Area - Making Shapes - Worksheet

In an engaging and practical lesson focused on the concept of area, Year 6 students are tasked with creating rectilinear shapes using a specific number of squares. The key objective is for children to find the area of these shapes by counting squares, ensuring that they understand the importance of the shapes touching side by side rather than just at the corners. This hands-on activity encourages students to work systematically, altering one square at a time to discover all possible rectilinear shapes they can construct with the given number of squares. The provided resources, such as differentiated sheets and teaching slides, support the children in their exploration of area and shape creation.

Throughout the lesson, students are prompted with key questions to deepen their understanding, such as considerations about whether shapes remain the same when turned upside down, the necessity of not overlapping squares when counting area, and the exploration of how many different shapes can be created with a set number of squares. They are also encouraged to reason whether the area stays consistent and why that may be the case. As part of their learning, children use squared paper to draw various rectilinear shapes with a predetermined area and then compare their creations with those of their peers, fostering discussion and critical thinking. This activity not only cultivates their fluency and precision in measuring area but also enhances their problem-solving skills as they investigate symmetry and the areas of shapes within different contexts.