Teaching kids the correct language of shape is of utmost importance! Second to this is the language and vocabulary that Teachers use in class to talk about shape.
The language and vocabulary of shape is not easy. I can tell you, as a immigrant from Uk to Australia, it’s very confusing out there.
Even the names and physical features of shapes differ between countries. Take just one example, trapeziums and trapezoids, they are very different things in different countries!
In addition to international naming confusion, too often the correct names for certain shapes have been replaced with non mathematical names. The poor old rhombus sees to have taken the brunt of this one!
I don’t understand why this has really happened, it’s not because kids can’t remember tricky names! They really can, there’s nothing trickier than saying a 3 syllable dinosaur name. So a rhombus is not a diamond when learning about shapes in math! In fact there is NO mathematical shape called a diamond or a star for that matter!
Please be mindful of your language. There are many variations and alternatives for some words, especially in math, so I use ‘all the words’ interchangeably to help my kids.
If you’re annoyed by this and thinking it isn’t an issue, you would be very wrong! Sadly as a numeracy coach I have experienced firsthand a whole cohort of year 7 kids not being able to draw, name or identify a rhombus. But when I drew it they all called it a diamond! eek so it matters!