To introduce our transformation unit, I have students work in teams and do a card sort. I don't give them any how's or way's to sort them, I just let them look at the figures and decide. I have them sort all the cards into 2 piles and it usually starts out very basic, like grid vs. no grid. At this point, any answer goes and allowing them time to discuss what the figures look like and what they see is my main goal. I ask them to put them into 3 piles and then 4 piles. Most times, at least one group starts to look at the cards with a little more mathematical mind set. Maybe they see the number of sides the figures have or polygons vs. non-polygons or sets of parallel sides or 90 degree angles. I like to let them really look and talk about what they are seeing!
For the cards in the card sort, I found the figures on a grid at betterlesson.com Before I copied them for students, I did add a few labeled points so they could be A and A'. I left some of them unlabeled on purpose so students could discuss that it could be a reflection or a translation depending on how vertices were labeled. (That part will hopefully take place further in the unit!) The cards that are not on a grid I made using Word. I added a few dilation images too that are on a grid in my added cards. The last page of the Word doc also has the transformation rule for each card. That file is linked here. Once you print both documents linked here, you'll have a set of transformations (translation, reflections, rotations & dilations that are both on and off a coordinate grid.
Here are a couple images of the "sort into two piles".
For the cards in the card sort, I found the figures on a grid at betterlesson.com Before I copied them for students, I did add a few labeled points so they could be A and A'. I left some of them unlabeled on purpose so students could discuss that it could be a reflection or a translation depending on how vertices were labeled. (That part will hopefully take place further in the unit!) The cards that are not on a grid I made using Word. I added a few dilation images too that are on a grid in my added cards. The last page of the Word doc also has the transformation rule for each card. That file is linked here. Once you print both documents linked here, you'll have a set of transformations (translation, reflections, rotations & dilations that are both on and off a coordinate grid.
Here are a couple images of the "sort into two piles".
Here is a short video of what class looked like as groups of student were working.
As always, if anyone finds a way to make this better, please share! Good luck and I hope this helps save a few teachers some time!