Sunday, April 22, 2012

Angle Sticks

I know...2nd post in the same day. In my defense, the other was Expo related so here is a post especially for you! :)

While I was planning my geometry unit, I realized that I didn't have any manipulatives for making lines, angles, and all of the 2D shapes we cover. I was actually about to buy a popular angles-making set of manipulatives when I remembered something I saw on Pinterest! I took that idea and adapted it to fit what I needed. Here is the result!

It only took a few packs of colored popsicle sticks from Hobby Lobby and 2 packages of round velcro coins from Wal-Mart to make them. The cases they are stored in are actually photo cases (from Hobby Lobby as well). My students really liked using them!! We used them to show different types of lines and angles, make various 2D shapes, and talk about attributes of shapes.



I call them Angle Sticks because the name is similar to what I was going to purchase and my initial intention was to use them for angles. Has anyone else made these?? Can you see your students benefiting from using these?

Speaking of shapes, I've got a polygon freebie scheduled to post for tomorrow! ( I wouldn't want to do THREE posts in one day!!) Be sure to stop on by to check it out!

10 comments:

  1. Such a great idea...thanks for sharing!

    Kris
    http://mskrissecondgrade.blogspot.com/

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  2. Cute idea. One of my colleagues used these earlier this year and said that it was very helpful. I had the students use their arms to start them off (since that couldn't be taken away from them). We started with the right angle-using their elbow as the vertex. They moved them in to make acute angles and out to make an obtuse angle. It was adorable that one of my students actually used his arms during our standardized test last week : )

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  3. This is such a super Idea! I wish I'd had it last week when we did angles!

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  4. Love this. Pinterest it goes! ;)
    Cindy @ love2learn2day

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  5. Awesome!! I have some teammates that were just complaining that they hadn't yet taught angle measurement, and so I showed them this post. We are going to make a bunch to share on our team! Thanks so much!

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  6. Thanks, everyone!! We're still enjoying them in my room!

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  7. What a great idea!!! I have used so many things to make shapes... even the sticks you show. But I never thought of putting those Velcro circles on them! Ingenious!

    =) Jennifer
    Simply Primary

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