Book Bag Activities for
The Greedy Triangle
By: Kiley Konrade

The Greedy Triangle by Marilyn Burns

• Marilyn Burns is a mathematics teacher and a teacher educator. She is best known for her books The I Hate Mathematics! Book and The Greedy Triangle. She has also written books for teachers such as, About Teaching Mathematics: A K-8 Resource, Writing in math Class, and the Math by All Means series.

Rationale:

• I chose this book because I wanted to be able to tie in another subject with reading. It lets students know that they can learn many different subjects all at once. I also find it easier sometimes to teach math through reading and vice versa. It also gives the kids some variety in what they are learning and how they are learning it. The kids are also able to learn their shapes and identify them in the world around them by using this book.

Questions:

• Knowledge: Why did the triangle change shapes?
• Comprehension: What different shapes does the triangle change into?
• Application: Pick a shape and write why you would want to be that shape.
• Analysis: Break down one shape and analyze what you know about it.
• Synthesis: Suppose the triangle was a different shape, what would the book be like then?
• Evaluation: Why do you think the triangle wanted to be different shapes?

Activities:

• Using tangrams, talk about the different shapes in the book and what the students already know about them. Have them play around with the tangrams for awhile, so they can make different shapes. This gives a little background on the different shapes.
• Have the class make the shapes on a geoboard while you read the book to them. See if the students can make each shape in a couple different sizes. This activity is more hands-on for the students to learn more about the shapes in the book.
• Have the students bring something from home that is odd-shaped. Have them share with the class and see if they can come up with what shape every object is. If a student stumps the entire class by finding a shape that no one knows, they may receive a prize. This expands the students’ idea of shapes.
• Have each student write down as many shapes as they can remember from the book. Then, have them brainstorm other shapes that were not used in the book that they can think of. This will kind of show how much the students actually do know about shapes already.
• Have the students go around the room and label the different shapes they see. (square, triangle, rectangle, pentagon, hexagon, etc.) This might help out some students if they are having difficulty remembering which shape is which.
• Have students brainstorm different ways they could use the shapes. Have them make a poster of what they would use them for, to share with the class. See how many students come up with a lot of the same uses for the shapes.
• Have the students go around the school writing down things that have different shapes like in the book. (See how many they can find in a certain time period.)
• Have the students get into groups and make something: a picture, model, etc. using one shape. (All triangles or all squares) This can be kind of a weekly project that the students work on in their free time or a little every day.
• Have the students go home and write down how many shapes they see in their environment. They will need to write down the exact objects that have the different shapes. When they return to class, see how many objects the students found that were the same as someone else.
• Have the students make up a few questions they would ask a math teacher about shapes. Then, with their questions, have them interview a math teacher. Each student can present a little of what they found with the class

Props:

• Geoboards with rubberbands
• tangrams
• different shapes of any kind

Bibliography of other related books:

• Triangles (City Shapes) by Jennifer S. Burke
• Shapes In Action:Fun Activities With Triangles, Circles, and Squares by Giorgiana Liccione Stewart.
• Number Triangles by Morris Bureloff
• Triangles (Let’s Investigate) by Marion Smoothey, Ted Evans (Illustrator).

Assessment Plan:

• To assess the students on what they learned from the book, I would probably use the geoboard activity and have each student show me how to make the different shapes mentioned in the book. While they are doing this, they should also tell me a little bit about each shape. For example, how many sides it has, what objects are shaped like it, etc. I would probably do this assessment while the students are working on activity #8. Doing it while the students are busy seems to help with the dreaded time situation. I will also grade somewhat on the participation of each student to the activities above.