Mathematical Lessons with a Storyline: Area and Square Units in Rectangles

Mathematical Goals:
(1) Students will understand that shapes may look different or have differing side lengths
but may still have the same area
(2) Students will be able to find the area of a rectangle by counting the square units
(3) Students will relate the counting method to definitions of multiplication and addition
to form a formula for finding area of rectangular shapes (LxW)
(4) Students will understand that composition of separate areas creates a new area whose
area is equal to the sum of its parts (additivity principle)
(5) Students will be able to apply the meaning of area and formula for finding rectangular
areas to their classroom and world
Materials:
❖ Large plastic unit squares (12/group of 3-4)
❖ Area review worksheet

Warm-Up Activity: (10 minutes)

❖ Have students gather on rug or open area
❖ Show students following image on slide: Ask: Which shape do you think has the largest
area?

❖ Explain that although students may see them as different, they all occupy the same area
(5 square units)
❖ Probe students to recall definition of area
o Reinforce that area is the number of square units needed to cover a two-
dimensional region with no gaps or overlaps
❖ Using large unit squares, form a 2-by-3 unit rectangle on the floor for the children to see:

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 ❖ Show how using definition, we can count unit squares to determine the area of a shape
o Count: 1…2…3…4…5…6
❖ Foreshadow that this method may not always be the easiest
o What about a shape that has an area of 150? That would be a lot to count
o Today we will find another method to find the area for all rectangles

Group Activities: (30 minutes)

❖ Break children up into small groups of 3-4
❖ Give each group eight large unit squares
❖ Instruct each group to create a shape using their squares with an area of 8 square units
❖ After giving students a few minutes to form shapes, stop the class and have each group
share their shape with the whole class
❖ Help students to notice that many of their shapes look different, but they all used the
same original 8 squares to form them, so they will all have the same area
o Possible student examples:

❖ Explain to students how the same area (8 square units) can look different based on how
its units are formed
❖ Next, give each group four more squares (for a total of 12) ask students to arrange them
into shapes that are rectangles only
o Probe students to recall the definition of a rectangle: quadrilateral with four
right angles

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 o Students will likely remember what a rectangle “looks like” (4 sides, 2 pairs
parallel, etc.)
▪ Possible student examples:

❖ Ask students how they know that these areas are equal to 12 square units
o They will likely explain how they counted each of the squares to get to a total of
12
❖ Ask students if there is another way that they could break up their square units to see the
total of 12 square units
o Show students an example breaking the 4 by 3 unit rectangle into 3 groups of 4
unit squares each (see below), exemplifying the meaning of multiplication
o Give students a few minutes to break their arrangements into various groupings,
while checking in with each group to ensure they have the right idea

❖ Explain to students how these groupings show that when you multiply the width of a
rectangle (its number of groups) by the length (the number of square units in each group)
you are left with the area of that particular rectangle
o In this case, students will use:

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 ▪ 2*6=12
▪ 3*4=12
▪ 1*12=12
o Explain that this works for all rectangles because of the nature of a rectangles
definition and the definition of area as a set of groups with a set number of objects
in each group, which they will have explored previously
❖ Next, ask groups of students to join another group, bringing their two rectangles together
o Ask them to form a new, bigger shape by bringing the two smaller shapes
together, for example a 3 by 4 rectangle and a 6 by 2 rectangle in this way:

❖ Ask them to determine the area of this new, bigger shape by counting its unit squares
o They will find a total of 16 square units
o Ask the class if they notice anything interesting about this
▪ They will notice that this area is twice as large as their original shape, or
that it can be broken down into 8 + 8 = 16
❖ Explain to class that this is always the case: when we combine two (or more) areas the
area of the new shape is equal to the sum of the areas of the shapes that make it up
o This is the additivity principle
o For example if a shape is make up of 3 rectangles with areas 10 sq. units, 14 sq.
units, and 5 sq. units, the area of the shape would be 10 + 14 + 5 = 29 sq. units

Worksheet and Review: (15 minutes)

❖ Ask students to go back to their seats and complete the worksheet below using the new
area formula for rectangles they discovered as well as the additivity principle. At the end

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 of the worksheet they will be asked to create their own real-life scenario involving areas
and their composition
❖ This will allow students to practice their newly acquired skills, as well as help the teacher
to assess where individual students stand on the topics

1. Find the area of these rectangles. Each unit square represents 1 square centimeter.

2. What is the area of the rectangle?

3 cm

5 cm

3. What is the area of the square?

10 cm

10 cm

4. What is the area of the rectangle below?

5 cm

6 cm

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5. What is the area of the composition of these 2 rectangles?
3 cm

8 cm
5 cm

6 cm

6. Create your own area composition using rectangles and find its area. What item in the real
world might your composition look like?

Worksheet Answers:
1. From left→right, up→down: 15 square cm, 8 square cm, 4 square cm, 14 square
cm, 27 square cm
2. 15 square centimeters
3. 100 square centimeters
4. 30 square centimeters
5. 15 + 48 = 63 square centimeters
6. Answers will vary but could include examples such as building a garden, making
a floor plan for a house, or designing a game
Conclusion and “Moral”: (5 minutes)
❖ Return to the original slide from the beginning of the lesson

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❖ Ask students what they now know about those shapes
▪ Correct answer will include: “Even though they look different, they have
the same areas”
❖ Focus on the 1 x 5 unit rectangle in the upper left. Ask students how they could
find its area using multiplication and groups rather than counting each square
▪ Explain that they will not always have a grid there to count
▪ Correct answer will include: “I would multiply 1 group with 5 cm per
group to find a total area of 5 square centimeters”
❖ Lastly, ask the children what would happen if 2 of these shapes combined to form
a bigger shape? What would its area be?
▪ Correct answer will include: “It will be 10 square centimeters because the
new shape is made up of 2 smaller shapes with an area of 5, so the new
area will be 5 + 5 = 10”