1st grade sides & vertices worksheets
Sides and vertices worksheets for first grade show one shape at a time (triangle, square, rectangle, or hexagon) with a single question, how many sides or how many vertices, and a writing line for the count.
Free printable PDF worksheet, aligned to Common Core 1.G.A.1.
A new sheet every click.
The kind of problems you'll get
Count the sides or vertices of each shape.
-
How many sides?
Answer: 3
- How many vertices?
- How many vertices?
Every print pulls a fresh set of problems at this level, so a make-up test or a second sibling never gets the same sheet.
What's on each sheet
- Fluency. Count the sides or vertices of each shape. 9 questions per page.
Every version prints on US Letter or A4, with its answer key on the last page.
How to teach this
Teach the pencil-dot trick right away: mark one corner, count around, stop at the dot. Once your child has counted sides and vertices on a few shapes, ask what they notice: the two numbers always match on these closed shapes, and discovering that pattern beats being told it. Say "vertices" out loud often so the word stops sounding strange.
Watch for: Kids count a corner twice when they trace around without marking a start. Put a dot on the first corner and stop when you come back to it. Kids mix up sides and vertices. Sides are the straight edges, vertices are the corners where two edges meet, and closed shapes have the same number of each.
Common questions about sides & vertices
- What's a vertex, in plain words?
- A corner, the point where two sides meet. Vertices is just the plural. The sheets use the math word so it's familiar before the shapes get more complicated.
- Why do sides and vertices always come out equal?
- On a closed shape, every side ends at a corner and every corner starts a new side, so the counts match. A triangle has three of each; a hexagon has six of each.
Related worksheets
- 2nd grade sides & vertices A step harder, same skill
- 1st grade identifying 2d shapes Same grade, nearby skill
- 1st grade identifying 3d shapes Same grade, nearby skill
- 1st grade partitioning shapes Same grade, nearby skill
- Sides & vertices, all grades The full progression
- All 1st grade math worksheets Every skill at this level
- All 1st grade worksheets Everything at this level
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Aligned to Common Core 1.G.A.1. Reviewed by the One more sheet curriculum team. Content version 123, updated July 2026.