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Lesson Plan

Finding Area: What Information Do I Need?

You need the length and the width to find the area of a rectangle or square, but what if one piece of information is missing? Use this lesson alongside *What's My Area?* or on its own.
This lesson can be used as a pre-lesson for the What's My Area? lesson plan.
Grade:
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This lesson can be used as a pre-lesson for the What's My Area? lesson plan.

Objectives

Academic

Students will be able to solve for the area of a rectangle or square.

Language

Students will be able to explain how to find the area of rectangles and squares using transition words and sentence starters.

Introduction

(3 minutes)
  • Pose a real-world problem with information gaps and have students Think-Pair-Share about what other information they need in order to solve it. (e.g., I have a birthday party to plan, and I want to make sure each kid gets two treats. The party starts at 4 p.m. How many treats do I need to make?)
  • Instruct students to think about their plan for how to solve it or what additional information they need to solve the problem. Then, have them turn and talk to a partner about their thoughts. Invite the group to share out.
  • Inform learners that you provided a problem, but you did not share all of the information. If you shared how many kids were coming to the party, you'd be able to find the answer.