Geometry Interactive Notebook - The Seventh Unit

Our seventh unit was our unit on Polygons.  This unit was interesting.  My students were relieved to get a break from triangles, although they did realize that triangles are still a small part of this unit.  I've tried to explain to them that they are just getting a small snippet of all that is Geometry, and if we were to learn more about Geometry it would be more than triangles and therefore much more complicated.  They're still not completely convinced though.

As usual, the unit began with a pocket page and a table of contents.  We had one page of vocabulary (not pictured).

 We began our unit with the Polygon Angle Sum Theorem.  I got this idea from a picture on Pinterest.  I have no idea whose idea it was originally though.  This really helped the kids understand how angles of polygons are calculated and I noticed that my students this year had a much easier time remembering the formula than last year.  Interestingly, after this activity I'd predicted that they would forgo the formula and use the picture method instead.  I was wrong.

 This same day we also covered the Polygon Exterior Angles Theorem.  This idea is less tangible for my students. 

 We then moved into parallelogram properties.  I introduced students to the properties and they took notes under the flaps.  We completed examples on a separate page.  I need to find a better way to do this for next year.  My students still don't know all of their parallelogram properties.

Our next lesson was on parallelogram proofs.  We did not spend much time on this topic.  I struggled to teach proofs and my students are struggling to understand them.  My plan of attack is to spend two weeks on proof before beginning review.  We practiced proofs on a separate worksheet (not pictured).

 After proofs, we began special parallelograms.  I used the same flap method as I did previously, and again, my students still don't remember the properties of special parallelograms.  There must be a better way (that does not involve an extensive, time-consuming activity)!

 After our lesson on trapezoids (I completely skipped kites because it is not tested and time was an issue because of an abundance of snow days), I had students complete these charts summarizing the properties of parallelograms, special parallelograms, and trapezoids.

 At the end of our unit, we studied Coordinate Geometry Proofs.  Students have a difficult time connecting distance, slope, and midpoint formulas to properties of quadrilaterals.  I made this hand out to have students fill-in and hopefully think about how these things are connected.  We practiced coordinate proofs on a separate worksheet (not pictured). 

Thus ends another unit in our interactive notebooks.  This unit concludes our module on congruence.