Investigating Shapes

If you’re scratching your head, thinking about engaging ways to explore shape with your Year 5 class – look no further! These five geometry lessons focus in-depth on some of the special properties of 2D and 3D shapes. Learning activities include how to: find missing angles; calculate inside angles; construct shapes accurately; tessellate polygons; construct polyhedrons; and how to make composite 3D models using 3D shapes with curved surfaces!

These downloadable lessons include detailed plans, slideshow presentations and printable teaching resources.

Rectangles

Learn about some special properties of quadrilaterals — rectangles, in particular — such as having opposite sides of equal length, parallel sides and equal angles. Children may then use this information to help them find missing lengths and angles inside and outside rectangles and composite rectilinear shapes.

This downloadable lesson contains a lesson plan, slideshow presentation and printable teaching resources.

Angles Inside Shapes

Take a closer look at some regular and irregular polygons, identifying differences between them and the properties that make them special. Following this, children may practise: carefully measuring the sides and angles of shapes to determine whether they are regular or irregular; drawing regular polygons accurately; or calculating the inside angles of regular polygons using a formula.

This downloadable lesson contains a lesson plan, slideshow presentation and printable teaching resources.

Diagonal Lines

In this lesson, children will look at the perpendicular and diagonal lines of a variety of shapes. They will look at ways in which the vertices inside shapes can be connected with diagonal lines to make other shapes inside them, then either practise drawing, measuring and labelling lines in and around shapes, or explore the way that different polygons may be tessellated.

This downloadable lesson contains a lesson plan, slideshow presentation and printable teaching resources.

Polyhedrons

How are 3D shapes constructed? This lesson focuses on the plane surfaces of polyhedrons, and children are challenged to identify, draw or make sets of 2D shapes which, when put together, may form polyhedrons. This lesson’s alternative activity provides the perfect opportunity to get the maths construction toys out, but — don’t worry — as always, the lesson includes another activity which can be undertaken using only the included resources!

This downloadable lesson contains a lesson plan, slideshow presentation and printable teaching resources.

Composite Shapes

Explore the properties of a range of 3D shapes with curved surfaces, then take a look at how they may be constructed using nets and how they may be combined to make composite 3D models! Depending on what you prefer, and the resources you have available, there’s a choice of two, practical activities – one which can be done using only the included resources (plus some paper and sticky tape), or one during which children can build a model of a film set using whatever comes to hand!

This downloadable lesson contains a lesson plan, slideshow presentation and printable teaching resources.