Lesson 2

Points, Lines, Rays, and Segments

Lesson Purpose

The purpose of this lesson is for students to identify and draw lines, segments, and rays.

Lesson Narrative

In the previous lesson, students created drawings and used informal language to describe their drawings. They began to see segments as pieces contained within lines.

In this lesson, students begin to connect points, lines, and line segments with formal definitions. They also encounter rays and learn that a ray is different from a line segment, but, like a segment, it is also a part of a line. The first activity, a Card Sort, encourages students to look for these distinctions.

In the second activity, students draw segments and rays that form other shapes and figures. An isometric dot paper is used for drawing to reinforce the idea of segments and rays having endpoints.

To support students with the vocabulary in this unit, consider making time for them to build a personal illustrated “word wall” at the end of each lesson in which new terms are introduced. Allow a few minutes for students to add new terms, illustrations, and definitions in their own words to an organizer as shown in the blackline master.

  • Engagement
  • MLR8

Learning Goals

Teacher Facing

  • Draw points, lines, rays, and segments.
  • Identify points, lines, rays, and segments in geometric drawings.

Student Facing

  • Let’s draw points, lines, line segments, and rays.

Required Materials

Materials to Gather

Materials to Copy

  • Card Sort: Who Am I?

Required Preparation

Activity 1:

  • Create a set of cards from the blackline master for each group of 2–4 students.

CCSS Standards

Lesson Timeline

Warm-up 10 min
Activity 1 20 min
Activity 2 15 min
Lesson Synthesis 10 min
Cool-down 5 min

Teacher Reflection Questions

Who participated in math class today? Who did not participate and why might this be? How can you leverage each of your student’s ideas to support them in being seen and heard in tomorrow’s class?

Suggested Centers

  • Rolling for Fractions (3–5), Stage 2: Multiply a Fraction by a Whole Number (Supporting)
  • Compare (1–5), Stage 7: Multi-digit Operations (Supporting)

Print Formatted Materials

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Additional Resources

Google Slides

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PowerPoint Slides

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