I recently did a tangram math lesson. I told the students that one of the Pirates of the Caribbean was about to be captured, so he took the treasure map he was holding and ripped it into pieces, flinging it towards the beach as he was made to walk the plank. They were then given their tangram shapes that were made of paper.
First we reviewed the shapes in the larger tangram square (triangle, square, and rhombus). Then I told we needed to rearrange the pieces to make one large square "map." After some struggling and, "I need some help!!!" students settled in and learned that they needed to turn their pieces to make them fit. Once most of the students had the pieces put together, we helped the others complete the square.
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Next I read Grandfather Tang's Story. In the story, two friendly animals were able to morph into other animals as they played tag. Students were asked to make predictions about what animals the tans would be arranged into next and to remember their sequence as the story went on. At the end, students were asked to try to create their own animal, person, or object using all seven of the shapes. After they chose and arranged the pieces, they colored and glued their pieces down onto paper. They were then to write a few sentences describing the picture.
Check out the Tangram Tales writing paper I created at Teachers Pay Teachers!
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