Browse lesson plans

Area and perimeter unit

This unit will introduce and practice the concepts of area and perimeter. This unit uses resources of Shodor Education Foundation, Inc. Permission has been granted for the use of the materials as part of the workshop “Interactivate Your Bored Math Students.”

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–4 Mathematics)

By Bonnie Boaz.

General contractors: Working with area

In CareerStart lessons: Grade six, page 2.10

This activity for grade six combines math, art, and writing, as students design a floor plan for a house and use calculations of area to arrive at a cost estimate.

Format: lesson plan (grade 6–7 Mathematics)

By Kim Abrams, Mike McDowell, and Barbara Strange.

Home renovation: Working with area

In CareerStart lessons: Grade six, page 2.9

In this lesson for grade six, students will work together in cooperative groups using the internet to calculate the cost of finishing a basement.

Format: lesson plan (grade 6 Mathematics)

By Kim Abrams, Mike McDowell, and Barbara Strange.

A hula hoop is like a racetrack: Calculating the circumference, radius, and area of a circle

In On track learning: Safety through technology and design, page 10

In this lesson, students will use hoops of different sizes to explore geometry concepts such as circumference, area, and radius. They will also use indirect measurement and calculate percent of error.

Format: lesson plan (grade 7–10 Mathematics)

By Roxanne Moses.

Inside, outside, and all around

Students will distinguish between perimeter, area, and volume. They will use tangrams and graph paper to create two-dimensional figures that will be measured for area and perimeter. By creating layers of centimeter cubes, the students will explore the concept of volume.

Format: lesson plan (grade 4–6 Mathematics)

By Angeli Jarman.

Interior designers: Working with area

In CareerStart lessons: Grade seven, page 2.4

In this lesson for grade seven, students will act as interior designers, and will measure the walls of the classroom to determine the area of each wall.

Format: lesson plan (grade 7 Mathematics)

By Peggy Dickey and Barbara Turner.Adapted by Sharon Abell.

On track learning: Safety through technology and design

This unit is an eighth grade curriculum that integrates 4-H topics with science and math. Using the theme of safety and NASCAR racing, the overall objective is for students to design a car that will protect its passenger from injury.

Format: lesson plan (multiple pages)

Woodworkers and finishers: Working with area

In CareerStart lessons: Grade eight, page 3.6

In this lesson, students participate in a furniture-finishing scenario in which they draw and calculate the area of a set of tabletops with different shapes.

Format: lesson plan (grade 6–8 Mathematics)

By Valerie Davis, Sonya Rexrode, and Monika Vasili.

Resources on the web

A brownie bake

Students determine the amount of each ingredient needed to make brownies, and then they figure out how to divide the brownies evenly among their classmates. In addition to reinforcing measurement skills, this activity could also be used to introduce prime... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–4 Mathematics)

Provided by: Illuminations

Collecting the rays

In this lesson, students explore how variations in solar collectors affect the energy absorbed. They make rectangular prisms that have the same volume but different linear dimensions. Students investigate relationships among the linear dimensions, the area,... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 7–8 Mathematics)

Provided by: Illuminations

Finding perimeter and area

Students develop strategies for finding the perimeter and area for rectangles and triangles using geoboards and graph paper. They also learn how measurement is a critical component in planning a clubhouse design. Illuminations provides and activity sheet... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 4 Mathematics)

Provided by: Illuminations

Learning about length, perimeter, area, and volume of similar objects using interactive figures: Side length and area of similar figures

This two-part example illustrates how students can learn about the length, perimeter, area, and volume of similar objects using dynamic figures. In this part, Side Length and Area of Similar Figures, the user can manipulate the side lengths of one of two... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 8 Mathematics)

Provided by: Illuminations

Parking at the mall

In this lesson, one of a two-part unit from Illuminations titled “Mathematics at the Mall,” students develop number sense in and around the shopping mall. Activities focus on space for parking and space for leasing shops in the mall. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 4 Mathematics)

Provided by: Illuminations

Shape explorer: A Shodor web applet

This lesson introduces students to the concept of area and provides online practice using Shape Explorer. Shape Explorer is an applet freely available on the Shodor... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 4 and 6 Mathematics)

Provided by: Shodor