Teaching children about shapes

Since we were talking about upper and lower case
letters, I wanted to say something about teaching
shapes to preschool children. This is a pet peeve
of mine that happens with preschool teachers not
just parents.

No one seems to have any problem with teaching kids
that a cat is a special kind of animal and a dog is an
animal too, but for some reason people think they must
distinguish between some shapes that are subsets of
other shapes in ways that are quite incorrect when the
child gets to mathematics in middle school.

If you are teaching your child about shapes. Please
teach them that a square is a special kind of rectangle
rather than saying a rectangle *must* have two long
and two short sides.

Also when you expose them to shapes like triangles,
try to show them many different kinds of triangles so
they get the idea that not all triangles are right triangle
or isoceles triangles. You don't have to teach the words,
though many kids can learn the words too. But let them
see triangles in lots of different positions and show them
skinny ones, fat ones, right triangles and triangles that
have all three sides different. It *is* important later on
and they can absorb it early if we show them.


--
Dorothy

There is no sound, no cry in all the world
that can be heard unless someone listens ..

The Outer Limits

"toto" wrote in message
...
If you are teaching your child about shapes. Please
teach them that a square is a special kind of rectangle
rather than saying a rectangle *must* have two long
and two short sides.

Also when you expose them to shapes like triangles,
try to show them many different kinds of triangles so
they get the idea that not all triangles are right triangle
or isoceles triangles. You don't have to teach the words,
though many kids can learn the words too. But let them
see triangles in lots of different positions and show them
skinny ones, fat ones, right triangles and triangles that
have all three sides different. It *is* important later on
and they can absorb it early if we show them.

My mom never went out of her way to teach us shapes. I grew up thinking
rectangles and squares were unrelated. My teachers taught us otherwise in
5th grade. I don't think I was traumatized or had any difficulty with the
concept that a swuare was a special kind of rectangle. I wouldn't go out of
my way to teach things incorrectly, but I don't think it's the end of the
world if parents don't give all the info at once.

On Mon, 12 Jan 2004 22:49:19 GMT, "toypup"
wrote:

My mom never went out of her way to teach us shapes. I grew up thinking
rectangles and squares were unrelated. My teachers taught us otherwise in
5th grade. I don't think I was traumatized or had any difficulty with the
concept that a swuare was a special kind of rectangle. I wouldn't go out of
my way to teach things incorrectly, but I don't think it's the end of the
world if parents don't give all the info at once.

What I object to is telling kids that squares are not rectangles.
While it may have been no problem for you in 5th grade, I had
high school students who had it ingrained in their heads and
who had a lot of difficulty with geometry because of this.


--
Dorothy

There is no sound, no cry in all the world
that can be heard unless someone listens ..

The Outer Limits

On Mon, 12 Jan 2004 22:49:19 GMT, "toypup"
wrote:

My mom never went out of her way to teach us shapes. I grew up thinking
rectangles and squares were unrelated. My teachers taught us otherwise in
5th grade. I don't think I was traumatized or had any difficulty with the
concept that a swuare was a special kind of rectangle. I wouldn't go out of
my way to teach things incorrectly, but I don't think it's the end of the
world if parents don't give all the info at once.

Btw, would you tell a child a cat is not an animal?
This is quite similar.


--
Dorothy

There is no sound, no cry in all the world
that can be heard unless someone listens ..

The Outer Limits

"toto" wrote in message
news
On Mon, 12 Jan 2004 22:49:19 GMT, "toypup"
wrote:

My mom never went out of her way to teach us shapes. I grew up thinking
rectangles and squares were unrelated. My teachers taught us otherwise
in
5th grade. I don't think I was traumatized or had any difficulty with
the
concept that a swuare was a special kind of rectangle. I wouldn't go out
of
my way to teach things incorrectly, but I don't think it's the end of the
world if parents don't give all the info at once.

Btw, would you tell a child a cat is not an animal?
This is quite similar.

Not really, but never was I told that a square was not a rectangle. It was
something I assumed from all the kids' shows and workbooks. They point to a
square and say "square", then they point to something similar with two long
sides and two short sides and call it "rectangle". I assume most people
learn it that way. I haven't seen any parents tell their kids a square is
not a rectangle.

