Area of 2D Shapes

Teaching Ideas

Learning Objective: To calculate the area of a 2D shape.

Success Criteria: • To find the area of squares, rectangles and parallelograms.

• To find the area of triangles and trapezia.

• To solve problems involving area.

Context: This is a complete lesson on how to find the area of 2D shapes, including squares, rectangles,
parallelograms, triangles and trapezia. It can be used as a revision lesson, or as a part of a series of
lessons on area, perimeter and volume. The lesson aims to revisit and then build on the skills and
understanding acquired at primary school by finding the area of simple shapes.

Starter
Multiplication Madness
Display the slide and allow students 2 minutes to answer as many of the multiplication questions as possible, without a calculator.
They could record these on whiteboards or in their books. The aim of the starter is to allow students to practise a key skill they
will use throughout the lesson: multiplying! Answers are available on the following slide.

Main Activities
What Is Area?
Display the Pause for Thought questions on slide 5. Allow students to turn to a peer and discuss the answers to the questions.
Afterwards, bring the class back together and discuss the answers to the questions. The aim of the activity is to engage students
in thinking about what area is and revisit what they already know. It is imperative that students know the difference between
perimeter and area as well as the differences in how we calculate them. Similarly, on slide 6, display the questions. You may wish
to allow students to discuss with their peers, or you may prefer to just take suggestions from the class.

Calculating Area
Slides 7 – 13 are designed to be used as a teacher-led walkthrough of how to calculate the area of a square, rectangle,
parallelogram, triangle and trapezium. The walkthrough begins by calculating the area of a square and rectangle. For each slide,
there will be a ‘What You Need to Know’ box, which details how to calculate the area of the shape as well as the formula, which
students need to learn. You may wish for students to take notes as you go through the teaching points. Alternatively, you can
display the Area Formulae Poster which is available in the pack.

For these shapes, you may wish to display the task and shape first and encourage students to write down the answer to the
question on a whiteboard. When you ask for answers, ensure that students justify them. For example, when giving an answer, ask
students why their answer includes cm2. On the bottom of each slide, there is an extension question to challenge those students
who finish early. You may wish to discuss each extension question with the whole class to move their learning and understanding
forward, as these are worded questions that do not provide an image.

Slide 9 provides an opportunity for students to deepen their understanding by seeing a pictorial representation of how the
formula for calculating the area of a parallelogram is like that of a rectangle.

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Slides 12-14 detail the steps needed to calculate the area of a trapezium and include several different methods.

Frequent checking of understanding throughout each slide is imperative; students must be encouraged to be reflective and ask
questions if they are unsure.

Following this, students have access to three differentiated Area Activity Sheets or the Area of a Trapezium Activity Sheet.
The higher ability activity sheet does include an algebraic extension so students may need teacher coaching and assistance at
this point.

Plenary
The plenary presents a great opportunity for students to apply their understanding and learning acquired during the lesson by
calculating the missing height of the trapezium. Some students may have visited this during the lesson, on their activity sheet;
you may want to use these students as ‘experts’ during the plenary, by asking them to lead the activity or assist a group when
they are working on it. Alternatively, you may wish to simply use this as an opportunity for a teacher-led demonstration on how
the answer would be calculated. You can also challenge students by asking them to calculate a measurement using Pythagoras.

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