My First Shapes

A shapes book that teaches - not just shows.

Most shape books show a single circle, a single square, a single triangle. Your child memorizes the

picture, not the idea. My First Shapes is different. Every shape appears on three different real-world

objects a ball, an orange, a clock are all circles so your child learns the shape itself, not one specific

thing.

Built on peer-reviewed research. The teaching sequence in this book applies five mechanisms from

developmental psychology and early geometry education: multiple-exemplar learning (Gentner & Namy,

1999), distributed practice (Cepeda et al., 2006), wait time (Rowe, 1986), the receptive-before-expressive

sequence (Benedict, 1979), and the shape-recognition trajectory identified by Clements & Sarama (2011).

Every citation is listed at the back of the book.

Designed for parents who want to teach, not just read. A four-level prompting ladder shows you

exactly how much help to give and when to fade. A progress tracker with a clear mastery criterion 3 of 4

correct across 2 sessions tells you when your child truly knows a shape.

What's inside:

• The 6 core shapes: circle, square, triangle, rectangle, star, oval

• 3 real-world objects per shape (not one)

• "Shapes in the World" scenes: one house, one kitchen, revisited with different target shapes so your

child sees that rooms contain many shapes at once

• A "Hardest Ones" section: circle vs. oval, square vs. rectangle the discriminations that reveal real

mastery

• A gentle prompting ladder for parents

• A progress tracker with an explicit mastery criterion

• 5 peer-reviewed citations, named and dated, at the back of the book

• Bonus Extras section with heart and diamond clearly labeled as decorative shapes, not core

geometric shapes

For toddlers, late talkers, and early learners ages 1-3. Calm. Repetitive. Real. The shapes book built

the way speech therapists teach.

From the Kala Early Learning Library. Book 4 of the series. Look for My First Words, My First Colors,

and My First Numbers by the same author.