Content Area: Math

 

Index: 4.2B Grade 4 CPI 3

 

Standard: 4.2 - Geometry and Measurement

 

Strand: B - Transforming Shapes

 

Cumulative Progress Indicator: 3 - The student will investigate the occurrence of geometry in nature and art.

 

Grade: 4

 

Sample Activities:

 

·        Students investigate the natural shapes that are produced by the processes of growth and physical change. They identify some of the simple basic shapes that occur over and over again in more complex structures. Students bring examples to class and describe the process in writing. Some interesting examples are honeycombs, pinecones, and seashells.

 

·        Students make a bulletin board display of "Shapes in the World Around Us."

 

·        Students read the beautifully illustrated book Listen to a Shape by Marcia Brown. The color photographs in the book move from the occurrence in nature of simple shapes to more complex ones. Children can be asked to describe and draw their favorite shapes in nature as a follow-up.

 

·        Students read Shapes by Phillip Yenawine. This carefully selected collection of works from the Museum of Modern Art is analyzed to show how shapes contribute to the images on the canvas. An interesting open-ended assessment activity would be to ask the students to create their own works of art, combining the geometric shapes they know to make similar striking images.