Standard 2: Solve problems involving the perimeter and area of rectangles.

Students are asked to find the perimeters of three different polygons.

Type: Formative Assessment

Students are presented with a rectangular area model and asked to write an equation that represents the distributive property.

Type: Formative Assessment

Students determine the area of a rectangle in two different ways.

Type: Formative Assessment

Students are given a rectilinear shape and asked to find its area.

Type: Formative Assessment

Students are asked to find the areas of two rectangular figures and are observed to determine if they use multiplication.

Type: Formative Assessment

Students are given a rectangle with one column and one row of unit squares (same size squares) drawn. Students are asked to complete and then find the total number of same size squares in the partition.

Type: Formative Assessment

Students are given a rectangle with some columns and rows partially constructed. Students are asked to find how many same-size squares are in the rectangle.

Type: Formative Assessment

Students are given a rectangle with tick marks drawn horizontally on one side of the rectangle and vertically on the bottom of the rectangle. Students are asked to partition the rectangle into columns and rows and then determine how many unit squares (same-size squares) are in the rectangle.

Type: Formative Assessment

Students are given a rectangle with one unit square (same size square) drawn in the corner of the rectangle. Students are asked to draw the remaining unit squares and then find the total number of unit squares in the rectangle.

Type: Formative Assessment

Students consider whether tiling a rectangle with different sized tiles is appropriate when calculating area.

Type: Formative Assessment

Students are asked to explain how the area of a rectangle can be calculated and their responses are examined for references to the unit square as the unit of measurement.

Type: Formative Assessment

Students are asked to evaluate another student's area calculation that involves overlapping tiles.

Type: Formative Assessment

Students discuss the meaning of area and are asked about the kinds of figures for which area can be calculated.

Type: Formative Assessment

Students are given a diagram showing a garden shaped like an irregular hexagon and are asked to find the area by counting the number of unit squares the figure contains.

Type: Formative Assessment

Students determine the area of a right trapezoid.

Type: Formative Assessment

Students determine the area of a right triangle.

Type: Formative Assessment

Students are given a diagram showing a rectangular dog run and asked to find its area.

Type: Formative Assessment

In this integrated lesson, students will create Uncle Sam cards encouraging responsible citizenship, find the dimensions of their card, and then use measurement, addition, and multiplication to solve a real-world task requiring calculation of perimeter and area of a larger space to display all of the student-created Uncle Sam cards.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students analyze various proposed sites to determine which site would be best for a group of volunteers to construct and maintain a community garden in this model eliciting activity.

Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom.

Type: Lesson Plan

This STEM challenge will engage the students in the ways to create different rectangles that have the same area, but different perimeters. They will also explore how to use scientific processes to test their designs with hypothesis, records, data, and a conclusion. This STEM challenge combines architectural engineering with life science and measurement skills for math.

Type: Lesson Plan

STEM design! EGG-cellent! Students will use hands-on inquiry to find out more about gravity and how surface area can oppose it. Through trial and error based on collected data, students will design, create, and drop a vehicle carrying precious "cargo" from a ten-foot ladder, using a parachute to ensure a safe landing. When completed, students should have a better understanding of how gravity interacts with falling objects and how the surface area of a parachute can oppose those interactions.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this engineering design challenge, student teams will design a house that will withstand high winds.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this unit on area, students explore geometric measurement by becoming "Area Architects" in order to learn the concepts of area. Using all five lessons will allow the students to discover, explore and eventually relate area to multiplication and addition. This lesson is the first lesson of the unit. In Lesson 1, students will develop strategies for finding area by counting square units. Students will learn the importance of accurately measuring area by exploring the concepts of area in realistic applications.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson is designed to encouage students to make connections to their prior knowledge of multiplying using rectangular arrays to finding the area of rectangles by multiplying the side lengths. Students will be led to "discover" the formula for finding area.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will be asked to use different strategies to figure out the area of rectangles.. Students progress from playing a game with arrays, to creating rectangles with square tiles, and finally to exploring the area formula.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson is an introductory lesson about area at the third-grade level. Students will play a game to learn the definition of area, build with square tiles to discover we measure area with square units, and then put this knowledge in practice to complete two worksheets.

Type: Lesson Plan

The students will plan a vegetable garden, deciding which kinds of vegetables to plant, how many plants of each kind will fit, and where each plant will be planted in a fixed-area garden design. Then they will revise their design based on new garden dimensions and additional plant options.  Students will explore the concept of area to plan their garden and they will practice solving 1 and 2-step real-world problems using the four operations to develop their ideas.

Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson students will use rulers to measure the side lengths of rectangles and use 1-inch square tiles to cover the rectangles. Students will count the total number of square units to find the area and explore relationships between the lengths of the sides and the total number of tiles.  In # 66132 Rectangles Rule! Team Challenge (Lesson 2 of 2), students will expand their understanding of tiling to find area to connect area to a multiplication formula.

