Shape Up!
Fun with Triangles & Other Polygons
by David Adler & Nancy Tobin
Shape Up! provides a "bouncy, hands-on introduction" (SLJ) to basic geometry concepts, teaching geometry concepts like triangles, angles, and polygons--all via fun, interactive exercises that incorporate small food items like cheese, pretzels, pieces of bread, etc.
What a fun, memorable way to learn scalene and equilateral triangles, the different types of polygons, all the way up to dodecagons (12 sided) and more.
We know some teachers do not
like using food for educational purposes, but the quantities involved
are small and the food items are not as unhealthy as the usual
'activity with food' choices (generally candy.) Some of the most
effective exercises involve a piece of paper, not food.
Overall, we highly recommend this fun title for teaching
geometry lessons! It's a Parents'
Choice Gold Award Winner! Parent's Choice called it "beginning Geometry made easy. A winner."
Shape Up! Reading Level:
Interest
Level: Gr. 2-6 DRA Level: 24
Lexile Measure: 560L Guided Reading: M
See Inside This Book
Below
are sample pages from inside Shape
Up! This illustrations on the right shows how three pretzel sticks can
be
used to teach students about equilateral triangles. Further pages show
how to change these pretzel sticks to make an isosceles triangle, then
to learn what a vertex is. This is one example of how food items are
used to teach geometry in this book.
Lesson Ideas
If you would like to use this book when teaching geometry lessons, Charity Preston of the
Organized Classroom blog has created a detailed guide on how to use this
book in the classroom, including a number of handouts (like the one
shown at right).
To download Charity's PDF guide for this book, click here.
You may also want to check out other fun, educational math books by David Adler. To learn more, click on the images below or the link above. :)
Or see other books on our page of best books for teaching geometry:
