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Geometric Fish

Students will create vibrant fish using geometric shapes.

Lesson Plan

Supplies Needed

Gather all the supplies needed to bring your craft ideas to life! From paints and markers to glue and scissors, our crafts section has everything to spark creativity and make every project truly special.

Steps

  • Step 1

    Review basic geometric shapes such as circles, squares, rectangles, and triangles with students. Have them describe the properties of each. How many sides does it have? Why are all squares rectangles, but not all rectangles are squares? Then have students view images of examples of brightly colored fish such as a rainbow parrotfish, a clownfish, an emperor angelfish, or a cardinal tetra.

  • Step 2

    Have students cut various geometric shapes out of brightly colored paper. Then have them draw two or three fish shapes on a separate piece of paper and cut those out. Ask them to arrange the cut-out shapes on the fish cut-outs and glue them on.

  • Step 3

    Now have students create a background for their fish, perhaps an aquarium scene or their natural habitat, using crayons or colored pencil. Then ask them to glue the fish onto the background.

  • Step 4

    Ask students to create math sentences about their fish. For example, "This fish has 4 rectangles + 3 triangles + 5 circles for a total of 12 geometric shapes."

Standards

MATH: Describe, compare, quantify, and classify objects by attributes. Sort objects into categories.

MATH: Create models that demonstrate math concepts and attend to precision.

MATH: Analyze, compare, create, and compose math ideas using written, oral, and drawn lines, shapes, forms, and patterns.

Adaptations

A fish tale is a story that is partially or wholly not true or one that is greatly exaggerated. For example, a fisherman may greatly exaggerate the size of a fish that got away. Have students create a fish tale for their fish. Encourage them to give their fish a name and a fanciful and amazing adventure.

Play a math fishing game. Draw and cut out several fish shapes and put a different number on each, then place them all in a bowl. Have each student reach in and take out two, and then add the numbers on the fish.