Shapes & Spatial Relations
Activity Summary
Use this storybook guide with the book “Bear in a Square.”
Many public libraries have this book.
Reading guide
About the Story
Bear introduces different shapes on each page of the bilingual story, “Bear in a Square.” Whether he’s at home or in the park, there are squares, circles, and other shapes hidden in each scene. The number of shapes increases from one to 10, making this a good story to talk about both shapes and numbers.
Words to Learn
SHAPES
square, heart, circle, rectangle, moon, diamond, zigzag, oval, star
OTHER WORDS
queen, pool, cave, crown, clown
About the Math
When talking about the different shapes, your child can learn:
- Each shape has its own name, such as rectangle, oval, and circle.
- Shapes have specific properties that make them different from other shapes. For example, a rectangle has four sides, but an oval has no sides.
- We can recognize shapes that are of different sizes and in different positions. For example, if we turn a rectangle on its side, or every which way, it’s still a rectangle.
- Shapes are all around us!
Math Talk During Reading
- TALK ABOUT THE CHARACTERISTICS OF SHAPES
How many sides does a square have? What about a star? - NOTICE THE DIFFERENCES AND SIMILARITIES BETWEEN SHAPES
How do you know this is an oval? How is it different from a circle? - TALK ABOUT THE OTHER SHAPES IN THE PICTURE
What other shapes do you see, besides the hearts? - PRACTICE COUNTING THE NUMBER OF SHAPES ON THE PAGE
How many circles can you find?
Try to come up with some of your own questions and comments, too!
Activity After Reading
- FIND SHAPES AROUND THE HOUSE OR ALMOST ANYWHERE ELSE
Let’s look around. Do you see any triangles? What do you notice about this one? Why is it a triangle?