  Patterning 

Patterning is always fun...you can make a shape pattern and they can copy or they can create their own. Cut small shapes and ask each child to help sort the shapes by two attributes (shape and color).  Ask the children to choose 2 different shapes such as green triangles and purple circles.  Demonstrate how to make a ABABAB pattern across the top and bottom edges of a 8 x 11" white paper.

  Simon Says 

Place an assortment of shapes on the floor and then, call "Simon says, stand on a circle".  Check for correct response.  Repeat with each shape.  For those who need a visual cue, show a picture, if necessary.

  Surprise Table Rubbing 

1. Spread flat textured surprise items (shapes) on the table. Sort and arrange the items in any design. Feel free to move them around over and over before selecting one design.
2. Carefully (don't cause to much "wind" and blow them all away!) lower the large sheet of  butcher paper over the surprises and cover them
3. Tape the corner and other edges of the paper to the table with masking tape to prevent slipping (and peeking)
4. Invite children to the Surprise Table .
5. With peeled crayons held on their sides, begin rubbing the paper and observe how surprises appear from the rubbing. Feel the paper with hands to be sure all the hidden surprises have been exposed by the crayons rubbings.

  Shape Collages  

Cut lots of shapes out of different colored construction paper. Have each child make a picture using the shapes. Then when the glue has dried, have them count and record the number of squares, rectangles, triangles, circles etc.

  Shape Pizza 

In advance, cut the cardboard circles to size (they must fit into a pizza box). Also mix the red paint and glue to make pizza "sauce" and cut out shape toppings from construction paper.You can cut the construction paper shape toppings out in advance or assist as children cut out their own.
Talk about which shapes resemble various pizza toppings.
Have the children roll lengths of clay and press it around the rim of the cardboard to form a crust.
Tell the children to paint inside the rim with the paint/glue mixture
Have them add their choice of "toppings" (the following shapes cut from construction paper):
yellow triangles-pineapple
pink squares-ham
black ovals-black olives
red circles-pepperoni
green ovals-green olives
small white rectangles-onion
Toppings should stick when placed on top of paint/glue mixture. As the children put on the toppings, talk about their different shapes.
They can store their pizzas in pizza boxes when they have dried.

  Making Shapes 

This a wonderful problem solving activity with lots of language.  Take a piece of 1 inch wide colored elastic, about 3 yards long, and sew it together to make a circle.  Have the children sit in a circle.  Place the elastic in a pile in the center.  Ask one child to reach out and take hold of the elastic.  Ask another on the other side, etc. until you have made a triangle.  Someone will shout out that it is a triangle. What else could we make?  What would we need to do for that to happen?  Who should be the one to take another hold so that we have a square? etc.

  Graham Cracker Faces  
 
Spread frosting on a graham cracker (rectangle).  Add candy corn (triangles) for eyes, chex cereal (square) for a nose, and cheerios (circle) for mouth.

  Shape Hats 

Make a base for the hat with a strip of tagboard. 
Staple the ends together.
Get another strip of tagboard and staple one end to the front of the base (where your forehead will be if you put it on)and staple the other end to the back of the base (where the back of your head will be).
Start gluing on the variety of shapes on the tagboard strips. Demonstrate different ways that they can be placed on (overlapped, folded, curled, etc..).
Share hats with classmates, identifying all of the shapes used.

  Shape Walk 

Give each child a shape on a necklace to find on a Shape Walk around the neighborhood.

1. Review names of shapes.
2. Take students outside for a shape walk. Walk around the school or playground and see how many shapes can be found.
3. On the walk, point out objects and have students identify the shapes they see.
4. Encourage students to point out objects and name shapes they see.
5. Facilitate a discussion on shapes that are found.
6. Have students make a picture of the objects they see and identify the shapes found in that object.
7. After returning to the classroom, recording sheets can be discussed and students can select an object to create a poster around. Have them make a picture of the object, make a picture of the shape in the object, and write about what they found.
8. Optional: Take pictures of the objects students select. When snapshots are ready have students select a picture. They use the photo for the picture of the object in step 6.

Extension: Have students make crayon rubbings of shapes they find around the school. These can be bricks, grates, fences, tiles, etc. They label the shapes. The rubbings can then be sorted and displayed.

Childfun Shapes Theme

Patterns & Shapes
Sites for kids

Nuttin' But Kids Shape Ideas

FunZone Shape Activities