Teaching Shape Identification--A Multisensory Approach

I have shared many times how important I feel multi-sensory teaching is and my little group of needy learners reinforces my belief in this more and more each day.

Today we had a fun shapes review lesson and the kids did great!

We started off with this cute youtube video from KidsTV123:

I LOVE teaching with YouTube!! It is a great way to start off a lesson and get the kids engaged. I am beginning to use some of these KidsTV123 videos but I REALLY like the Super Simple Songs  youtube page... (for more about these songs and for free resources visit their website HERE)

For my the rest of my lesson, I actually used Super Simple Songs Shape Song and Shape Song 2. But I only have the audio. I haven't been able to find a video for these songs but they are simple and slow enough that my kiddos do just fine listening. I also make some manipulatives to go along with the song and reinforce shape identification.

For each student, I made a shape mat using Boardmaker clip art. I laminated each board and then traced the shapes with glue to make the lines raised. During the song the students used their fingers to trace the shapes (I tried this activity prior to making the lines raised and they just could not trace them!! The raised lines made a world of difference!!).

Then, I gave students foamie shapes to match during the song. The foamies were a variety of sizes and colors which made this a little tricky but they did great.

The combination of auditory, tactile, and visual input kept the kids engaged and they did much better on their assessment after the review than they did before the lesson! Wahoo!