A Tool to Use When Classifying Quadrilaterals

What is a quadrilateral? 

Can your students easily distinguish between the hierarchy of quadrilaterals based on attributes? If so, I'm JEALOUS!! Every year I've taught math, I have a good majority of students that cannot understand this hierarchy. They think a rectangle looks exactly like the picture above and that's it! But we, as teachers, know that in math, there is a particular definition to describe a rectangle: a quadrilateral (4-sided polygon) with two pairs of parallel sides and four right angles. It's really only natural for students to struggle with this concept, since they've been told for many years that a rectangle is the blue shape you see above.

Well, last year I had an epiphany! Why can't I create a tool to help my students with this concept? There's got to be a way for them to visually assess each quadrilateral. So, I created a "foldable" (I know I'm not supposed to use that word, but what else do you call it?) to walk my students through the classifying process.

This tool works for having students list ALL names that classify the quadrilateral, but it can also work for the most specific name, as that's the last name on the list. Here's how it works: 1. Student determines if the shape is a quadrilateral, 2. Student determines if the shape is a parallelogram or trapezoid. 3. If it qualifies as a parallelogram, the student continues through rectangle, rhombus, and, finally, square. 4. Student stops writing names when the quadrilateral no longer classifies, according to the description on the flaps.

Here's some pictures of the tool in action:

As you can see, my students are going through each flap to determine the shape's properties, then writing down the specific names as it qualifies. This shape was a square (which is its most specific name), but it also can be named all of the others based on its attributes.

If you find this foldable useful, please download it in my store! There are two versions of this foldable, both included in the one product. You can print out the foldable with the notes already included, or you can bring a blank one with space for the students to write the notes. (I used the pre-printed one because I only have my students for 20 minutes at a time.)
Here's the link:

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Classifying-Quadrilaterals-Foldable-1374246

Have a Happy Wednesday!