This document outlines a lesson plan for students to investigate shapes found both indoors and outdoors. Students will go on a field trip just outside their school doors to take pictures of different shapes. They will then identify the shapes in their pictures and hypothesize why those shapes were used. Finally, students will tally the different shapes found and perform some basic math calculations like calculating fractions and creating graphs with the shape data. The goal is for students to understand why objects are often designed with specific shapes and how shape relates to an object's function.

1. Shapes At Work 5th Grade Standard: 5.5.6 Education 373 – Standard Indicator Project #2 Sarah Woodard

2. Why Investigate Shapes? Indiana Academic Standard and Indicator: 5.5.6 – Describe and use drawings to show shapes and compare locations of things very different in size. ** Based on Science NetLinks Lesson Plan** http://www.sciencenetlinks.com/lessons.php?DocID=130

3. Is there a reason why things are shaped the way they are? Does an object’s shape effect the way it works? Have You Ever Wondered… Windows tend to come in rectangular shapes, but could they be circular instead?

4. Graph paper for each student Writing utensils for each student Examples of various shapes Ability to explore outside your school Digital cameras for students to use (about 5) What You Need:

5. With your class create a list of shapes that come to mind. Question to Think About: What are some places you see these shapes outdoors? Class List of Shapes: Exploring Shapes

6. Circle – a closed plane curve consisting of all points at a given distance from a point within it called the center. Square – a rectangle having all four sides of equal length. Rectangle – a parallelogram having four right angles, where both pairs of parallel line segments are identical. Oval – having the general form, shape, or outline of an egg; egg-shaped. Helpful Definitions

7. Pentagon – a polygon having five angles and five sides. Triangle – a closed plane figure having three sides and three angles. Hexagon – a polygon having six angles and six sides. Parallelogram – a quadrilateral having both pairs of opposite sides parallel to each other. Helpful Definitions Continued

8. Where We Might Find Shapes What are some places you may see these shapes outdoors? Shapes are everywhere! Indoors Outdoors Nature Man-Made

10. For each group of students, provide a school digital camera

11. Each group will need to collect 4 to 5 pictures of shapes they see on their field trip (one picture per person)

12. On a separate day, have students print out their picture with room to draw and write

13. When students have their picture they will need to identify the shape and write about what function that shape serves:Questions to think about: What purpose does this shape serve my organism? Why did the designer decide to use this shape (if your picture is of a man- made object)?

14.  Examples of Pictures I Took 

15. Shapes we found in our pictures: Our ideas on why they are shaped this way: Class Response

16. Have students share with the class or share in small groups their hypothesis for why the their object has a specific shape. Use the student work for review of shapes Wrap It Up

17. Using the list of all the shapes your class found, tally the number of each shape. Out of the total number of shapes (denominator), how many shapes were there per category? Example: 12 shapes found, 6 are squares. This is written as . is the same as ½. So ½ of the shapes are squares. Explore converting fractions to decimals. Example: ½ is the same as 50%. Using the class list of shapes, create a graph to show the data. Then, calculate the mean, the median, and the mode of the data. Math Extension Activity

18. References and Resources Science NetLinks: “Shapes at Work.” Created on 6 Dec. 2000. Retrieved on 26 Sept. 2009. Retrieved from http://www.sciencenetlinks.com/lessons.php?DocID=130 Personal Pictures. Taken on 29 Sept. 2009 by Sarah Woodard. Definitions from http://www.dictionary.com . Retrieved on 28 Sept. 2009 Kalman, Bobbie. What Shape Is It? Looking at Nature. Crabtree Publishing Company, 2008. Lil, Grace & Thong, Rosanne. Round is a Mooncake: A Book of Shapes. Chronicle Books LLC, 2000. Sanfransico, CA.