How to Review Classifying Quadrilaterals with Free Game

Help your students understand the different characteristics and rules of quadrilaterals with this FREE quadrilateral bingo game.

“Is a square a rectangle?” I asked my six-year-old son.

He gave me that look. The look that says I know so much more than you do. The look that seems to say I can’t believe you are asking me this question.

“Moooooom,” he replied. “Of course, a square is not a rectangle.”

A week ago, my son would have responded that way, but now his response is a little different. His brows furrow in deep concentration and a hmmmmmm flows out of his little mouth. Then random answers begin to flow out of his mouth. They are never the same, and I’m now fully aware that he has not totally understood shape characteristics.

Time for a two-step intervention…,

Step 1: Quadrilateral Chart

When I taught my fourth graders, I always made a chart when we started talking shapes. I decided to try out this chart with N, my oldest, to see if I could solidify his thinking on quadrilaterals.

It is incredibly easy to make, and light bulbs started flashing very brightly as we worked through the chart.

We began by writing all the shapes down one side, and all the characteristics across the top. We then proceeded to go through each shape and put in x under the characteristics that they exhibit.

When it was completed, N was able to see that a parallelogram had three x’s and that a square had those three x’s too. Therefore, a square is a parallelogram. He could also see that square had more x’s than a parallelogram did, so a parallelogram is not always a square.

This type of conversation continued with the other shapes, and I finally wasn’t getting furrowed eyebrows when I asked those weird questions about is a square a rectangle.

Step 2: Quadrilateral Bingo

Now it was time to practice this knowledge N was finally beginning to understand. And you know, there isn’t a better way to practice than by playing games.

Bingo is a pretty common game, so I won’t bore you with all the details of how to play. But…here are a few things you need to know.

Items you need

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A little difference about Quadrilateral Bingo

Most bingo games have one answer per clue, but that is not the case for Quadrilateral Bingo. There are MANY answers for each clue, so I highly recommend playing in a small group setting.

For example, you may tell your students to find a shape with 2 pairs of parallel lines. Well, we all know that they could cover up a square, rhombus, rectangle, or a parallelogram. Even the card that says rectangle can have two answers. Remember a square is always a rectangle.

Did the intervention work?

Yes!! All our work with quadrilaterals has started to pay off, and I can tell that N is starting to recognize quadrilaterals, understand the vocabulary and characteristics of the shape, and even how those quadrilaterals are classified. I also loved how he went to the chart when he couldn’t remember which shape matched a clue.

C, my four-year-old, is still working on recognizing the shapes, but this game worked for him too. After N would figure out the answer, I would simply say to C, “You can cover up a square or a rectangle.”

He would then find the shape and cover one up. He is still hearing all the other conversations, so next year when I’m expecting a little more from him he will have the background knowledge to pull from.

I’m thrilled that for now furrow brows and random answers are a thing of the past.

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