Grade
1

Math in Our World: The Rectangle Room

Kelly noticed a large bookcase with 2 spaces. The top space holds a round fishbowl. The bottom space holds a teddy bear and a geometry book. A picture on the wall has a rectangular frame. It shows a hexagon, a circle, and a triangle. A clock on the wall is round and has a circle in the center. A desk with 3 drawers has a computer monitor on top. A large square window has 2 equal sections. The round sun is shining outside the window.

Kelly was studying shapes today. Then she started to notice some rectangles when she looked around the room. The more she looked, the more rectangles she found!

  1. What do you notice? What do you wonder?
  2. Use pictures, math words, or numbers to show what you know about rectangles. What rectangles do you see in the picture?
  3. What math questions can you ask about the rectangles in Kelly’s room? Answer all the questions you can!
  • You might want to draw to help you keep track of the rectangles that you find. You can trace the rectangles with your finger, too.
  • Look for smaller rectangles that are put together to make a larger rectangle.
    Can you put together two rectangles to make a larger rectangle? Three rectangles?
  • Remember, rectangles come in different shapes and sizes:
This sample shows rectangles of 6 different sizes and shapes. Some have 2 sides that are much long than the 2 short sides. Others have 2 short sides that are almost as long as the 2 long sides. Some are tall and some are wide.
  • Show your work to someone else. Use numbers and math words to explain your thinking. Did they understand?
  • Ask whether they have any other questions you can answer!

What shapes do you see in your home? Do you see triangles? Circles? Other shapes? Can you put together some of the shapes to make a larger shape? Make up your own story problem and share the results of your shape hunt with us!

Printable Version

Google doc for printing and copying

Seesaw Version

Activity for the Seesaw platform

Reference for Educators

Sample problems and solutions