3D and 2D Geometric Connections: Using a real-life object to make that demonstration

I took a regular Kleenex box and showed my 1st grade students step by step what 2D shapes makes a rectangular prism.  They made connections between the 3D rectangular prism and 2D rectangular and square shapes using a Kleenex box.  I cut the Kleenex box and pasted each face to chart paper.  We discussed the edges, faces and vertices of the rectangular prism.  Before this lesson, we made a compare and contrast Venn diagram between a rectangular prism and cube.   It's important for my students to have that solid foundation and understanding of the different geometric shapes.

 

Students Finding And Analyzing Geometry Shapes In The Real World

Heard some interesting conversations among the students as I was facilitating this lesson on the discovery of different shapes they can find in the real world.  One student asked a question, "What's is the difference between a square and a rectangle?"  He answered his own question as he discovered various different items that were squares and rectangles.  He noticed that 2 sides were the same length than the other side.

They also found out that shapes turned different directions/angels.  

Students helped each other look for real world shapes, cut and organized shapes into 4 different categories:  circle, triangle, square and rectangles.

Below are some  image samples one can find in newspaper clippings: