Area - Counting Squares - Planning

The concept of area is introduced to Year 4 students through a series of engaging activities. The lesson aims to teach children how to find the area of rectilinear shapes by counting squares. Key vocabulary such as 'area', 'surface', 'efficient', and 'perpendicular' is highlighted, with resources like worksheets, presentations, and vocabulary cards provided to support learning. The lesson starts with a recap of previous knowledge and a 'fluent in four' questions exercise to get the children thinking about the topic. The class then embarks on activities where they discuss and practice identifying the area of rectangles by counting the squares within their boundaries, and later apply this to calculate the area of a tower built from Lego blocks of different colours.

As the lesson progresses, students are encouraged to adopt more efficient methods, such as using multiplication to calculate the area of rectangles, and to consider whether this approach can be applied to all rectilinear shapes. They work through reasoning questions to deepen their understanding and apply what they've learned. The lesson concludes with independent work on differentiated worksheets, where children practice measuring area using different techniques. Throughout the lesson, students are prompted with key questions to help them avoid common pitfalls like counting squares multiple times. The 'Give me five' reflection activity encourages students to consider what they have learned, the skills they have used and found challenging, and what they will remember for future lessons. Differentiated tasks cater to varying levels of understanding, from simple shape counting to applying times tables and strategies for counting squares in more complex problems.