You can help students build a basic understanding of shapes by reading them books like "Mouse Shapes" by Ellen Stoll Walsh and "When a Line Bends, A Shape Begins" by Rhonda Gowler Green. Take students on a shape hunt and have them identify the circles, squares, triangles and rectangles in the classroom and throughout the school. Have students recreate basic geometric shapes using a variety of materials, including pipe cleaners, straws, and geoboards. Provide students with geometric pattern blocks and have them recreate pattern block puzzles.
Geometric solids differ from shapes because they are three-dimensional and, with the exception of spheres, have faces. Provide students with a variety of geometric solids and have them count the number of faces on each piece. Extend the activity by having students create their own geometric solids. Supply them with a pre-printed template for cubes, pyramids and rectangular prisms, then direct them in folding the paper and gluing the edges together to form a solid.
Angles are created when two lines meet. Students begin studying angles in third and fourth grade and need to know how to measure them. Take students on an angle hunt and have them discover different angles in the classroom and school environment. Encourage students to record their finding in a notebook to share with the class during circle time.
Provide students with a protractor and show them the proper way to use it to get the measurements of an angle. Introduce straight, acute, right and obtuse angle measurements and then provide students with a variety of angles to measure and identify. Have students create angle models by gluing toothpicks onto construction paper that has been folded into four sections and labeled with the different types of angles.