In this activity, the teacher begins by reviewing the definitions of point, ray and line segment and the conventions for labeling them. The students then arrange themselves in a large circle and begin passing around a ball of twine, unwrapping it as it goes from student to student. The students may pass it to a student next to them or to someone on the other side of the circle. The teacher makes sure the twine remains taut. When the twine is totally unraveled, the students lay it gently on the ground so that it keeps it Web-shaped pattern. The teacher lays laminated alphabet letters at each point on the web so the students can label the line segments, points and rays easily. Pairs of students work together with a white board to find and draw points, rays and line segments that they find in the web.
After reviewing the definitions of point, ray and line segment with the students, the teacher has them form small groups of three or four students. She instructs them to go around the room collecting examples of each of the geometric figures under discussion. After about 15 minutes, the scavenger hunt ends and the groups tell the rest of the class what objects they found to represent the figures.
The teacher prepares one set of cards with pictures of the relevant geometric figures and an equal number of cards with definitions of those same geometric figures. The students gather together in pairs or small groups. Each pair or group shuffles the cards and lays them face down in rows on the table. The students take turns turning over pairs of the cards. If a student finds a pair that matches a figure to its definition, he keeps both cards. At the end of the game, the student with the most cards wins.
The teacher divides the class into small groups and gives each group a list of geometric figures and their definitions. She then gives each group a set of pretzels and candy-coated chocolate pieces to form the geometric figures. The pretzels may be used to form lines or line segments, the candies may be used to form points and broken pretzels may be used to form arrows. When the students have explained their figures to the teacher, they may eat the snacks.