Activity Title - How Much Carpet Will I Need?

Goal/Objective

Students will be able to calculate the area of several figures and total their sums to find out how much carpet is needed.

Lesson Outline/Introduction

Discuss the formulas for finding area for a rectangle, triangle, circle, and square. Explain what each part of the formula means. Have students try one practice problem for each figure.

Activity

Give each student a copy of the floor plan. Tell them you need carpet to cover all the floor surfaces. Have them calculate the area of each and total all together.

Debriefing/Evaluation Activity

Discuss the answers with the students. If they made a mistake, have them go back and correct their paper.

Materials, Texts, Realia, Handouts

• Paper and Pencils
• Handout of floor plan

Extension Activity

Tell the students that the carpet is $9 per square yard. Have them change square feet to square yards and calculate the total cost.

ESE/ESOL Accommodations

Pair off the students in groups of two. Let each person in the group devise four problems that require area to be calculated. Exchange papers and work the problems. Then exchange again and check the problems. Have them discuss any problems that were missed and work them together for added practice. Discuss any problems that were missed and work them together for added practice.

Real-Life Connection

Discuss why it is important to be able to calculate area in our lives today. Have the students name occasions when they need to find the area of certain things. Some examples would be: buying shelf paper to cover their shelves, deciding how much carpet to buy, deciding how much tile would be needed to cover an area, calculating how much concrete to order when pouring a driveway, etc.

Activity Title - How Much Carpet Will I Need?

Introduction

Say: Area is a measure of the amount of surface on a closed plane figure. We have formulas for finding the area of rectangles, triangles, circles, and squares.

Write the formulas for finding the area of a rectangle, triangle, circle, and square on the board.

Say: If we follow the formula for each of these, we will come out with the correct area for the closed plane figure.

Discuss what each part of the formula means.

Have the students work a practice problem for each kind of closed plane figure.

Main Activity

Give each student a copy of the floor plan.

Say: I need to buy carpet to cover all these figures. Calculate the area of each one and total the amounts to see how much carpet I will need.

Closure/Conclusion

Ask: What totals did your group calculate for each figure? What was your total area calculation?

Say: If any of your calculations were off, please go back and check your work one more time.

Follow-up Lessons/Activities

Tell the students to calculate what the carpet would cost if it went on sale for 20% off.