Grade
4

Math in Our World: Street Art

Chalk street art. A triangle, trapezoid, triangle stack makes a rectangular shape on the left side. The same shape combination is also on the right side. In the middle are 2 stacked trapezoids. The one on top is a bit smaller than the one on the bottom. They're joined by two long narrow triangles, one on each side. Together, the 4 shapes make a central rectangle between the two outer rectangles.

Mateo and his brothers worked together on a street art project using sidewalk chalk. There were several different shapes in the display. They used tape to outline the display and to create the lines inside, and used sidewalk chalk to color it. It was 46 inches long and 28 inches wide.

  1. Use pictures, models, or numbers to show what is happening.
  2. What do you notice? What do you wonder?
  3. What mathematical questions can you ask about this situation? Answer all the questions you can!
  • Think about how much tape they used to tape off the outside of the display.
  • How could you find the amount of space that the display covers?
  • What kinds of observations could you make about the shapes in the display?
  • Show your work to someone else, and explain your thinking. Did they understand?
  • Ask whether they have any other questions you can answer!
  • Use supplies you have at home to draw a sketch using shapes.
  • Ask someone to tell you what mathematical observations they can make.
Printable Version

Google doc for printing and copying

Seesaw Version

Activity for the Seesaw platform

Reference for Educators

Sample problems and solutions