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• Dragon Tales - "The Shape of Things to Come"
  When Zak's new dragondisk gets all gooey and sticky in Marshmallow Marsh, the gang learns that the only way to clean it is to dip it in Crystal Fountain in the Crystal Cave. Sounds easy enough, but once they arrive, they are greeted by Kristel, the door that guards Crystal Fountain. Kristel has three shapes below her face: a square, a circle and a triangle. The gang must find items that match these shapes in order for Kristel to allow them to enter.
• Curious George - "Bag Monkey"
  Just putting his toys away in an organized manner is a challenge for George - so he faces an incredible test when he represents the City Grocer in the local "Bag Olympics" for bagging groceries! Toys are one thing, but fitting canned ham, eggs and paper towels neatly into the same bag may prove too tall an order - especially with the overly confident Rodney from Large Mart packing in the next corner. But then again, if George can practice at home by fitting together the shapes of his stuffed camel and muscle man together, what's a little salami and cheese?

Do in Class

• Arthur: Making Shapes - Experiment with shapes to create unique get-well cards. Explore painting techniques and symmetry to design butterflies.
• Barney: Three Cornered Hat - Explore triangles in this lesson plan, and then find the hidden shapes in a corresponding printable.
• Curious George: What's That Shape - Recognize and name basic geometric shapes by drawing shapes in both traditional and non-traditional mediums.
• Cyberchase: A Different Point of View - Observe, draw and identify the outline shapes of simple objects from different viewpoints and name the geometric shapes seen.
• Cyberchase: What Makes This Shadow? - Use these printables to explore the shapes of objects from different points of view.
• Dragon Tales: The Shape of Things to Come - Practice shape identification by making a paper quilt from basic shapes of different sizes. Identify objects in the real world that are made of basic shapes.
• Mathline: It's a Perfect Fit, Part I: Getting into Shapes - Duplicate shapes shown on a card using square tiles, identify and describe two-dimensional shapes in the classroom environment and sort a collection of shapes according to their attributes. Form pictures from shapes, and write stories about them.
• Teletubbies: Circle Fun - Have a circle lunch with circle sandwiches! Then make circle pictures.
• Teletubbies: Colorful Shapes - Cut out circles, squares, rectangles, triangles, stars and ovals and sort them into like piles.
• ZOOM: Strongest Shape - Observe the structural strength of different three-dimensional shapes made from paper by piling books on top of each shape.

Play Online

• Boohbah: Boohbah Patterns - Play with patterns and shapes online with the Boohbahs.
• Curious George: Big Picture - Practice visual discrimination skills by selecting an enlarged image of part of an object and matching it to the smaller picture.
• Curious George: I Love Shapes - Help George sort shapes from a conveyor belt into their proper baskets.
• Dragon Tales: Find the Shape - Search for triangles, circles, and squares hidden in the pictures.
• PBS Parents Guide to Creativity: Matisse Cut-Outs - Drag Matisse-inspired shapes onto a virtual canvas. Explore color combinations and the relationship between foreground and background.
• PBS Parents Guide to Early Math: Building Sandcastles - Match shapes with their containers to build sandcastles!
• Sagwa: Tangrams - Use basic shapes to build pictures of many of the Sagwa characters.

Read

• Chuck Murphy's Bow Wow: A Pop-Up Book of Shapes
  By Chuck Murphy
  Published July 1999 by Little Simon
  Very young readers will enjoy the brightly illustrated pop-up scenes in five spreads; this is a solid sequel to Murphy's earlier works, including One to Ten Pop-Up Surprises! and Black Cat, White Cat: A Pop-Up Book of Opposites.
• First Shape Book
  By Ann Montague-Smith and Mandy Stanley
  Published April 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company
  Children become familiar with circles, triangles, squares, and rectangles and then search for them in every day contexts. The book includes tips for parents and a laminated poster.

*As most PBS children's programs offer one year extended taping rights for teachers, please feel free to tape them now and save them for use in your classroom during the school year.