Year 7 Mathematics Newsletter: Angles, Triangles & Quadrilaterals
Over the past three weeks, Year 7 students have been learning about angles and the properties of triangles and quadrilaterals in mathematics. This unit was taught over four hours each week and placed a strong emphasis on hands-on learning, supported by structured paper-folding slides to explore the properties.
Students following the paper-folding slides to construct triangles.
Isosceles, Equilateral, scale and right-angled
Below is an example of an Isosceles Triangle
Isosceles Triangle
The paper-folding slides guided students step-by-step as they created a range of shapes, including isosceles triangles, equilateral triangles, kites, rhombuses, parallelograms, rectangles, squares, trapeziums and hexagons. These visual and practical instructions helped students accurately construct shapes before analysing their properties.
In Year 7 Set 5, we created our own Izzy the isosceles triangle. This helped students understand the properties of the isosceles triangle in different orientations.
Students following the paper-folding slides to construct the quadrilaterals.
Kite, Rhombus, Parallelogram, Trapezium, Square and Rectangles
Below is the example of a kite
Kite
How the slides supported learning:
Using the paper-folding slides allowed students to:
- Measure and compare the size of angles
- Investigate side lengths and identify equal sides
- Identify parallel and perpendicular sides
- Explore diagonals and how they bisect shapes
- Discover lines of symmetry through folding
- Test rotational symmetry and its order
- Understand the sum of interior angles
For example, when folding triangles, students physically aligned angles along a straight edge, helping them see why the interior angles always add to 180°. When folding quadrilaterals, students investigated how diagonals intersect and how the interior angles add to 360°, reinforcing their understanding through direct observation.
Why this approach matters:
The paper-folding slides provided clear structure while still encouraging exploration and discussion. Students were not just told properties, they discovered and justified them, developing confidence in using correct mathematical language and explanations.
We are very proud of the engagement, curiosity and thoughtful mathematical conversations shown by the class throughout this unit and look forward to building on these skills in future geometry lessons.
Mrs Bennett
Maths Department
