Number Crew 2: Shape and Space 2
Programme 2: Octa Doctor – Classifying 2-D Shapes According to Their Properties

Outline

In the land of strange shapes the children meet the Octa Doctor, who tells them they need the correct tickets before they can return home. They need tickets with 'penta' or 'hexa' number of sides. Matthew explains these strange numbers and the Living Shapes demonstrate hexagons, pentagons and octagons. The children satisfy the Octa Doctor with their new tickets, but are still unsure whether they will get home.

Recommendations for Use

It is recommended that teachers preview the programmes to note the places they might wish to stop the tape to encourage discussion. The programmes can be used as part of the introductory class activity, where the tape is stopped at pre-planned points and the whole class is encouraged to identify and review the problems posed or predict answers. Alternatively the programmes can be used as part of the main teaching activity before children pursue their differentiated tasks. At times it may be useful to use a whole programme as part of the plenary/last session of a lesson to allow children to review their own understanding of the work they have been doing and allow teachers to assess the children informally as they watch the programme.

Curriculum Relevance

The Number Crew 2: Shape and Space 2 is a unit of five 10-minute programmes designed to support key objectives in the National Numeracy Strategy for 6-7 year olds.

Activities

Before viewing

Have a collection of regular and irregular cardboard or plastic shapes in a bag to pass round. Ask the children to take out a shape and talk about the number of sides, whether they are straight or curved, and whether they are of the same length.

After viewing

Discuss Matthew's challenge; Say penta, hexa, hepta and octa. Would you think it's speaking oddly to say uni, bi, tri, quadri? Find out about those strange words. Give the children clues – suggest words the children might know like bicycle, tricycle, quadruplets.
Give children coloured paper squares, rectangles, triangles and circles. Ask them to cut them into several pieces to make a jigsaw. Then they try to fit the pieces together again.
Explore which shapes fit together without leaving spaces. Have sets of 2-D shapes of card or plastic for the children to use. Talk about which shapes fit together and which don't.

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