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National Curriculum Resource Tool

Materials to support teachers and schools in embedding the National Curriculum

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Year 1 - Geometry - properties of shapes

New Curriculum

  • recognise and name common 2-D and 3-D shapes, including:
    • 2-D shapes [for example, rectangles (including squares), circles and triangles]
    • 3-D shapes [for example, cuboids (including cubes), pyramids and spheres].

Non-Statutory Guidance

Pupils handle common 2-D and 3-D shapes, naming these and related everyday objects fluently. They recognise these shapes in different orientations and sizes, and know that rectangles, triangles, cuboids and pyramids are not always similar to each other.

Links and Resources

Teachers should use every relevant subject to develop pupils’ mathematical fluency. Confidence in numeracy and other mathematical skills is a precondition of success across the national curriculum.

– National Curriculum in England Framework Document, September 2013, p9

Connections within Mathematics

Making connections to this topic in adjacent year groups

Early Years Foundation Stage

  • They recognise, create and describe patterns. They explore characteristics of everyday objects and shapes and use mathematical language to describe them.

Year 2

Pupils should be taught to:

  • identify and describe the properties of 2-D shapes, including the number of sides and symmetry in a vertical line
  • identify and describe the properties of 3-D shapes, including the number of edges, vertices and faces
  • identify 2-D shapes on the surface of 3-D shapes, for example a circle on a cylinder and a triangle on a pyramid
  • compare and sort common 2-D and 3-D shapes and everyday objects.

Cross-curricular and real life connections

There are many opportunities to continue to explore properties of shape, and apply mathematical understanding of this area, in other curriculum subjects.

P.E. - Making shapes with your own body in gymnastics and dance

Geography – looking at shapes within the natural environment, on maps and plans

Small world play – different shaped pieces and containers used in sand and water play and shapes cut out in modelling dough.

Design Technology – when using construction kits children can be encouraged to describe their work using vocabulary associated with the properties of shapes

Shapes in the environment, shape packaging and those in artwork and pictures.

Jenni Way has 3 interesting articles on the Nrich website which provide a wonderful insight into children’s learning about shape, and give some wonderful ideas for the classroom;

Programmes of Study statements Activities
A B C D E F
recognise and name common 2-D and 3-D shapes, including:
  • 2-D shapes (e.g. rectangles [including squares], circles and triangles)
  • 3-D shapes (e.g. cuboids [including cubes], pyramids and spheres)

A key point is to avoid stereotypical prototypes; children need to see a range of shapes, e.g. different types of triangles, in different orientations [often, children fail to recognise a square if it is rotated by 45 degrees, and label it as a ‘diamond’

Squares

Activity A – Shape sorting

Make use of feely bags/boxes, sorting ‘everyday objects’ like shells, food containers etc. Explore shape families – putting all the 4 sided figures together, pointing out that a square is also a rectangle [ and a parallelogram…]

‘Snowball activity’ – choose a shape, record something about it, then talk to a partner, find one thing that is different about your shapes? Now get into groups of 4 what is the same about your shapes?

Activity B – Matching Triangles

An excellent problem solving activity which challenges children’s perception that a triangle has to have a horizontal base.

Triangles

Activity C - Let’s investigate triangles

This activity involves children using plastic geostrips to investigate triangles with sides of different lengths.

Geostrips

Activity D - Making pictures

Encourage the children to use shapes to make pictures – mosaic pieces, sticky paper shapes, ‘fuzzy felts’. Can they make an animal with a circular head, a triangular body etc… Ask the children to make ‘ruler’ pictures –use a ruler to draw a series of intersecting lines and to colour in each enclosed shape, talking about the properties of these shapes and naming them as they do so.

Allow children to print with 3D shapes, making 2D images of the faces on the 3D shape. Which shapes have square faces? Did you print with any shapes with circular faces? What happens when you print with a sphere? A cylinder?

Fold paper in half, in different ways. If they make one fold on a square, what shapes can they make? Can they make one fold and make a four sided shape that isn’t a rectangle? –

Tangrams are a wonderful way of exploring the properties of a square along with developing their visualisation skills. Nrich provide a good starting point although many more tangram related resources are available online.

Activity E - Shape hunts

Allow the children to hunt for shapes in their local environment, at school and at home. They could be given ‘detective kits’ (either images or simple sentences) to help with their identification. Give the children cameras to record their findings and share these with others, once back in the classroom.

Activity F - Elastic shapes

Use elastic bands to create different shapes on your own hand or pegged boards and elastic bands. Move on to making large scale shapes with large elastic loops, on a large floor grid, standing at intersections. These shapes can then be rotated or copied by another group. Change the shape by adding another person – another side and another corner.

Examples of what children should be able to do, in relation to each (boxed) Programme of Study statement

Pupils should be taught to recognise and name common 2-D and 3-D shapes, including [for example] rectangles (including squares), circles, triangles, cuboids (including cubes), pyramids and spheres.

Give each child this shape

Child A

Shape

Child B

Shape

Child C

Shape

Child D

Shape

Look at the Shape I have given you. Tell me one thing about the shape.

Hand each child this shape.

Child A:cylinder

Child B:triangular prism

Child C:cone

Child D:cube

Look at the shape I have given you. Tell me one thing about the shape.

(Give each child two different shapes.)

Tell me something that is the same about the two shapes.

Now tell me something that is different abiout the two shapes.

One shape has 2 long sides and 2 short sides.

Tick (✔) it.

Shapes

Fred draws round the bottom of a cone.

Cone

Tick (✔) the shape that Fred draws.

Shapes

from Teachers’ TV shows a whole ‘uncut’ lesson with Year 2 children focusing on 2D and 3D shapes. Some useful teaching ideas and the opportunity to have the ‘fly on the wall’ view.