Studying geometry provides ways for students to think and talk about the physical world. The skills students develop now—including the vocabulary that they will come to understand and use with confidence—will help them in high school geometry, trigonometry, physics, and calculus. An additional benefit of studying geometry is that many students with a strong spatial sense—for example, the ability to visualize and move shapes in their minds—blossom when they are engaged in the kind of spatial problem solving featured in this unit.
Our class has been deeply engaged with our current geometry unit. Students have been exploring, building, and finding many three dimensional shapes around the classroom. They have also been immersed in activities focused on sorting shapes according to different attributes. There has been an abundant amount of math vocabulary introduced in this unit - words that we use almost only in geometry class. These words are important because they let us name shapes and talk about them in precise ways.
To help your child engage in conversation about what they are doing in math this month, you might find this link helpful. You will find a PDF of vocabulary words for Grade 1 Bridges students. On this Web page, there is also a link to a helpful online math dictionary for students. The PDF and the online
dictionary both show pictures and examples of all vocabulary words: these visual aids are
especially helpful for geometry words.
www.mathlearningcenter.org/resources/materials/parents/parents1.asp
