Teaching Shapes

Teaching students to recognize shapes is a blast! It’s a concept that lends itself to be hands-on and engaging. In my classroom, I have 4 students who are learning about shapes, and 4 students who are ready to generalize their basic knowledge of shapes. Here’s a few fun things we are doing this week.

Adapted Books

I love using adapted books. I pull these into my centers but they can be used so many different ways. This Adapted Book Shape Set from The Autism Helper is one of my favorites! Each book is a little bit different in level and skill, so you can target just about any learner in your classroom. These Shape Task Cards are also great for centers.

 

Shape Hunt

I take this game and differentate it for my learners. For those who are just learning shapes, I hide sticky notes around the classroom with shapes drawn on them. The students then go on a shape hunt to find all the sticky notes and shapes they can. For learners who are generalizing the concept of shapes and objects, I have them look around the classroom and find objects that are different shapes (ie: the clock is a circle).

 

I used these Basic Matching and Tracing books to help learners trace shapes and match shapes and we played BINGO with the Basic Skills Bingo Cards.

Learning about shapes can be even more fun with hands-on activities. Bring out some shape puzzles, building blocks, or even playdough! Let your students explore and create different shapes with these tools. This hands-on approach helps them understand shapes better.To round it all out I added in some shape poems/chants to help us remember our shapes and some shape videos to our morning calendar time (youtube has some great ones!). Who said learning can’t be musical? Sing and dance along with your students while they learn about circles, squares, triangles, and more. Combined, your students will have activites that are reinforcing and educational!