Do you need help teaching Geometry digitally? Teachers are always searching for better ways and new materials to cover the Geometry Standards. Since Covid-19, they’ve been expected to assign lessons digitally on sites like Google Classroom. There are advantages and disadvantages to teaching online. Digital assignments are often time-consuming to create and grade, but easy to organize and assign. You don’t have to worry about students (or teachers) losing the assignment. It’s all online and easy to access. It’s also simple to keep records of digital assignments and easy to give students individual assistance by typing directly on the assignment. If lessons are assigned in class, there are great programs such as Go Guardian which allow teachers to see every computer screen at once in order to monitor student work.
Teaching Circles Digitally
7th Grade teachers are expected to teach the vocabulary associated with circles: Radius, Diameter, Circumference, Area, and Pi. Some fun hands-on activities might include measuring radius, diameter, and circumference of various round objects in the classroom. They can also use string to measure circumference and calculate pi. But when it comes to digital lessons, many teachers are struggling to come up with lessons that scaffold learning and reinforce vocabulary. See these digital lessons you can assign directly into Google Classroom:
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Circles-Vocabulary-6880902
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Circles-Introductory-Lesson-Digital-8462076
Teaching Angles Digitally
7th grade standards include acute, obtuse and right angles. Students need to learn vertical and adjacent angles, complementary and supplementary. They’re also expected to know the degrees of various angles and how to calculate for unknown angles. All of this new vocabulary takes time and students must practice these skills till mastered. It’s important for students to be comfortable with angle measurements before they move on to triangles. Try using fun games like Quizizz to help students practice and keep them motivated. When it comes to teaching digitally, try these digital lessons and assign them to Google Classroom:
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/ANGLES-Vocabulary-Drag-and-Drop-Activity-Digital-6830396
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Angle-Measurements-Digital-6847305
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Angles-and-Triangles-Digital-Assessment-6887546
Teaching Triangles Digitally
Once your students understand and can easily calculate angles, they’re ready to move on to triangles. 7th grade students need to know the 2 ways to classify a triangle; by the length of its sides, or by the measurement of its angles. More new vocabulary must be mastered: acute, obtuse, right, scalene, equilateral, and isosceles. Students will learn that all three angles of a triangle will always add up to 180 degrees, and with this knowledge learn to use algebra to find missing angle measurements. This can easily be done digitally. And with digital assignments you can change assignments to differentiate for individual students. A google slides assignment can be easily altered by eliminating or adding slides as needed. See the following lesson on Triangles:
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Triangles-Find-the-missing-Measurement-Digital-6878464
Teaching Scale Digitally
Learning scale and scale factor can be fun for your students. I usually introduce scale by bringing in blueprints of a house I had built. I explain how everything in the blueprint had to be drawn to scale or the plans would not be accepted by the city. The plans had to be accurate. I show them how doorways and bathrooms had to be in exact proportion on the blueprint. (A good reason to teach scale after learning ratios and proportions!) Scale is also fun to learn digitally. Students can use the “fill color” feature or “draw line” tool on Google Slides to create their own drawings to scale. Ratios and proportions again come into play when finding the missing measurement in two scale drawings. See these digital lessons on scale:
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Scale-Drawings-Digital-6718139
Teach Surface Area Digitally
This is a tough standard to master for my 7th graders. But again, if assigned digitally, you can alter the assignments for individual students. You can also teach this whole class or assign to more advanced students. Surface area must be visualized by students using nets. You may want to first have students cut out nets to create different 3-dimensional models. The students need to see how a figure will look when taken apart and flattened. This can also be taught and modeled digitally. See the following digital assignment on surface area:
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Surface-Area-Digital-Lesson-8479214
Do You Need to Review Perimeter and Area First?
I always begin my geometry unit with a review of perimeter and area. Students can draw arrays on graph paper and then calculate perimeter and area. Or they can do so digitally. See this review lesson on perimeter and area:
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Perimeter-and-Area-Digital-Lesson-8477440
Save On All of These Digital Lessons Make sure your students have all they need to master 7th grade Geometry standards digitally.
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/7th-Grade-Geometry-Unit-10-Digital-Lessons-8479972
