Building with 3-D Shapes
Compose three-dimensional shapes (cubes, right rectangular prisms, right circular cones, right circular cylinders) and create composite shapes; build new shapes from component shapes
What a learner can do afterwards
- Stack cubes and prisms to build towers or structures
- Combine 3-D shapes to make a new solid (e.g. cone on top of cylinder)
- Describe a composite 3-D shape in terms of its component shapes
The lesson
You already know cubes, cones, cylinders, and prisms. Now you can put two or more of them together to build something new. A shape made from smaller shapes is called a composite shape.
Mia builds a rocket. She stands a cylinder up tall for the body, then sets a cone on top for the nose. The new shape is a composite shape made from a cylinder and a cone.
Cubes and rectangular prisms have flat faces, so they stack well. Line up the flat top of one shape with the flat bottom of the next, and the tower stands steady. A cone balanced on its point tips over easily.
When you describe a composite shape, name each piece and where it sits. A toy robot might be a cube head on a rectangular prism body, standing on two small cubes for feet.
A composite shape is built from two or more 3-D shapes, and you can always describe it by naming its parts.
Watch it
Where it sits
Learn first
This opens up
Nothing builds on it yet.
Where this leads
Jobs that lean on this skill. Follow one to see everything it is built on.
8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.