Young Children - March 2008 - (Page 38) is that it is a box to hide in. / People do many things with cubes for example playing hide and seek or storing things for moving. / If there were no cubes we wouldn’t have game cubes, computers, TV’s, a Rubic’s cube or a dictionary. / There are a lot of cubes in the world. / But the most important thing about a cube is that it is a box to hide in.” The final poem does not reflect all of the attributes Aaron developed and considered, but as the author, he decided which ones to emphasize. A semicircle has the shape of a half of a pizza. [Mother] Two semicircles make a circle. [Mother] But the most important thing about a semicircle is that it is half a circle. [Lynn] Inez Inez was interested in the mathematical attributes of her geometric shape, the square. Her initial brainstorming included many mathematical associations, but the ideas she recorded from her sister and mother reflected real-life applications—chalkboards, picture frames, TVs, books, buildings, and signs. In her completed poem Inez emphasized the relationship between two-dimensional (square) and threedimensional (cube) shapes. She was intrigued that a square has four sides and four vertices but no faces; a square only has a face when it is part of a threedimensional figure. Inez’s illustrations further accentuated this relationship. In the upper right she drew a cube with the bottom face falling open to show the cube/square relationship. Below her poem Inez drew a series of cubes and squares connected by diagonal lines. She drew a square and wrote along each of its four sides, “No face.” Her artwork complements her writing, making her page a well-orchestrated piece. Justin Justin often complained when he had to do any writing. He usually had trouble completing writing assignments; however, this time he worked hard to finish his piece. Michelle thought that working with his family was the impetus. Justin had brainstormed a few ideas about a rhombus, but he was still not sure how to begin. But when he solicited ideas from his brother Jacob, he knew he had the perfect “most important” attribute to feature in his poem. His final product reflected the benefits of home-school collaboration. His poem highlighted not only his brother’s name but also his brother’s association: “An important thing about a rhombus is Jacob thinks it looks like a baseball field. / It has 4 edges. / A rhombus is 2 V’s connected. / It is shaped like a diamond. It has 4 sides and 4 corners. / But the most important thing about a rhombus is Jacob thinks it looks like a baseball diamond.” Tony The open-ended nature of this activity supported children like Tony, who are English-language learners. Tony generated a variety of attributes to describe a circle but needed some support in organizing his ideas. As he reviewed his list of phrases for his final poem, Michelle asked him to cluster the ideas that went together. For example, he found two ideas that showed a circle as the Lynn Lynn selected the semicircle. She was particularly intrigued by a semicircle’s relationship to a circle. It interested her that a circle has no edges but a semicircle has one edge, a unique characteristic. Thus, she included these attributes in her poem along with contributions from her family (contributors’ names added): An important thing about a semicircle is that it is half a circle. [Lynn] It has one edge. [Lynn] It looks like a swing on the playground. [Lynn] The moon can be a semicircle [Mother], and a semicircle shows on your face when you smile. [Sister] “ An important thing about a rhombus is Jacob thinks it looks like a baseball field.” 38 Young Children • March 2008
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