This displays the Getting started on page 228.

Work on the first dot for this section.

You could extend this by increasing the number of squares and having a competition to see who can come up with the most ways of putting them together and finding the perimeters.

Ask students to walk or run around the outside of something or measure it. For example, you could choose the classroom, a block of classrooms, the playing fields etc.

Ask them to sketch the shape of what they have just walked/run around.

“How could you find the total distance you have just walked/run around or measured?”

Discuss the fact that the distance around the outside of a shape is called the perimeter.

This displays a map of Hagley Park South with some distances on it.

Students are asked to find the perimeter of the park.

This displays the Getting started on page 228.

Work on the second dot for this section.

  some crackers and some small items such as book covers, A4 sheets of paper etc, to find the areas of.

Use the crackers to cover an area.

Example: It might take 10 and a half crackers to cover the area of a book cover.

Ask students to find the areas of some things in crackers.

This displays some squares and rectangles divided into 1 cm squares.

You could print these so students can cut them or just display them.

Students are asked for strategies for working out how many squares there are without counting them all one by one.

The aim is to get students to see that the total number of squares can be found by multiplying the number of squares on each side together.

It is important to relate the number of squares to the area that the shape covers.

You could work on the practical on page 242 as a class. Make it into a game by dividing the class into groups and putting empty boxes around the room.

NOTE: It is best if you can choose boxes that will snugly fit a layer of cubes. If there is a gap down the side it makes it harder to estimate and can lead to arguments. You could make some boxes out of cardboard for this purpose.

Each group walks around the room to look at each box and, as a group, decides how many cubes will fit into the box when neatly packed.

They write down their estimates.

Ask students to explain how they made their estimate.

Each group now fills one of the boxes with cubes.

For each box, the group with the closest estimate gets 10 points, the second closest gets 5 points.

The winning group is the one with the most points.

  48 cubes

This displays 6 cuboids, each with a volume of 48 cm³.

Use this to point out to students that different shaped cuboids can have the same volume.

You could give 48 cubes to students and ask them to make a different shape (not a cuboid) that has the same volume.