A few weeks ago the students started a unit about shapes, as part of Ravneet Kaur's (student teacher) training. They learned about circles, squares, triangles and rectangles.

Students created ‘monsters’ with shapes amongst other activities. Looking at shapes within the classroom and wall displays led to independent exploration of shapes and this helped the students learn words such as hexagons, octagons, ovals, semi-circles and pentagons.

They really enjoyed walking around the school taking photos and looking at the types of shapes used in school buildings. To finish off the unit, we tied in an autumn theme by choosing leaves, looking at their colour and different edges. Students learned that some trees are ‘evergreen’ and never lose their colour in winter. It was great to hear the students talking about the leaves on the ground and comparing them, sharing their collections and then painting the posters on with PVA.

Below is what the ākonga learnt and their favourite parts of the unit!

I’ve learned that a pentagon has 5 sides and I’ve learned that a stop sign has 8 sides and it is called an octagon.

I liked collecting the leaves and filling in the shapes. 

I decided to put glitter on mine. 

Gold is an autumn colour.

Aycian

I know that a rectangle is different to a square because it has 2 long sides and 2 short sides. 

A square’s sides are all the same length. 

I enjoyed collecting the autumn leaves and gluing them onto my shapes. 

My shapes are a diamond and a parallelogram.

Harley

I’ve learned that a trapezium is NOT the same as a rectangle because it has kinda like tilted sides that go in.

My favourite part about this unit was sticking the leaves on. 

The shapes I stuck my autumn leaves on was a rhombus and a rectangle.

Makenzie

I learned about a square and a square.

I liked sticking leaves on my triangle and a circle. I liked learning about shapes and collecting the leaves. 

It was tricky to glue them on. 

Leo

I have learned that half a circle is called a semi circle. 

I chose a semi circle to put autumn leaves on. 

I also learned about a square that it has 4 sides. I liked doing the craft activity today and choosing which leaves to stick on. 

I put a little glitter on my picture to make it look pretty.

Isobel