Description
What our Unit Squares lesson plan includes
Lesson Objectives and Overview: Unit Squares teaches students what a unit square is and that unit squares are a way to help measure area. Students learn that unit squares can be made up of any forms of length measurement, such as inches or centimeters. At the end of the lesson, students will be able to identify and understand a unit square and its relation to measuring area. This lesson is for students in 3rd grade.
Classroom Procedure
Every lesson plan provides you with a classroom procedure page that outlines a step-by-step guide to follow. You do not have to follow the guide exactly. The guide helps you organize the lesson and details when to hand out worksheets. It also lists information in the blue box that you might find useful. You will find the lesson objectives, state standards, and number of class sessions the lesson should take to complete in this area. In addition, it describes the supplies you will need as well as what and how you need to prepare beforehand.
Options for Lesson
Included with this lesson is an “Options for Lesson” section that lists a number of suggestions for activities to add to the lesson or substitutions for the ones already in the lesson. One optional addition is to have your students use the unit squares they create to measure various items in the classroom such as a desk, the chalkboard, etc. You could also have your students draw an outline of their own bodies and see how many unit squares fit into it.
Teacher Notes
The teacher notes page includes a paragraph with additional guidelines and things to think about as you begin to plan your lesson. This page also includes lines that you can use to add your own notes as you’re preparing for this lesson.
UNIT SQUARES LESSON PLAN CONTENT PAGES
Unit Squares
The Unit Squares lesson plan includes two content pages. The lesson opens with two figures, a large green rectangle and a small orange rectangle. Which is bigger? By looking at them, we can immediately tell that the green figure is bigger. But how much bigger is it? To figure this out, we need a standard unit that we can use to measure them.
Unit squares help us determine how much area, or space, a figure covers. Squares have four sides of the same length, so unit squares have four sides that are the same unit. This unit can be any form of measurement including the US Standard or the Metric System. The unit could be centimeters, inches, meters, feet, miles, or kilometers.
For example, a square centimeter is a square that measures one centimeter on each side. We write the unit as centimeter x (times) centimeter. We can write this in many ways: cm², centimeter², sq cm, sq centimeter, or square centimeter.
A square inch is a square that measures one inch on each side. We write the unit as inch x (times) inch. We can write this in several different ways: in², inch², sq in, sq inch, or square inch.
Many things are measured with unit squares. Houses, for example, are measured in square feet. Each room is measured, which helps people figure out how much carpet, wood, or paint to purchase. Covering a surface or a figure with unit squares helps you determine the area of that surface or figure. To find the area, simply count the number of unit squares!
UNIT SQUARES LESSON PLAN WORKSHEETS
The Unit Squares lesson plan includes three worksheets: an activity worksheet, a practice worksheet, and a homework assignment. You can refer to the guide on the classroom procedure page to determine when to hand out each worksheet.
POSTER ACTIVITY WORKSHEET
Students will work either with a partner or in a small group to complete the lesson activity. Each pair or group will create their own square units using various lengths (centimeter, inch, foot, meter, and yard). They will draw each unit square, cut them out of colored paper, and then attach them on to a larger poster. Students can use grid paper, butcher paper, or poster board as needed.
COUNTING UNIT SQUARES PRACTICE WORKSHEET
For the practice worksheet, students will count the number of unit squares in each figure printed on the worksheet.
DRAWING FIGURES HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT
The homework assignment asks students to draw figures with the number of square units listed.
Worksheet Answer Keys
This lesson plan includes answer keys for the practice worksheet and the homework assignment. If you choose to administer the lesson pages to your students via PDF, you will need to save a new file that omits these pages. Otherwise, you can simply print out the applicable pages and keep these as reference for yourself when grading assignments.
