All About This Unit:

This unit will focus on building an understanding of area and perimeter by applying students’ understanding of the attributes of rectangles and squares. Students will be learning about the relationship between addition, multiplication, and area. Through hands-on exploration using square tiles, students will learn that area is the amount of space inside a two-dimensional shape, measured in square units. They will use their multiplication strategies of equal groups and arrays (rows and columns) to discover and understand the area of a rectangle can be found by multiplying length times width. However, memorizing the formula for area is NOT the focus of this work.

Students will also learn that perimeter is the distance around a two-dimensional figure (polygon) measured in linear units. They will find perimeter by adding the side lengths and find the side length of an unknown side.

Students will be given experiences to solidify area and perimeter concepts by applying their knowledge to solve real-world story problems and deciding whether or not answers are reasonable.

North Carolina Content State Standards:

NC.3.MD.5- Find the area of a rectangle with whole-number side lengths by tiling without gaps or overlaps and counting unit squares.

NC.3.MD.7- Relate area to the operations of multiplication and addition.

• Find the area of a rectangle 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.
• Multiply side lengths to find area of rectangles with whole-number side lengths in the context of problem solving, and represent whole-number products as rectangular areas in mathematical reasoning.
• Use tiles and/or arrays to illustrate and explain that the area of a rectangle can be found by partitioning it into two smaller rectangles, and that the area of the larger rectangle is the sum of the two smaller rectangles.

NC.3.MD.8- Solve problems involving perimeters of polygons, including finding the perimeter given the side lengths, and finding an unknown side length.

Unit 6 Student Handouts