Draw a grid on the board and indicated a rectangle. Find the area of the rectangle by counting the squares and demonstrate that multiplying the base times the height gives the same result.
Distinguish between appropriate units for expressing length and area. Caution students that problem solving may require more than one step.
Demonstrate with a,b,c, blocks that the volume of a box in cubic units is the number of cubes that the box holds. Use the blocks to build rectangular prisms of varied dimensions. Have the students count the number of blocks in each layer and then compute the volume of each prism.
Draw several polygons including a triangle. Have students measure them and compute the answers. Define a parallelogram as a quadrilateral with opposite sides parallel, a rhombus as a parallelogram with all four sides equal, a rectangle as a parallelogram with right angles and a square as a rectangle with four equal sides. Have students draw an example of each labeling the sides and angles to justify their choices.