Quadrilaterals Background Information for Teachers, Parents, and Caregivers
This page contains information to support educators and families in teaching K-3 students about quadrilaterals. Designed to complement the BrainPOP Jr. movie Quadrilaterals, you will find ideas for developing related understandings and ways to use other BrainPOP Jr. resources to scaffold and extend student learning.
Before focusing on quadrilaterals, watch the Plane Shapes movie for a review of basic shapes, including circles, squares, rectangles, and triangles. Having background information about all the basic shapes will prepare children for focusing on quadrilaterals.
The Quadrilaterals movie describes the properties of a quadrilateral: 4 sides, closed shape, straight lines, 4 angles, and explores each type of quadrilateral, including square, rectangle, rhombus, and trapezoid. Children will review that parallel lines are ones that never cross each other, and they’ll learn that parallelograms are a type of quadrilateral that have two pairs of parallel lines, such as a square and a rectangle. They’ll also discover that not all quadrilaterals are parallelograms, such as a trapezoid that has just one set of parallel lines.
Encourage children to notice that quadrilaterals are everywhere: signs, buildings, books, etc. Invite them to look for quadrilaterals around the classroom, at home, at the park, and more.
For enrichment or extension, we recommend exploring other BrainPOP Jr. movies that explore the geometry, including Congruent and Similar Shapes, Plane Shapes, and Solid Shapes.
