Unit 7 Family Materials

In this unit, students reason with shapes and their attributes and split shapes into equal pieces. Students also tell time to the hour and half hour.

Section A: Flat and Solid Shapes

In this section, students explore and reason about attributes of two- and three-dimensional shapes. Students name shapes, including cone, sphere, cylinder, cube, square, rectangle, triangle, rhombus, and hexagon. Students identify defining attributes (number of straight sides and corners) of triangles, rectangles, and squares, and distinguish them from non-defining attributes (color, orientation, size). They describe why a shape belongs in a certain category using their own language. For example, “These are all triangles because they have three straight sides and three corners. This is not a triangle because the sides don’t touch.”

Section B: Halves and Quarters

In this section, students explore the idea of halves and fourths or quarters as equal pieces of a whole. Students hear and use the term halves to describe a shape split into two equal pieces and the terms fourths and quarters to describe a shape split into four equal pieces. They consider the size of a fourth and a half in relation to the same whole. They use the language whole, halves, quarters, fourths, a half of, a fourth of, and a quarter of to describe the pieces and relationship of the pieces to the whole.

Section C: Telling Time in Hours and Half Hours

In this section, students learn to tell time in hours and half hours on analog and digital clocks by relating the numbers 1–12 to a clock face and a written time.

They identify the minute and hour hands. Students learn that the hour hand points to a number or between two numbers, and tells us what hour it is. They also learn that when the minute hand points directly to the 12 it is o’clock or ___:00 and when the minute hand points to the 6 it is half past or ___:30.

Try it at home!

Play “I spy” with your child to help your student identify shapes in the real-world.

Say:

• I spy a solid shape that rolls. What could my shape be?
• I spy a cylinder (cube, cone, sphere). What object is a cylinder?

Connect your student’s schedule with time on digital and analog clocks to the hour and half hour.

Ask:

• What time do you go to bed (get up for school, eat breakfast)?
• What time does the clock say?
• What would the clock read when it is time for bed?
• What would the clock look like if it were 3:00?