Parallel and Perpendicular Lines

Our next mini geometry unit is about lines; parallel and perpendicular lines to be exact.  Today students first explored concepts and shared what they observed about two separate images of lines.  From doing so and our class discussion, we discovered the properties of parallel and perpendicular lines.  Also, we found that moving the turning or rotating the image did not change the properties of the lines.

Parallel Lines
1. Made by two straight lines / line segments
2. The lines never meet.
3. The distance between the lines remains the same at all points.

Perpendicular Lines
1.  Made by two straight lines / lines segments
2.  The lines meet.
3.  Where the lines meet creates a 90° angle.

After we explored this visually and through discussion, the students then used strips of paper to create parallel and perpendicular lines.  We found that using measurement tools (ie rulers and right triangle rulers) helps to ensure accuracy of our lines.