Lessons for kindergarten are structured around filling in outlines with shapes, free exploration, and creating their own images which they make into puzzles. If you have regular use of pattern blocks in your school, all you need to do is go through some very basic directions on how to move the shapes and give them time to free explore. I recommend at this level that you get students to choose to Don't Save as the norm.

1. Go through all 10 numbers on the choice Shape of Things. This is basically an outline which the student fills in with the available shapes. See Examples, Kindergarten Work, Creating a Puzzle.
2. Choose the Quick Images activity and run through the 10 numbers.
3. Use the worksheet on Create a Puzzle for Kindergarten.

First- Grade

If students have been exposed to the Kindergarten portion of this lesson they are ready to start by doing more free exploring with shapes. Using more commands to flip, turn, minimize and enlarge to make even a greater variety of designs.

In the second half of the year work begins on quilt squares, where students create quilt squares, that the computer duplicates into a quilt pattern. See on example page First Grade Work.

Third-grade is the first exposure to logo. The choices of activities such as Get the Toys and Feed the Turtle are good game like introductions to how to navigate in Logo, and in particular this version, Geo-Logo.

Even if you are not doing the corresponding TERC classroom lessons, stepping into Logo requires a good portion of hands on. If you do not have the TERC resource, look on the Resource page to access information on the Logo educational philosophy.

Lessons in forth-grade use the same game format to get students interested, but expand how the computer use more commands and exploration to understanding of grid and quadrant work. This software is called Geo-Logo Sunken Ships.

One lesson that gives much room for free exploring, but at the same time brings the lesson back to geometric forms and the problem solving model is to begin challenging the students to create the geometric shapes that they have know in earlier Investigation lessons and as Pattern Blocks.