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Cindy: WOW! It seems appropriate for a blog called Bookends to promote a book about symmetry! And the word WOW has three symmetrical letters and word symmetry as well!  Seeing Symmetry (Holiday House 2012) by Loreen Leedy is a boon to the sparse 510′s of the Dewey shelves but it has connections to language, nature, and art lessons as well. The book starts with the standard: line symmetry. An object that can be folded in half along a single line or one that divided in half has two identical halves is said to have line symmetry. It might also be called mirror, reflection or bilateral symmetry according to the additional examples and the notes in the back of the book. Examples include faces, shapes, letters and even words.

Rotational symmetry spins the lesson on its head! If an object can rotate around a single center point and maintain its shape it has rotational symmetry. The white trillium flowers blooming here in Michigan or a wind turbine blade is an example.

Add this book to your collection to support geometry Common Core Standards (4.G.3) but in addition to the suggested activities for practice in finding and creating symmetry examples, check out this fabulous webquest with many activities to support the concepts introduced here.

Oh, and a head’s up. It’s Mother’s Day this coming Sunday and MOM is symmetrical! HA!

Update: The author has this offer available:  a FREE 20 page PDF to go with Seeing Symmetry that can be downloaded here: Seeing Symmetry Activity Pack

For more Nonfiction Monday blog fun, head over to The Swimmer Writer. Enjoy!

This entry was posted on Monday, May 7th, 2012 at 7:36 pm and is filed under Art teachers take notice, Common Core Standards, Concept books, Gr. 2-4, Gr. 3-5, Mathematics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.