Lesson: Wild for Among Us

Play the video “Video Games: Then and Now.” Then, before or after reading the article, spark a discussion based on the following questions:

• What are your favorite types of games to play with friends? Why?
• Has the way you communicate with people changed because of the pandemic? Explain.
• What math connections can you find on a map?

• Draw or display a 2 × 4 rectangle with unit squares. How do you find the area of this rectangle? (Answers will vary. Possible answers: Count the total number of unit squares; multiply length by width: 2 units × 4 units = 8 square units)
• Draw or display a 3 × 3 square with unit squares. What is the area of this square? (9 square units)
• If I combined these two shapes so that they touch but do not overlap, what would the new shapeʼs area be?
  (It would be 17 square units, 8 + 9 = 17.)
• Together, the rectangle and square make a composite shape. It is also irregular because when combined, not all of the shapeʼs sides are of equal length.
• Play the math video “Area and Perimeter.”

• What does the dashed line represent in the model? (where the shapes were partitioned, or separated)
• How was the area of the irregular shape calculated? (The area of each shape was found, and then the 2 areas were added together.)
  
• Could you partition this shape in another way to find the area? (Yes, a vertical dashed line could have been drawn to create a 4 × 2 rectangle and a 3 × 6 rectangle.)
• Would the total area change? Explain. (No; You can partition the shape in different ways, but the the total area does not change because the area of the original shape remains the same; 8 + 18 = 26 square units.)

Have students complete problems 1 through 4 on page 5 of the article.

Skills Sheets: Level Down: Finding Area (3.MD.C.5; 3.6C) | On Level: DynaDash: Area of Irregular Shapes (3.MD.C.7.D; 3.6D) | Level Up: Area With Fractional Side Lengths (5.NF.B.4.B; 6.3E)

SEL (Social-emotional learning activity/prompt): Think about ways you can connect with friends from afar, like through a video game or an email. Make a list of your top 3 ways that you can spend time with friends while not in the same room. Be creative!

Dynamath@Home: Have students cut out a rectangle or square from one side of a piece of paper. Ask them to place the cutout aside. Have them measure each side of the irregular paper shape to the nearest inch and label the length of the sides. Then have them draw a line or lines to partition their shape and calculate the area.