Friday, November 20, 2009

Geometry Test

TGIF, Grade 5s!


Today, I gave you your study sheets for Tuesday's test on our recent geometry unit. Here's what the study sheet said:

We will be having a test on what we’ve been learning about whole numbers. Our test will be on Tuesday, November 24th.

Make sure you know how to:
• name triangles based on the length of their sides (e.g., equilateral, isosceles, scalene)
• name triangles based on their angles (e.g., right angle triangle, obtuse triangle, acute triangle)
• measure the angles of triangles with the use of a protractor
• draw an angle when given a measure (e.g., draw a 45° angle)
• construct a triangle given measurements of sides and/or angles (e.g., construct triangle ABC, with angle A measuring 25°, angle B measuring 80°, and the length of AB measuring 42mm)
• recognize which net creates which 3D solid
• create a net for a 3D solid (e.g., make a net for a triangular prism)

Are YOU ready?
Have a great weekend!

-Ms. Lewis.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Constructing Nets

Hi Grade 5s,

Today in class we talked about nets.  Remember that to create a net, we need to find out how many faces a figure has, and what shape those faces are.

For example, I could make a net of this pentagonal prism:


First, I would count the faces and find that there are 7 faces (2 bases, 5 faces around).  5 of those faces are rectangles, and the other two faces are pentagons.

The net would look this this:


Find a solid figure around your house.  See if you can figure out how you could create it with a net.  Prize tomorrow for whoever posts their net here first.

Yay nets!



-Ms. Lewis.

Monday, November 9, 2009

Naming and Sorting Polygons by Angles

Happy Monday!


Today in class we began to talk about how to name triangles based on their angles.  We remembered that:


  • right angles are 90°
  • acute angles are less than 90°
  • obtuse angles are greater than 90°


We learned that we can measure the three angles (tri-angle...remember?) of a triangle to determine whether it is a right angle triangle, an acute angle triangle, or an obtuse angle triangle.  The rule is:


  • right angle triangles have one 90° angle
  • acute angle triangles have all 3 angles less than 90°
  • obtuse angle triangles have one angle greater than 90°


Remember: you can only have an acute triangle if all 3 angles are less than 90°.

Regular polygons are polygons (closed shape, at least 3 sides) that have all sides the same length, and all equal angles.  Irregular polygons have sides of different lengths, and different angles.

SUPER TERRIFIC BRAIN-BUSTING QUESTION:

WHAT KIND OF TRIANGLE IS A REGULAR POLYGON?  EXPLAIN YOUR ANSWER!
(First person to post the answer on the blog wins a prize in class tomorrow!)

See you tomorrow!

-Ms. Lewis.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Measuring Angles

Hi Grade 5s,

Today we began measuring angles using protractors.  Don't worry if you're still trying to get the hang of it--it takes practice and patience.

I found a great interactive activity at mathisfun.com where you can use a virtual protractor to measure angles. 

Try it out!

http://www.mathsisfun.com/geometry/protractor-using.html

-Ms. Lewis.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Geometry Definitions

Hi Grade 5s,

For homework tonight, you had to find the definitions for the following geometry terms:


  • equilateral triangle
  • isosceles triangle
  • scalene triangle
  • pentagon
  • hexagon
  • octagon
  • parallelogram
  • trapezoid

 
You can post your definitions straight to the blog as a comment, if you like. Just remember to include your name.

 
See you tomorrow!

-Ms. Lewis

 

Monday, November 2, 2009

Triangles, Triangles, Triangles!

Today, we began our geometry unit by looking at the 3 different kinds of triangles: equilateral, isosceles, and scalene.
Let's take a closer look at each:

Equilateral - We recognized that the word "equilateral" sounds a lot like "equal", which means the same. We are so smart that we figured out that an equilateral triangle is a triangle with all 3 sides the same length.




Isosceles (eye-saw-so-leez) - We learned that an isosceles triangle is one with two sides that are the same length.




Scalene (skay-leen) - We figured that if an equilateral had 3 sides of the same length, and an isosceles had 2 sides of the same length, then a scalene triangle must have 3 sides of different lengths.



We're so smart...
See you tomorrow!