Just before spring break we studied polygons. We didn't have a lot of time to devote to this topic, but we managed to squeeze in a fun little activity.
I put slips of paper in a bucket with various polygon shape names & each student chose 5 slips. Any duplicates were put back and they drew again. With those five shapes they were to create a picture incorporating those shapes.
They also had to incorporate one transformation (translation, rotation, reflection) into their picture.
They also had to include an example of symmetry.
Finally, they had to write about what they drew, specifically naming the polygons, transformations, and symmetry. This was a double duty step ~ I didn't have to guess at how they meant to represent their polygons, transformation, and symmetry AND they got extra practice in writing. Win-win.
This activity was 10-year old approved! When I first told them we were going to do something fun with polygons, I think some of them didn't believe me. Doubters! As they were working, several of the kids exclaimed how fun it was. They especially liked it when I turned on the thinking music. I'm sure they'd rather be listening to their pop/rap/whatever music ~ but they never complain when I turn on other genres of music while they work. As you can see, some of them turned out really cute.
