Workshop: Shapes and Properties

Est. Class Sessions: 1–2

Developing the Lesson

Part 2. Workshop

Set Up the Workshop. The problems and menus for this workshop are on the Workshop: Shapes and Properties pages in the Student Guide and the Classifying Shapes and Practice with Shapes and Properties pages in the Student Activity Book. The workshop is divided into three sections that address Expectations as shown in Figure 1. Minis of the Workshop pages not shown here are in the Answer Key.

Some students will be reading and exploring the Journey to Flatopia story. See the Student Guide.

Choose Targeted Practice. Students begin each section by first answering the Self-Check Questions, either individually or with partners. These questions serve two purposes. First, they clearly communicate the content of the related targeted practice to students. Second, they help students quickly self-assess their progress with the Expectations to help them choose which problems to work on in the Workshop.

Use Self-Check: Questions 1–3 in the Student Guide to assess progress on the Expectations below:

E5.: Describe and analyze 2-dimensional shapes based on their properties (e.g., number and length of sides, number and size of angles, relationships between sides).

Use the Self-Check with the menu on the Classifying Shapes pages in the Student Activity Book to assess progress on the Expectations below:

E6.: Classify 2-dimensional shapes using their properties.
E10.: Justify conclusions using geometric properties.

Use Self-Check: Questions 1–3 on the Practice with Shapes and Properties pages in the Student Activity Book to assess progress on the Expectations below:

E7.: Identify line (reflective) symmetry.
E8.: Identify congruent shapes.
E9.: Identify slides, flips, and turns of shapes.

After students complete the Self-Check Questions in a section, discuss each of the questions with the whole class. Ask students to share their solutions and explain their reasoning. Facilitate a class discussion of students' solutions.

If students have trouble putting shapes back together, remind them they are building a rectangle. They will need to either place right angles in shapes at the corners or build right angles from other shapes.

Next, have students think about each question in the left-hand column of the menu following the Self-Check Questions. Ask students to review their work on the Self-Check Questions to decide which problems to choose from the following groups.

Students who are “working on it” and need some extra help should circle the problem set marked with a triangle (). These problems provide scaffolded support for developing the essential underlying concepts as well as some opportunities for practice.
Students who are “getting it” and just need more practice should circle the problem set marked with a circle (). These problems provide opportunities to practice with some concept reinforcement and some opportunities for extension.
Students who have “got it” and are ready for a challenge or extension should circle problems marked with a square (). These problems provide some practice and then move into opportunities for extension.

Note that students' self-assessment of their own abilities may vary between rows in a menu or between menus. For example, a student might circle the “” questions in one row and the “” or “” questions in another row or in a subsequent menu. A student's comfort and ability may vary by Expectation, and the workshop allows each student to choose problems flexibly based on what type of practice he or she needs for each “Can I Do This?” question.

Check students' choices to see how well they match your own assessment of their progress on the related Expectations. Help students make selections that will provide the kind of practice they need.

Once students select the questions to complete in a section of the Workshop, match groups of students who have chosen similar sets of problems from the menu. Have students work together with a partner or in a small group to solve the problems they chose.

After the first few groups of students have completed their selected problems, but before all students have completed their problems, introduce the next section to the whole class. See the Meeting Individual Needs box. Again, have students try the Self-Check Questions, discuss solutions, and choose problems from the menu with your guidance. Follow this pattern through each section of the Workshop.

Some students may not have completed all of their selected questions in a section before you introduce the next section with the whole class. While this may mean interrupting students' flow of work, it is also important that students who complete problems more quickly are able to continue working. For students who need more time, unfinished problems can be completed at the end of the Workshop lesson as needed. They can also be sent home as homework. For students who finish all of their selected problems before the rest of the class, encourage them to work on more advanced problems from the menus. Students who are “Working On It” or “Getting It” can also read the story Journey to Flatopia in the Student Guide.

Share Workshop Experience. Select a few problems from the Workshop to discuss as a class. For example, a discussion of Question 2 on the Classifying Shapes pages in the Student Activity Book will help prepare students for completing Check-In: Questions 4–5.

Ask a pair of students who have completed the classifying shapes activity in Question 2 to display the results of their sort using Power Polygons™ and a display of the Sorting Polygons page from Lesson 10. Write “All sides equal” above Box A and “All angles equal” above Box B. A completed sort is shown in Figure 2.

Discuss Questions 2A–2C with the class. In particular, Question 2B asks students to recognize that shapes in both Boxes A and B are regular polygons because they have all equal sides and all equal angles. Students will use this information about regular polygons in the assessment in
Check-In: Questions 4–5.

Students must classify a square as a regular polygon and justify their reasoning to answer Question 2D. Ask students to review Math Practices Expectation 5 on the Math Practices page in the Reference section of the Student Guide and discuss their answers with a partner. Those students who have answered the question already should compare their answers with others and revise them based on the discussion. Those who have not answered the question will need to develop a justification and write up their answers.

When students have completed their responses, ask:

What is the question for this problem? (Is a square a regular polygon?)
Is a square a regular polygon? (Yes.)
Is that all you have to write down? (No, you have to show or tell how you know.)
How can you show your work on this problem? What do you have to show or tell? (Possible response: We have to show that a square is a regular polygon.)
How can you show that using properties? What properties should you talk about? (Possible response: A regular polygon has all sides equal and all angles equal like in the boxes.)
How does that help you tell that a square is a regular polygon? (A square has all sides equal and all angles equal, so it is a regular polygon. It is in both boxes, too.)
What is a way to show that? (Draw a picture and show that all the angles are square angles and all the sides are equal. I put the square in the intersection of Boxes A and B to support my answer.)

Have students complete Check-In: Questions 4–5 on the Classifying Shapes pages in the Student Activity Book. Remind them to use Math Practices Expectation 5 (Show my work) as they write their responses. When students have completed their individual responses, have them exchange papers with a partner. Students should decide if their partner's response is clear and complete and provide feedback using the Feedback Box. Then students can revise their responses based on their discussions.

Use Check-In: Questions 4–5 with the Feedback Box on the Classifying Shapes pages in the Student Activity Book to assess students' abilities to describe and analyze [E5] and classify 2-dimensional shapes [E6] based on their properties and their ability to use geometric properties to justify their answers [E10].

Use their explanations to Check-In: Question 5 to assess students' ability to show their work [MPE5].

Student Guide: