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Classroom Idea Sheet

Area Antics

This popular activity plays like the card game “War”, but with a new twist. Players estimate, and then measure, the area of shapes by covering them with centimeter blocks. With practice, they internalize the concept of area and learn to estimate it. This activity can also be used to learn about perimeter. Adding more layers of blocks introduces the concept of volume.

Standards alignment

Common Standards — cross-referenced to the Common Core State Standards, the Next Generation Science Standards and the California Content Standards.
StandardFrameworkGradeSubjectDomain
Mathematical Practices: 1. Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them. 2. Reason abstractly and quantitatively. 3. Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others. 4. Model with mathematics. 5. Use appropriate tools strategically. 6. Attend to precision. 7. Look for and make use of structure. 8. Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.Common Core MathematicsGrade 3Mathematical Practices
3.MD.5. Recognize area as an attribute of plane figures and understand concepts of area measurement.Common Core MathematicsGrade 3Measurement And DataGeometric Measurement: Understand Concepts Of Area And Relate Area To Multiplication And To Addition
3.MD.6. Measure areas by counting unit squares (square cm, square m, square in, square ft, and improvised units).Common Core MathematicsGrade 3Measurement And DataGeometric Measurement: Understand Concepts Of Area And Relate Area To Multiplication And To Addition
3.MD.7.a. 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.Common Core MathematicsGrade 3Measurement And DataGeometric Measurement: Understand Concepts Of Area And Relate Area To Multiplication And To Addition
3.MD.7.d. Recognize area as additive. Find areas of rectilinear figures by decomposing them into non-overlapping rectangles and adding the areas of the non-overlapping parts, applying this technique to solve real world problems.Common Core MathematicsGrade 3Measurement And DataGeometric Measurement: Understand Concepts Of Area And Relate Area To Multiplication And To Addition
Mathematical Practices: 1. Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them. 2. Reason abstractly and quantitatively. 3. Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others. 4. Model with mathematics. 5. Use appropriate tools strategically. 6. Attend to precision. 7. Look for and make use of structure. 8. Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.Common Core MathematicsGrade 4Mathematical Practices
4.MD.3. Apply the area and perimeter formulas for rectangles in real world and mathematical problems. For example, find the width of a rectangular room given the area of the flooring and the length, by viewing the area formula as a multiplication equation with an unknown factor.Common Core MathematicsGrade 4Measurement And DataSolve Problems Involving Measurement And Conversion Of Measurements From A Larger Unit To A Smaller Unit
Mathematical Practices: 1. Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them. 2. Reason abstractly and quantitatively. 3. Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others. 4. Model with mathematics. 5. Use appropriate tools strategically. 6. Attend to precision. 7. Look for and make use of structure. 8. Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.Common Core MathematicsGrade 5Mathematical Practices
Mathematical Practices: 1. Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them. 2. Reason abstractly and quantitatively. 3. Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others. 4. Model with mathematics. 5. Use appropriate tools strategically. 6. Attend to precision. 7. Look for and make use of structure. 8. Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.Common Core MathematicsGrade 6Mathematical Practices
Mathematical Practices: 1. Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them. 2. Reason abstractly and quantitatively. 3. Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others. 4. Model with mathematics. 5. Use appropriate tools strategically. 6. Attend to precision. 7. Look for and make use of structure. 8. Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.Common Core MathematicsGrade 7Mathematical Practices
7.G.6. Solve real-world and mathematical problems involving area, volume and surface area of two- and three-dimensional objects composed of triangles, quadrilaterals, polygons, cubes, and right prisms.Common Core MathematicsGrade 7GeometrySolve Real-Life And Mathematical Problems Involving Angle Measure, Area, Surface Area, And Volume
California Standards — cross-referenced to the Common Core State Standards, the Next Generation Science Standards and the California Content Standards.
StandardFrameworkGradeSubjectDomain
1.2 Estimate or determine the area and volume of solid figures by covering them with squares or by counting the number of cubes that would fill them.CA MathematicsGrade 303. Measurement and Geometry1.0 Students choose and use appropriate units and measurement tools to quantify the properties of objects.
1.0 Students understand perimeter and area.CA MathematicsGrade 403. Measurement and Geometry
1.1 Measure the area of rectangular shapes by using appropriate units, square centimeter, square meter, square kilometer, square inches, square yard, square mile.CA MathematicsGrade 403. Measurement and Geometry1.0 Students understand perimeter and area.
1.0 Students understand and compute the volumes and areas of simple objects.CA MathematicsGrade 503. Measurement and Geometry
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About this sheet

Grades covered

Grade 3 – Grade 7

Curriculum topics

Area, Estimation, Measurement, Geometry

Sheet number

282
  • Categories: Grades 3-5, Grades 6-8, Math
  • Tags: Geometry, Measurement & Data

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