"Shape It Up" Lesson Plan Implementation

The lesson plan I created utilizes a Smart Board in conjunction with an activity I found on the SMART Exchange website called “Shape It Up.”  The activity is a one or two-person game that is played on a Smart Board.  The goal of the game is to identify specific shapes in each picture.  I chose this activity because it is an interactive, realistic and exciting way for children to learn.  It requires minimal instruction and supervision by providing it’s own control of error, which in turn promotes independence.  Originally, I didn't plan on using any verbal instruction.  However, after reviewing the Common Core State Standards for the lesson, I decided it was necessary to verbalize the names of the shapes during the lesson.  Although a silent demonstration would have been plenty guidance for the students to know how to do the activity, it would not have been adequate information to cover one of the standards for the lesson.  Standard K.G.2. states “Correctly name shapes regardless of their orientations or overall size.”  Because the vocabulary is a component that is necessary to achieve student mastery of this standard, I also added into my lesson plan a requirement for the students to state the name of each shape as they find it in the picture.  The control of error remains because each partner has to agree on the correct name for each shape.  In the event that neither partner knows the name, I designated two other students in the classroom as “go-to friends” for assistance if necessary.  

I implemented my lesson plan last week and overall, I am pleased with the outcome. There are 21 kindergarten students in my class with a wide range of ability levels. For the lesson, the children sat on the rug in front of the Smart Board while I demonstrated the “Shape It Up” activity.  The first page of the activity has a circle, square, rectangle and triangle on it.  Each of the shapes is labeled with a brief description of it’s characteristics written next to it.  I read the words on the page and continued on to the first “picture” page.  Each “picture” page contains several pictures of objects that have the same shape as one of these four basic shapes.  I demonstrated how to choose the correct shape and drag it over to the corresponding picture.  There are a few other variations of the “picture” pages throughout the activity so I briefly demonstrated how to do some of them.  The children seemed interested in the lesson and eager to have a turn.

Upon completion of my demonstration, technology became the main facilitator for the activity, which gave me a chance to observe the students interacting with the shapes. It was satisfying to see that my behaviorist approach for teaching, was working.  By demonstrating some examples first, the students knew their expectations and the directions for how to do each page.  One unfortunate constraint of this activity is that only two students were able to use it at a time.  Because of this, some students had to wait so long for their turn that they forgot what to do on some pages, which made me very grateful for the control of error the activity provided.  Any time a student tried to put a shape in the wrong spot, it would bounce back.  They were unable to move on to the next page until all of the shapes were in the correct spot.  There were not many questions that the students asked me because of their requirement to ask the two “go-to friends” before asking me. The only type of questions I ended up having to answer were questions about the directions.   It was fascinating to watch the children problem-solve without my assistance.  They consulted with their partner about the characteristics of a given shape and then put it in the correct spot on the board.  The Smart Board  and the “Shape It Up” activity provided an interactive and effective learning experience for the students.  This is a tool I will definitely use again in the future.

Lesson Plan: Shapes in the Environment

1. Content:
Common Core State Standards:

K.G.1 Describe objects in the environment using names of shapes, and describe the relative positions of these objects using terms such as above, below, beside, in front of, behind, and next to.

Essential Questions:
How can I identify shapes?
How can I describe shapes?
How can I correctly name shapes regardless of their orientations or overall size?


K.G.2. Correctly name shapes regardless of their orientations or overall size.

Essential Question:
How can I correctly name shapes regardless of their orientations or overall size?

The content that I will be teaching is kindergarten math and more specifically, identifying and describing shapes in space using a Smartboard activity I found on the SMART Exchange website called “Shape It Up”. The big idea is to recognizing, naming and classifying shapes in the environment. It may be difficult for some students to apply their prior knowledge of shapes to the objects in the real world. Another challenge may be recognizing familiar shapes in unfamiliar sizes, orientations, and settings.


2. Pedagogy:
Learning takes place in the form of constructivism, behaviorism and some scaffolding. Behaviorism takes place when I go through the Smartboard activity and demonstrate one or two examples from each page (sliding the triangle shaped objects into the empty triangle, sorting shapes, matching....) while they watch. There should be no verbal instructions. By now they will have some basic knowledge of shapes and my goal is for them to be able to apply what they know in order to complete this activity. The demonstration will tap into their prior knowledge of shapes so when it is their turn to do the activity, they are able to concentrate on their new skill of finding shapes in the environment (scaffolding). The constructivism is taking place when the students are actively engaged in the Smartboard activity, figuring out what each shape is and where it belongs on the board. Scaffolding will also occur if a child is having a hard time using the Smartboard then I will step in and show them how to use it again. The activity has a control of error to prevent a student from getting the wrong answer. It is very important for me to observe the students doing the activity in order to ensure student understanding, success and achievement.


3. Content & Pedagogy:
Students know the expectations and how to do the activity from observing me demonstrate some examples (behaviorism). This will tap into their prior knowledge of shapes so when it is their turn to do the activity, they are able to concentrate on their new skill of finding shapes in the environment (scaffolding). Without the teacher’s assistance, students are forced to rely on themselves to figure out the correct answers. Their work is uninterrupted which enables them to gain a deeper understanding of the topic by exploring, engaging in, correcting and therefore learning from their own mistakes while completing the activity independently (constructivism). Scaffolding will also occur is a child is having a hard time using the Smartboard then I will step in and show them how to use it again. The activity has a control of error to prevent a student from getting the wrong answer. My observations and limited but necessary interventions are key to ensuring student understanding and success.


4. Technology:
I will be using a Smartboard activity I found on the SMART Exchange website called “Shape It Up” for my technology tool. Achievement is increased when students are active participants. If I want my students to learn the material by interacting with the content in a fun and exciting way then the use of this technology is necessary. Another option for using the “Shape It Up” activity would be for students to use it on a regular computer but this option would not be quite as exciting as using the Smartboard. Regular computers are also not as effective because they don’t provide the physical interaction that the Smartboard allows for.


5. Technology & Pedagogy:
The Smartboard activity is especially appropriate because it uses a variety of learning for teaching for individual learning styles. This would include kinesthetic, visual and verbal. It also allows for independent work. Without the teacher’s assistance, student are forced to rely on themselves to figure out the correct answers. Constructivism takes place because their work is uninterrupted which enables them to gain a deeper understanding of the topic by exploring, engaging in, correcting and therefore learning from their own mistakes while completing the activity independently. The activity has a control of error to prevent a student from getting the wrong answer. My observations and limited but necessary interventions are key to ensuring student understanding and success.


6. Technology & Content:
The Smartboard activity provides an exciting and interactive way of presenting a wide variety of realistic examples of shapes in the environment. The activity provides a control of error (“Oops! Try again!”) so the student will know if he needs to try again. My observations will help me decide whether or not a student needs me to reteach or if a student is ready to be assessed.


7. Assessment:
I would like my students to be able to apply their prior knowledge of shapes to the objects in the real world in order to name, describe, and classify the shapes in the environment. It’s important that they develop the ability to recognize familiar shapes in unfamiliar sizes, orientations, and settings. The assessment would be my observations of a student’s independent performance while doing the activity. This will help me decide if the student needs to be retaught, if they just need more practice or if they have mastered the concept are ready to move on to 3D shapes in the environment.

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