SYMETRY LESSON

Name______Maddie Buhl__
School______Fairfield North Elementary__________________________
Grade Level____3rd_____ Subject/Topic Mathematics________________
Date_04/20/2015_____________

1. Title of Lesson
Symmetry
2. Ohios New Learning Standards addressed in this lesson
Geometry 3.2- Partition shapes into equal parts with equal areas
3. Standards for Mathematical Practice intended in this lesson

Reason abstractly and quantitatively

Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.
Model with mathematics
Attend to precision
Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.

4. Student Performance Objective

Identify figures that are symmetric

Be able to find the line of symmetry on an object
Be able to create their own design that is symmetric

5. Differentiations:

English Language Learners

o Make different shapes to use as models out of construction paper. A square,
equilateral triangle and a heart. Draw a line in the middle of each shape, showing
the line of symmetry. Fold the shape over the line of symmetry into two equal
parts to show that they are the same.

6. Key Academic Language addressed in lesson

Symmetry
Line of symmetry
Congruent

7. Connections to previous and future learning

Ask the students if they know of any shapes that can be cut into equal parts.

8. Pre-assessment

Ask if anyone knows what it means if a shape can be divided into two equal parts.
Ask if anyone has heard the word symmetry before.
If so, what does it mean?

9. Materials and Resources

Math In Focus lesson 18.3 SmartBoard pages
Pencil
Big black construction paper
At least 5 colors of regular construction paper (for each student)
Scissors
Glue
Piece of white printer paper (one per student)
10. Procedure:
Beginning

Ask the students if they know what the word symmetry means.
Listen to their responses, and then explain that symmetry is when a shape can be
divided into two parts that are identical.
If you have English Language Learner students, implement above differentiation
here.
Go to the provided symmetric figures on the first page of the Math In Focus
SmartBoard pages for this lesson. There is a leaf, circle, envelope, and bandana.
Each shape is divided in half.
Start with the leaf. Explain that the dotted line down the middle is the line of
symmetry. This line divides the leaf into two equal parts, so the shape is
symmetric.
Move onto the other three shapes. Ask the students if they are symmetrical, and
why or why not?
Ask them what the line in the middle is called.

Middle

Teacher modeling: Take a piece of printer paper and fold it into a triangle that is
not totally even so part of it sticks out.
Cut the part sticking out off, so you have an equilateral triangle left.
Show the class the triangle.
Ask if they think that there is a line of symmetry/ where it would be if there was
one.

Draw the line of symmetry down the middle.

Hand out a piece of printer paper to each student and have them follow those
same steps.
Once they draw their lines of symmetry, have them cut out the triangles so they
have two equal ones.
Have the students place the triangles on top of one another so they can see they
are even.
Ask if they know another word for even or equal.
Explain that this word is congruent.
Have another triangle cut out that is not equilateral.
Ask the students if they see a line of symmetry anywhere on this triangle.
Draw the lines that they say.
Then fold it over each of the lines so they can see that no matter where you fold it,
the two sides will not be congruent.
This figure does not have a line of symmetry, therefore it is not a symmetrical
shape.
Guided Practice: Go to the next Math In Focus Smartboard page. Go through the
top three figures and ask the students which ones are symmetrical and why. Circle
the ones that are.
Go through the next figures and ask if each one is symmetrical.
If they say that it is, ask where the line of symmetry would be.
Then draw the line on the shape.
Ask if there is another line of symmetry.
Draw the line that they say.
Explain that some objects can have more than one line of symmetry, and the parts
will still be congruent no matter which line you choose to fold the shape along.
Go to the last part of the SmartBoard page and go through the letters asking if the
dotted lines are lines of symmetry and why or why not.
Independent Practice: Pass out large black paper to each student.
Have them get five different colors of construction paper.
Explain to them that they are going to create a symmetrical picture.
Have them fold their black papers in half and then unfold them so there is a
crease.
This crease is their line of symmetry.
Explain that they are allowed to create whatever pictures they want, as long as it
is symmetrical. What they do to one side they must do to the other in the same
spot.

Closing

Collect the students work and hang it in the hallway!

Bring them back together and ask them what made their pictures symmetrical, and
where the line of symmetry was.

11. Assessment Formal and/or informal? Formative or summative?

Formative- Monitor the students actions as they are creating their pictures. Are they
asking a lot of questions? Are they doing the same thing on one side of the paper as they are on
the other?
Summative- The final picture that they produced on their black paper. If the picture is
symmetrical, then I know they understood. If the picture has a crease in the middle of their paper,
I will know that they understood.

Part 4- Instructing and Engaging Students

First page of Math In Focus- SmartBoard page-

Guided Practice Math In Focus SmartBoard page -

Examples of student work-

Part 5- Analysis of Teaching Effectiveness

1. The lesson that I did was on symmetry. My goals were to have the students be able to pick out
a line or lines of symmetry on figures, tell if an object is symmetrical or not, and to be able to
create their own symmetrical picture. The goals of my lesson were met for the most part. The
evidence is the responses that they gave throughout the guided practice of my lesson, as well as
their pictures that they made. I showed examples of four students that created as close to
perfectly symmetrical pictures as they could. These were great! They had so much fun and got
very creative with it.
2. However, for the most part the students worked seemed to show that they understood the
concept of symmetry. Even the couple of students whose pictures were not symmetrical at all had
the crease for the line of symmetry in the middle, so they got the first part of my goal. I believe
that my learning methods were appropriate for all of the learners because I used whole class
instruction, modeling, guided practice, and an independent hands- on activity to assess their
learning. During their activity they were allowed to talk with their table partners and bounce
ideas off of one another if they wanted!
3. I created a differentiation for English Language Learners, however I did not have to use it
because I do not have any in my classroom for field. I just thought that if I ever did use this
lesson again or somebody else did, that differentiation would be good for students that may
struggle with English. I could also have used it for students that are on IEPs, but all of them that
are in my field classroom get pulled out for math instruction so they were not there.
4. I think the activity at the end was the most effective part of my instruction. It was a chance for
the students to show off what they had just learned in a really colorful and creative way. A lot of
them got really into it and made amazing designs, and they still were symmetrical so I could tell
that they understood the objectives. It was also cool to see a lot of different shapes and letters
being used, because they expanded their knowledge into knowing that symmetry does not apply
only to basic shapes. It was also an effective assessment because it was easy to pick out if the
students did not understand what symmetry was by looking at if their pictures were the same on
both sides or not.
5 and 6. One misconception I think that some of the students had was that there could only be
one line of symmetry. However they surprised me during our guided practice when one of them
yelled out, I think there is a line of symmetry sideways too!, when looking at the hexagon for
lines of symmetry. This is when we had the conversation about how there could be more than
one line of symmetry in shapes and objects, and if you folded it on any of those lines it would be
in two equal parts.
7, 8 and 9. Overall I think that this lesson went over really well. I got to teach it twice because
my teacher teaches math and then her class goes to another teacher for reading and those kids
come to my teacher for math instruction. So the first time it was a little bit rocky. Then the
second time everything transitioned better and the students seemed to have more prior content

knowledge so I think that helped as well. They were very engaged and responsive, and they
picked up on the vocabulary words easily, in the second class.
10. An activity I might consider doing next with the students is having them go on a symmetry
scavenger hunt with a partner around the room and pick out objects that are symmetrical! It is
harder to find objects in real life than it is to do them on a piece of paper. This would also
incorporate 3-D shapes and be fun for the students!
11. The morning class struggled with the concept of congruent some so Maddie and I kept asking
them what another word for equal was when they would tell us that the line of symmetry made
the shape into two equal parts. Eventually they got it down! We used oral responses to assess
their understanding of our key vocabulary throughout the lesson.
12. Our teacher had us do this lesson because that is the schools curriculum and it was a lesson
she needed to have done by the end of the year. Although part of it was out of the book, the
activity we did at the end where the students created a design on black paper was not from the
book. Generally our teacher will hit objectives on the SmartBoard using the books templates,
and then come up with a hands- on activity for reinforcement of the concepts on her own. So this
is what we decided to do as well!