Shapes

"Get the Buzz! Problem Solving for Key Stage 1" by Liz Hopkins is a collection of engaging educational activities designed to help young learners explore and understand the concepts of shape and problem-solving. In one activity, students are presented with a scenario involving Eric and his bag of cubes and cones, where they must figure out how many of each shape there could be based on the total number of faces. The problem extends to different scenarios, such as if there were 30 faces, or if Eric's bag contained cylinders instead of cones. These exercises encourage children to apply their knowledge of 3D shapes and their properties to solve practical problems.

Another set of problems in the book challenges students to use sticks of different lengths to create various shapes. Aggie has sticks that are either 10cm or 6cm long, and she uses three of them to form a shape. The task for the students is to draw the possible shapes she could make, and then consider what shapes could be made if she used four sticks, or if she found additional sticks that were 8cm long. These activities not only reinforce understanding of shapes and their dimensions but also stimulate creative thinking and spatial awareness. The book includes a variety of other problem-solving tasks, such as sorting shapes based on clues, combining numbers to reach a target, and saving money, all tailored to the learning level of Key Stage 1 students.