Rich tasks
- This is an open-ended task that develops students ability to build and draw a variety of three-dimensional objects, some which have similar views. The tasks can be given at the start of a topic and done as the students gain enough knowledge to complete them, inserted into a topic at an appropriate place, or given as homework.
Hamish’s city
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1. Hamish’s city
- It may be helpful for students to use blocks of a single colour so that their attention is focused on the profile of the shape rather than its constituent parts.
- Students should be encouraged to build and then draw each “house” on isometric or dotty paper as they go, so they have a record of different configurations.
- Ensure the paper is used the right way, with the vertical lines drawn between vertically aligned dots and the horizontal lines at an angle. A useful step by step tutorial to drawing 3-D shapes can be found at this link.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zj76fg8/revision/5 - Encourage students to turn the houses around slowly considering each “house” from different perspectives. Establishing that different configurations can have the same view is an important concept at this level.
- For question 3, students could build the structures made from different shapes to demonstrate why some are more stable than others. Encourage students to notice how symmetry contributes to balance and therefore the strength of the more stable shapes.
Drawing and building 3-D shapes page 254
- Be able to copy an isometric drawing of a simple 3-D shape.
- Draw a simple 3-D shape on isometric paper.
- Build and describe a 3-D shape using a variety of materials.
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Teacher notes
- Discussion about the 2-D shapes of faces on 3-D shapes is a good opportunity to revise vocabulary, descriptive language.
- Drawing 3-D shapes is also challenging for many students. Using isometric paper provides a scaffold for these students.
Faces and views page 256
- Recognise the 2-D shapes on the faces of 3-D shapes.
- Understand that when you look at an object from different places you get different views.
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Teacher notes
- Discussion about the 2-D shapes of faces on 3-D shapes is a good opportunity to revise vocabulary, descriptive language.
- Some 3-D shapes incorporate more than one 2-D shape, for example, a square pyramid has a square face and four triangular faces. Encourage noticing similiarities and differences between 3-D shapes.
- Students need lots of opportunity to manipulate actual 3-D shapes before they can mentally manipulate them.
- It is sometimes difficult for students to see the 2-D shape that makes up the faces of 3-D shapes. Encourage students to move around 3-D shapes and look at them from the side, from above and from in front of the shape. Looking at 2-D pictures of 3-D shapes can help students to see the views, for example, looking at bird’s eye views of building etc.
- There are many online tutorials with a focus on sketching and shading 3-D objects that could be incorporated into an art activity that will help students see the shapes within real objects and improve their ability to add depth to their drawing. These could be explored as an art activity with the children drawing alongside the artist. Some basic shapes are available at these links.
Example:
Cube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzkZyQvY_LA
Pyramid https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMkoYxQm2qw
Cylinder https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSAf6TXOEC0
Nets page 260
- Estimate the duration of events
- Understand and use the appropriate units for measuring time.
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