Are you looking for a good way to reinforce triangles? I was driving to a bible study with a retired high school Math teacher. We were discussing the Math that I teach in the fourth grade. I am currently teaching geometry, so we discussed the vocabulary that I have to teach. I told her that I teach the different types of triangles (still required for 4th grade students in Ohio) and she told me of an activity she used to do with her high school students. Wouldn’t you know it was a wonderful, quick activity that would work for any grade level?
What you do is have your students create the three different triangles with their bodies. You pick three students about the same height have them lay on the floor and form the equilateral triangle. You then pick two students the same height along with a third student a different height (I chose one much shorter) and have them create the isosceles triangle. Lastly, you pick three students of different heights to represent the scalene triangle.
I teach three sections of Math so my lessons get better every time I teach it! Here are some tips I learned as I did this activity with my three classes. This works best if you go to a big area where you can form a circle around the triangles. I had my students line up and chose the students I wanted for each triangle and then we went outside to create the triangles and have our discussions. For the first class I stayed inside and just had the students stay lined up and it didn’t go well (too much unrelated talking and goofing around). When the students were in a circle we had great discussions. I asked the students which students in the triangle got the equal symbols. I think it was a good activity and I loved the way it reinforced triangles using kinesthetics! Who knows, maybe that low student will remember a certain triangle because he/she made up one side of it!!
Please come visit my store and see the different geometry activities I have there!
