By Katrina Maccalous, M.S. Ed.

Every year my students take multiple diagnostic assessments and benchmarks before state-mandated testing begins. And every year, what is one of our lowest scoring domains in math? …GEOMETRY…The vocabulary necessary to successfully navigate those geometry questions, is one of the main contributors–its a lot of definitions and images to internalize and apply.

Teaching geometry doesn’t have to be a boring, drill though! It can and should be fun and meaningful for children! I love brainstorming and researching ideas for how to help students learn concepts, and so I went down the rabbit hole yet again with geometry. The result was improved growth scores and learners that were engaged and challenged.

So if you’ve found yourself in a similar position, check out the following ideas below!

Bundle of Angle Fun:

This bundle is available at my TPT store. It was quite a hit with my students, who loved hearing the math ideas integrated into a familiar story! Since this time, I’ve created several more stories that relate to math content. One of my other favorites is my Fraction Land collection (story, game, and lessons). Check back soon for a post on teaching fractions for more on that!

This bundle includes the story “Goldie and the Three Angles,” suggested lesson plans, a foldable printable, vocabulary cards, scavenger hunt and art activity!

The final piece in this learning process, is learning to apply their understandings to test-style questions. Usually this takes the form of a series of lines labeled with variables, in which students are asked to identify the types/number of angles. One way to begin to introduce this, is to link it with geography! Provide students with local or regional maps, and have them highlight the different angles and lines they find (This works best after they have also been exposed to perpendicular and parallel lines.).

Please share any other ideas you have for teaching geometry, and as always…happy teaching!