| Objectives | Students will be able to: (1) identify and name the sphere; (2) describe its properties (round everywhere, no corners, no flat parts, rolls freely); (3) find spheres in the environment. |
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| Materials | Balls of all sizes, marbles, oranges; a gentle ramp; non-spheres for contrast (egg shape if possible — it wobbles!); plasticine. |
| Key vocabulary | sphere, solid, round everywhere, rolls, curved |
| Engage (starter) | (10 min) The rolling races: a ball, a box and a tin released down the ramp. The ball SAILS. "Why does the ball win? What does it have — or NOT have?" (No corners! No flat sides!) |
| Develop (main) | (35 min) 1. Sphere study: hands all over a ball — searching for a corner (none!), a flat part (none!), an edge (none!) — round EVERYWHERE, the same from every side. 2. The name bestowed: SPHERE — solid shapes get solid names. Air-trace its roundness. 3. Sphere-or-not sort: orange yes, egg NO (it wobbles — round but not everywhere the same); coin NO (flat faces!). 4. Plasticine spheres rolled between palms — makers checking their own work by rolling test. 5. Environment list: marbles, oranges, the ball, bubbles, the moon... |
| Plenary (close) | (10 min) The rolling proof: each child's plasticine sphere tested on the ramp — true spheres roll straight and free. Wobblers return to the palms! |
| Assessment | Sort: 5 of 6 sphere-or-not correct with a property reason; made sphere passes the rolling test; two environment spheres named. |
| Teacher notes | "Circle" and "sphere" will blur for weeks — the flat-versus-solid distinction (a circle lives on paper; a sphere fills your hand) needs patient daily repetition. The egg is the perfect near-miss teacher. |
| Objectives | Students will be able to: (1) identify and name the cube; (2) describe its properties informally (flat square faces, corners, edges, stacks and slides); (3) contrast cube with sphere. |
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| Materials | Dice, cube blocks, box cubes; the ramp again; square cards to match faces; plasticine. |
| Key vocabulary | cube, face, corner, edge, flat, stacks |
| Engage (starter) | (10 min) The stacking contest: who can tower balls? (Catastrophe!) Who can tower dice? (Skyscraper!) "What does the cube have that the sphere lacks?" FLAT PARTS — today's hero. |
| Develop (main) | (35 min) 1. Cube study: the flat parts get their name — FACES; run a finger along where faces meet — EDGES; touch the sharp points — CORNERS. Count faces together by sticking a dot on each: SIX. 2. Face detective: press a cube face onto paper and trace — a SQUARE appears! (The flat world lives ON the solid world.) 3. Sphere-versus-cube table built as a class: rolls/stacks, no corners/eight corners, curved/flat. 4. Plasticine cubes attempted (hard! flat faces take patience) — press against the desk for flatness. |
| Plenary (close) | (10 min) Ramp rematch: the cube slides or sits; the sphere rolls away. "Shapes BEHAVE according to their properties" — the week's deepest sentence. |
| Assessment | Face-count with dots correct; square traced from a face; three table contrasts recited; cube attempt shows deliberate flattening. |
| Teacher notes | Face/edge/corner vocabulary is offered informally — Grade 2 formalises counts. The traced square is the profound moment: 2D shapes are the FACES of the 3D world. Say it simply; let it grow. |
| Objectives | Students will be able to: (1) sort real objects as spheres, cubes or neither; (2) justify sorts by properties; (3) identify spheres and cubes by touch alone. |
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| Materials | Mixed object collection (balls, dice, boxes, tins, cones from party hats, fruit); three hoops (SPHERE / CUBE / NEITHER); the feely bag (cloth bag, mystery inside). |
| Key vocabulary | sort, neither, property, feel |
| Engage (starter) | (10 min) The feely bag debuts: a hand enters, eyes closed — "Round everywhere... no corners... it must be a SPHERE!" Reveal: a marble! Touch alone can name a solid, IF you know its properties. |
| Develop (main) | (35 min) 1. Three-hoop sort: teams sort the collection, defending each placement by property ("the tin has flat faces BUT it rolls — NEITHER!" — the tin is the day's great debate, and the debate IS the learning). 2. Feely-bag rounds: children identify hidden solids by touch, naming the property that betrayed it. 3. Property riddles: "I have six flat faces and I love to stack..." 4. The NEITHER hoop studied: tins, cones, eggs — "the solid world holds MORE shapes... two arrive next week!" |
| Plenary (close) | (10 min) Feely-bag championship: three volunteers, three solids, three correct touches — crowned by property-naming, not lucky guessing. |
| Assessment | Hoop sort: 7 of 9 objects placed with defensible reasons; one feely-bag identification with property named; the tin debate engaged. |
| Teacher notes | The NEITHER hoop is deliberately provocative — it teaches that categories have boundaries and creates hunger for next week's pyramid and cuboid. Never resolve the tin fully; let it itch. |
| Objectives | Students will be able to: (1) find spheres and cubes in the school environment; (2) record findings in the tally format; (3) explain why the world uses each shape where it does. |
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| Materials | Hunt tally sheets; the school grounds; a camera or drawing slips for trophies; the why-question cards. |
| Key vocabulary | environment, tally, purpose, because |
| Engage (starter) | (10 min) Hunters' briefing: the quarry — spheres and cubes hiding in plain sight. Tally rules reviewed. The bonus question loaded: not just WHERE, but WHY is that shape THERE? |
| Develop (main) | (35 min) 1. THE HUNT: teams sweep zones — sports store (balls!), dice in the games box, sugar cubes, box packaging, oranges at the canteen, beads, the globe. Tallies mark; drawings trophy the best finds. 2. Return and total: which solid rules the school? (Spheres usually edge it — sport!). 3. The WHY circle: why are balls spheres? (They must roll every way.) Why are boxes cube-ish? (They must STACK in trucks and shops.) Shape follows JOB. 4. Class solid map: trophies pinned to a school-grounds sketch. |
| Plenary (close) | (10 min) The design question flipped: "Would a cube-shaped football work? A sphere-shaped juice box?" Hilarity — and the deepest design thinking of the year. |
| Assessment | Tally sheets: both solids found and totalled; one why-answer given linking shape to job; trophy drawn. |
| Teacher notes | Shape-follows-function is engineering's first principle delivered as comedy. The cube juice box question will be quoted at home tonight — that is the transfer test passed. |
| Objectives | Students will be able to: (1) demonstrate identification, properties and sorting of spheres and cubes (consolidation); (2) complete the week checkpoint. |
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| Materials | Solids collection; feely bag; hoops; plasticine; checklist. |
| Key vocabulary | All week vocabulary |
| Engage (starter) | (10 min) Warm-up: one feely-bag touch; the sphere-cube contrast table chanted; a rolling-versus-stacking mime. |
| Develop (main) | (35 min) Round-up circuit with checklist: Table 1: sort six objects to hoops with reasons. Table 2: feely-bag double — identify both solids by touch with properties. Table 3: trace a cube face and name the flat shape; count faces with dots. Table 4 (choice): model one sphere and one best-effort cube; rolling test administered. Teacher records throughout. |
| Plenary (close) | (10 min) Preview with two mystery shapes under a cloth: "Next week the NEITHER hoop surrenders two answers — a box that is not a cube, and a shape with a POINT that ancient Egypt made famous..." |
| Assessment | Week 4 checkpoint: names, properties, sorting, touch-identification for sphere and cube. Secure/developing recorded. |
| Teacher notes | Two solids deeply beat four solids shallowly — this week's property-first approach means pyramid and cuboid next week land on trained eyes and hands. The cloth-covered teaser does its overnight work. |