Lesson 11

The purpose of this lesson is for students to compare solid shapes.

In previous lessons, students identified, described, and built solid shapes. In this lesson, students describe and compare the attributes of solid shapes. When describing and comparing shapes, students are not required to know or use language such as “faces”, “edges”, or “vertices”. Students may use their own language to describe these attributes, such as “sides,” “points,” or “corners.” If it is unclear what part of a shape a student is referring to, consider asking them to point to which part of the shape they are describing.

• Gather a cylinder to display.

• Each group of 2 students needs at least 6-8 solid shapes.
• Gather a cone, a cube, and two different cylinders to display in the activity synthesis.

• Each group of 2 students needs at least 6-8 solid shapes from the previous activity.

• Place 4-6 different solid shapes into a bag that is not see-through for each group of 2 students.
• Gather materials from: 
  • Counting Collections, Stage 1
  • Match Mine, Stage 1
  • Shake and Spill, Stages 1-4

In grade 1, students distinguish between defining and non-defining attributes of shapes. How does the work of this lesson prepare students for the work of grade 1?