Type: Lesson Plan

This guided inquiry lesson is designed to follow another CPALMS published lesson #63297 Rectangles Rule! In that first lesson, students used a ruler to measure the side lengths of rectangles and used 1-inch square tiles to find the area of the rectangle. In this lesson, students will use the inquiry process to problem-solve a team challenge: Partition a rectangle into same-size squares using a ruler and determine a formula for finding area (area = length x width). Students will brainstorm, investigate, and share their solutions on how their team worked together to find a solution to the challenge. 

Type: Lesson Plan

In this Model Eliciting Activity, MEA, The Shady Oak Treehouse Club is doing a makeover and needs help choosing flooring. Students will be asked to figure area, calculate cost, and add installation fees to cost. The students will then rank the flooring and choose the best one for the makeover. The data provided is: a model of the treehouse (in square yards), flooring price per square yard, and ratings for ease of cleaning, comfort, and color choices. In the twist, student will be provided with an installation fee for each flooring material and must decide if, and how, to change their procedure with the new information.

Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. MEAs resemble engineering problems and encourage students to create solutions in the form of mathematical and scientific models. Students work in teams to apply their knowledge of science and mathematics to solve an open-ended problem, while considering constraints and tradeoffs. Students integrate their ELA skills into MEAs as they are asked to clearly document their thought process. MEAs follow a problem-based, student-centered approach to learning, where students are encouraged to grapple with the problem while the teacher acts as a facilitator. To learn more about MEA’s visit: https://www.cpalms.org/cpalms/mea.aspx

Type: Lesson Plan

In this unit on area, students explore geometric measurement by becoming "Area Architects" in order to learn the concepts of area and relate area to multiplication and addition. This lesson is the third of a five-lesson unit.

In this lesson, students will apply strategies learned for finding the area of rectangles with whole-number side lengths after creating floor plans for their dream home on 1-inch grid paper, and represent whole-number products as rectangular areas.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson students build on their knowledge of area by finding the area of a variety of composite figures and create a composite shape when given an area.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will connect the concepts of counting each square unit and multiplying the side lengths to compute the area of a rectangle.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students are presented with a problem that requires them to create rectangles with the same perimeter but different areas.  Students also search for relationships among the perimeters and areas of different rectangles and find which characteristics produce a rectangle with the greatest area.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will learn how to partition rectangles into equal parts and write equations to represent the parts. They will gain a basic understanding of area from the book Bigger, Better, BEST! by Stuart J. Murphy.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students count unit squares to find the area of rectangles and play a matching game for practice.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this Model Eliciting Activity, MEA, students will create a procedure for ranking pool construction companies based on the number of years in business, customer satisfaction, and available pool dimensions. In a “twist,” students will be given information about discounts available by each company. Students will evaluate their procedure for ranking and change it if necessary.

Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. MEAs resemble engineering problems and encourage students to create solutions in the form of mathematical and scientific models. Students work in teams to apply their knowledge of science and mathematics to solve an open-ended problem, while considering constraints and tradeoffs. Students integrate their ELA skills into MEAs as they are asked to clearly document their thought process. MEAs follow a problem-based, student-centered approach to learning, where students are encouraged to grapple with the problem while the teacher acts as a facilitator. To learn more about MEA’s visit: https://www.cpalms.org/cpalms/mea.aspx

Type: Lesson Plan

In this Model Eliciting Activity, MEA, students will choose their top choices of field day activities given the area required for event, safety concerns, clean up required, number of students that can play at a time, and peer comments about the activity. Students will need to make trade-offs in cost when the "twist" provides budget restrictions. Students will count unit squares to calculate area, multiply one-digit numbers by multiples of ten, and add multi-digit whole numbers.

Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. MEAs resemble engineering problems and encourage students to create solutions in the form of mathematical and scientific models. Students work in teams to apply their knowledge of science and mathematics to solve an open-ended problem, while considering constraints and tradeoffs. Students integrate their ELA skills into MEAs as they are asked to clearly document their thought process. MEAs follow a problem-based, student-centered approach to learning, where students are encouraged to grapple with the problem while the teacher acts as a facilitator. To learn more about MEA’s visit: https://www.cpalms.org/cpalms/mea.aspx

Type: Lesson Plan

In this model eliciting activity students use data about the temperature and water requirements of plants to figure out when the plants should be planted. They also use data such as space requirements and time until harvest to make judgments about which plants would best suit the needs of students planning a school garden in Florida.

Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. MEAs resemble engineering problems and encourage students to create solutions in the form of mathematical and scientific models. Students work in teams to apply their knowledge of science and mathematics to solve an open-ended problem, while considering constraints and tradeoffs. Students integrate their ELA skills into MEAs as they are asked to clearly document their thought process. MEAs follow a problem-based, student centered approach to learning, where students are encouraged to grapple with the problem while the teacher acts as a facilitator. To learn more about MEA’s visit: https://www.cpalms.org/cpalms/mea.aspx

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will use their knowledge of area and perimeter to create a "Mighty Monster”. Given specific criteria related to area and perimeter, students will make their monster on centimeter grid paper and calculate both the area and perimeter of each body part to explore the differences between the two types of measurement.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will help an architect find the area of each room in a celebrity home and then determine the best location to build the home based on qualitative data about the locations.

Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. MEAs resemble engineering problems and encourage students to create solutions in the form of mathematical and scientific models. Students work in teams to apply their knowledge of science and mathematics to solve an open-ended problem, while considering constraints and tradeoffs. Students integrate their ELA skills into MEAs as they are asked to clearly document their thought process. MEAs follow a problem-based, student centered approach to learning, where students are encouraged to grapple with the problem while the teacher acts as a facilitator. To learn more about MEA’s visit: https://www.cpalms.org/cpalms/mea.aspx

Type: Lesson Plan

The students will be able to use prior knowledge of the concept of area to relate area to multiplication and discover the formula: base x height. Students will practice by composing two-dimensional squares and rectangles and apply the area formula to build a birdhouse.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this unit on area, students explore geometric measurement by becoming "Area Architects" to learn the concepts of area and relate area to multiplication and addition. This lesson is the second of a five-lesson unit. In this lesson, students will develop strategies for finding the area of rectangles with whole-number side lengths by tiling it and show that the area is the same as would be found by multiplying the side lengths.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this unit on area, students explore geometric measurement by becoming "Area Architects" in order to learn the concepts of area and relate area to multiplication and addition. This lesson is the fifth and final lesson of the unit. In this lesson, students will recognize area as additive. Students will find areas of rectangular figures by decomposing them into non-overlapping parts in order to solve a real-world problem. This lesson is focused on single-digit x single-digit dimensions using proper units for dimensions (e.g. ft, yd, m) and square units for the area (e.g. sq. ft, sq. yd, sq. m).

Type: Lesson Plan

In this 5-lesson unit on area, students explore geometric measurement by becoming "Area Architects" in order to learn the concepts of area and relate area to multiplication and addition. In this 4th lesson, students will use tiling to show in a concrete case that the area of a rectangle can be found using the distributive property of multiplication. This lesson is focused on single-digit x single-digit dimensions using proper units for dimensions (e.g. ft, yd, m) and square units for the area (e.g. sq. ft, sq. yd, sq. m).

Type: Lesson Plan

This hands-on lesson makes a real-world connection for students in measuring area by counting square units. Students become area designers during an activity that illustrates area, and then make a real-world connection with area when they are shown a residential blueprint. Students gain practice determining the area and recording the area of rectangular rooms in square units.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson helps students make the connections between area and multiplication using square tiles.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will use guided discovery to find a formula for both area and perimeter in order to more efficiently solve area and perimeter problems.

Type: Lesson Plan

Ariana explores Area as she plants vegetables in her rectangular garden boxes. Help Ariana cover rectangles with unit squares without gaps or overlaps and count the squares to find the area with this interactive tutorial.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Use visuals and formulas to find the perimeter and help Penelope as she creates a rectangular herb garden. Find the perimeter of rectangles using visuals and formulas in this student tutorial. 

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Learn how tilling can be used to find the area of different rectangular rooms in this interactive tutorial.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Plan some gardens by applying what you learn about perimeter in this interactive tutorial. 

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Explore the relationships between tiling an area, multiplication arrays and calculating area using a formula in this interactive tutorial.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Learn to identify one square unit that can be used to measure area in this brief interactive tutorial.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Discover how square units can be used to cover the interior of a rectangle and measure its area of a rectangle in this interactive tutorial.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

What roles do exploration, procedural reliability, automaticity, and procedural fluency play in a student's journey through the B.E.S.T. benchmarks? Dr. Lawrence Gray explains the path through the B.E.S.T. mathematics benchmarks in this Expert Perspectives video.

Type: Perspectives Video: Expert

Unlock an effective teaching strategy for making connections in area models in this Teacher Perspectives video for educators.

Type: Perspectives Video: Teaching Idea

Unlock an effective teaching strategy for helping students make connections in mathematics using the Double Bubble Diagram in this Teacher Perspectives video for educators.

Type: Perspectives Video: Teaching Idea

This is a rectangle subdivision task; ideally instead of counting each square. students should break the letters into rectangles, multiply to find the areas, and add up the areas. However, students should not be discouraged from using individual counting to start if they are stuck. Often students will get tired of counting and devise the shortcut method themselves.

Type: Problem-Solving Task