Area - Vocabulary

The concept of 'area' is introduced to Year 4 students as the amount of space covered on a flat surface. To make this tangible, students can learn to calculate the area by placing a shape on a grid and counting the squares within its boundaries. For example, if a rectangle covers six 1cm by 1cm squares on the grid, its area is said to be 6 square centimetres (6cm²). The term 'surface' is used to describe the outermost layer or face of an object, such as the top of a table or the cover of a maths book, which students are encouraged to feel to understand the concept better.

Understanding two-dimensional (2-D) shapes is crucial in the study of area and perimeter. These shapes are flat and cannot be picked up. Some examples include triangles, circles, squares, rectangles, pentagons, and hexagons. A square, a specific type of 2-D shape, is characterised by having four equal sides and four vertices. The term 'sides' refers to the lines that form a 2-D shape, while 'corners' are the points where two sides meet. Students also learn about 'right angles', which are 90-degree angles resembling the corner of a square, and 'perpendicular lines', which intersect at right angles. 'Rectilinear' figures are composed of straight lines that meet at right angles, and a 'systematic' approach is encouraged when solving problems, often revealing patterns. 'Strategy' refers to the methods used to find solutions, such as different techniques for calculating the area of shapes.