CKMath Unit 2: Area and Multiplication
Focus:
In this unit, students encounter the concept of area, relate the area of rectangles to multiplication, and solve problems involving area. Students make sense of another attribute of shapes: a measure of how much a shape covers. They begin informally, by comparing two shapes and deciding which one covers more space. Later, they compare more precisely by tiling shapes with pattern blocks and square tiles. Students then focus on the area of rectangles. They notice that a rectangle tiled with squares forms an array, with the rows and columns as equal-size groups. This observation allows them to connect the area of rectangles to multiplication—as a product of the number of rows and number of squares per row. To transition from counting to multiplying side lengths, students reason about area using increasingly more abstract representations. They begin with tiled or gridded rectangles, move to partially gridded rectangles or those with marked sides, and end with rectangles labeled with their side lengths. Students also learn some standard units of area—square inches, square centimeters, square feet, and square meters—and solve real-world problems involving area of rectangles. Later in the unit, students find the area and missing side lengths of figures composed of non-overlapping rectangles.
This work includes cases with two non-overlapping rectangles sharing one side of the same length, which lays the groundwork for understanding the distributive property of multiplication in a later unit.
Number of Lessons: 13 and 2 optional
Instruction Time:
Approximately 60 minutes
(Please note that each lesson is designed for one instructional block, and may be divided into shorter or longer segments based on teacher pacing and student needs.)
