Hi,
I’m currently teaching my 5th grader geometry. He is really good with math concepts (though he took forever to get math facts and is still slow but dead on accurate). Now, we are hitting early geometry and he has to calculate the perimeter of oddly shaped figures. He has a perceptual processing weakness and he simply is not grasping the idea of how to tell when one side of a figure is equal to the other side of the figure. (Is this making sense?)
Does anyone have any suggestions for teaching geometry to a kid who isn’t great with perceiving shapes, directions, and detail in general?
Thanks!
Ana
Re: geometry - yikes!
No hard and fast rule, but memorizing case by case is generally counterproductive — you lose the whole concept.
Try having him trace around the edges with his finger or a pen. Have him copy the shapes to get a feel for them. Even as a good math person, I still keep track of complex figures with a pointer — it’s a good technique.
Try having a ruler handy to measure, and memorizing the rules for shapes (so if it’s a square, all the sides are equal). In general, I don’t think he has to be able to perceive that equality. I always got through that stuff by paying attention to the numbers & rules, not the pictures.