There are parents who don't know any shapes and don't care to teach them,
like mine, who were foreign born and had little schooling. The kids pick up
the idea on their own and it doesn't seem to hurt most people I know to add
to the concept of square and rectangle later on. I can't imagine that
things get so ingrained that you can't just show them the light, at least
not when it comes to squares and rectangles.

On Tue, 13 Jan 2004 06:33:53 GMT, "toypup"
wrote:

I haven't seen any parents tell their kids a square is
not a rectangle.

There are preschool teachers who do. I have *songs*
they use to teach the shapes which do this.


--
Dorothy

There is no sound, no cry in all the world
that can be heard unless someone listens ..

The Outer Limits

"toto" wrote in message
...
Since we were talking about upper and lower case
letters, I wanted to say something about teaching
shapes to preschool children. This is a pet peeve
of mine that happens with preschool teachers not
just parents.

No one seems to have any problem with teaching kids
that a cat is a special kind of animal and a dog is an
animal too, but for some reason people think they must
distinguish between some shapes that are subsets of
other shapes in ways that are quite incorrect when the
child gets to mathematics in middle school.

If you are teaching your child about shapes. Please
teach them that a square is a special kind of rectangle
rather than saying a rectangle *must* have two long
and two short sides.

why?

Also when you expose them to shapes like triangles,
try to show them many different kinds of triangles so
they get the idea that not all triangles are right triangle
or isoceles triangles. You don't have to teach the words,
though many kids can learn the words too. But let them
see triangles in lots of different positions and show them
skinny ones, fat ones, right triangles and triangles that
have all three sides different. It *is* important later on
and they can absorb it early if we show them.

i think triangle variation becomes painfully obvious when the child's
cutting out shapes with scissors, actually :-)
kylie

On Tue, 13 Jan 2004 11:45:23 GMT, "0tterbot" wrote:

"toto" wrote in message
.. .
Since we were talking about upper and lower case
letters, I wanted to say something about teaching
shapes to preschool children. This is a pet peeve
of mine that happens with preschool teachers not
just parents.

No one seems to have any problem with teaching kids
that a cat is a special kind of animal and a dog is an
animal too, but for some reason people think they must
distinguish between some shapes that are subsets of
other shapes in ways that are quite incorrect when the
child gets to mathematics in middle school.

If you are teaching your child about shapes. Please
teach them that a square is a special kind of rectangle
rather than saying a rectangle *must* have two long
and two short sides.

why?

Because you wouldn teach them that a cat is not an
animal, so why teach them that a square is not a
rectangle. I don't like teaching kids incorrect information
that has to be corrected later on.

Also when you expose them to shapes like triangles,
try to show them many different kinds of triangles so
they get the idea that not all triangles are right triangle
or isoceles triangles. You don't have to teach the words,
though many kids can learn the words too. But let them
see triangles in lots of different positions and show them
skinny ones, fat ones, right triangles and triangles that
have all three sides different. It *is* important later on
and they can absorb it early if we show them.

i think triangle variation becomes painfully obvious when the child's
cutting out shapes with scissors, actually :-)
kylie

Very true, but I am talking about the ones adults tend to draw
and cut out for the kids and the ones that most kids see.


--
Dorothy

There is no sound, no cry in all the world
that can be heard unless someone listens ..

The Outer Limits

x-no-archive:yes


toto wrote:

On Tue, 13 Jan 2004 06:33:53 GMT, "toypup"
wrote:

I haven't seen any parents tell their kids a square is
not a rectangle.

There are preschool teachers who do. I have *songs*
they use to teach the shapes which do this.

There was a 5th grade teacher in our school system who taught that the
blood in the veins would be blue if you cut the vein and bled.

I would think with all the new math stuff and sets and all that the
shape things would be in there.

grandma Rosalie

toto wrote in message . ..
On Tue, 13 Jan 2004 06:33:53 GMT, "toypup"
wrote:

I haven't seen any parents tell their kids a square is
not a rectangle.

There are preschool teachers who do. I have *songs*
they use to teach the shapes which do this.

Like what? I'm curious.

I don't think I'd ever encountered the idea that a square
is a rectangle until I got to school, and then I think I
rapidly moved from "It is NOT!" to "Oh, okay, I see what
you mean" in about ten minutes. I'm pretty math-impaired
and I don't see the big deal. The problem isn't that
rectangles and squares are deeply confusing, it's
just a question of realizing that the definition of
'rectangle' in math is more inclusive than the one
that's used in casual speech.

Beth