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Shape and Data
Objectives
To name 3D shapes and identify their properties.
Resources
Large cuboid (such as a shoe box) | 3D shapes | A3 paper | 📄 Faces and vertices recording sheet
Vocabulary
faces | vertices | vertex | edges | cube | square-based pyramid | triangular prism | cuboid | middle | ends
Today's Lesson
What to Get Ready
Draw a table with three columns on a piece of A3 paper with the headings: ‘Shape’, ‘Number of faces’ and ‘Number of vertices’, similar to the one below:
| Shape | Number of faces | Number of vertices |
Introduction
Before you start the lesson, watch this Recap Video with your student.
Look together at the large cuboid and ask, ‘How many faces does this shape have?’
Discuss a system for counting them, for example, round the ‘middle’ and then both ‘ends’.
Show the table you have prepared.
Explain: ‘We are going to record the information in a table.’
Ask: ‘How many vertices does a cuboid have?’ (8) Remember vertices are the corners of a 3D shape.
Ask your student to count them, discussing how they are doing this. For example, do we count those on one end and then the other, or the vertices around the ‘top’, then the ‘bottom’. Be careful not to count any twice! Placing a pen-mark or a blob of sticky tack on each vertex, once counted, will help them to keep track if needed.
Repeat with a cylinder, explaining, ‘This shape has no vertices! It has 2 flat faces, and 1 curved face.’
Repeat with a cone, a pyramid and a sphere (a sphere has 1 curved face, no vertices).
They should record all of their findings in the table.
Next, point to an edge and explain, ‘Where two faces meet, we call this an edge. Look for edges on the shapes we have looked at.’
Help your student to identify one or more edges on each shape (but don’t count them at this stage).
Main Activity
Your student should now find the numbers of faces and vertices of a cube, a square-based pyramid and a triangular prism.
They can record their answers on the 📄 Faces and vertices recording sheet.
They should identify edges but not count them.
Give your student a set of 3D shapes to use for reference.