CTC I Summary 11/12/12

Welcome back to Creative Thinking! It has been three terribly long weeks since we last met and took time to question the why, the what, the how.

Yesterday's topic was Symmetry. We talked about "What is symmetry?" and made visual representations of our ideas about symmetry. Most children understood line or mirror symmetry, but rotational symmetry was a new concept to some. Here is a wonderful web-site that will give the student another visual on rotational symmetry: ROTATIONAL SYMMETRY

We played a game that involved placing cards with pictures of different types of symmetry (both line and rotational) on a Venn diagram. The children were very thoughtful during this activity and worked in two teams to arrive at the correct answers. They grasped this concept extremely well as both teams were very close to 100% accuracy!

We drew asymmetrical and symmetrical faces and laughed and voted on the ones we thought were the most attractive, the most un-attractive, and the most interesting. This led to a deeper discussion of why symmetry matters to humans, birds, and even insects. We completed a couple of puzzles and a mirror activity -- ask your student to show them to you and see if you can see the answers, too!

As an activity for home, I gave each student a circle. Fold the circle in half, in quarters, and then eighths. Within the 1/8 circle, draw jagged edges up one side and down the other. Cut only these inside lines out. Unfold and see what you have (instructions if you need them).

For more fun and practice with symmetry at home this week, please see:

Symmetry Artist
Ambigram Symmetry

We use curriculum from Art of Inquiry, LLC