Big Ideas:
Area is an expression of how much surface is covered.
Some units are a better representation of a measurement.
This lesson builds on students' ability to differentiate and apply different units for measuring area. The task in this lesson helps students develop strategies for determining appropriate units to measure area by reasoning about the size of the unit and the size of the figure. Students develop stronger number sense by reasoning about the inverse relationship between quantities and a unit's size. This builds toward a deeper understanding of area measurement and prepares students to develop strategies to determine the area of a figure.
Vocabulary:
square unit (unit square)
square centimeter
square inch
square foot
square meter
appropriate unit
Special Materials:
sticky notes
square centimeter tiles
square inch tiles
square foot tiles (large construction paper cut into 1 foot squares works well)
centimeter grid paper
inch grid paper
Lesson plan