Area & Perimeter

This area and perimeter for third grade classrooms will help you with your math instruction and practice.

Download this area and perimeter collection that includes and area and perimeter anchor chart.

This set will help you create an engaging unit of study for your third grade math students.

This is another free resource for teachers and homeschool families from The Curriculum Corner.

Geometry work in third grade

Getting ready to work on area and perimeter in your third grade classroom? Start with these resources.

This set of resources was designed to help with your instruction for area and perimeter.

Students will also receive practice with the concepts.  It is intended to address third grade geometric measurement standards.

What are area and perimeter?

New to teaching math in third grade? (Or maybe you are a parent looking for homework help?) Start here:

The perimeter is the distance around the outside of a shape.

The area is the amount of units needed to fill a shape.

This Area & Perimeter Unit

Area and Perimeter Anchor Chart 

A visual to help with your instruction and for student reference throughout the unit. This poster includes the definitions of area and perimeter.

(We have also provided a blank chart in case you want to create something of your own to match.)

“I Can” Standards

These “I Can” standards can be used to post so students understand the learning goals. 

Center Signs

These half sheets can be used as directions for a center.

Area & Perimeter Interactive Notebook Page

• Students cut around the dark lines of the page.
• Then, they glue the center strip of the page to their notebooks.
• Finally, they cut the horizontal dark lines to create flaps.  
• Under the flaps the students can record the area or the perimeter of the shapes as you direct them.
• In the center, have students write if they are to find the area, perimeter or both. This is also a good spot for students to record the formulas.

Area & Perimeter Task Cards & Recording Pages

Use these cards at small groups or centers.  They can be used with area or perimeter.  

We have also provided two different recording pages. One contains six boxes and one with eight so that you can differentiate the number of tasks you want specific students to complete.

How can I introduce the formula for area?

To help students begin to understand the concept that area = length times width (A = l x w) one idea is to cut out several 1-ft by 1-ft pieces of construction paper. You might want to laminate these for durability so that you can use them again and again.  Be sure to have enough squares to measure the entire length of the longest wall of the room students will measure.

Also, this initial lesson will work best if your classroom is the shape of a square or rectangle.  If not, you may want to take your class to a room or area of your building that is.)  

Divide students into problem solving groups. Have them discuss how they could figure out the area of your classroom floor.  After your introduction to area, some groups might decide that unit squares would need to be placed all over the floor of the classroom.  Tell them that you don’t have enough squares for that and ask them to problem solve how they might determine the number of squares needed without actually doing it.  

Gather your students and ask groups to share their ideas.  Then, help them to conclude that they only need to measure two walls of the classroom to figure out how many would be needed to cover the floor.  (This may take some additional problem solving as a class.)  

Together use the construction paper squares to line one wall and then a perpendicular wall to come up with the lengths of each.  Next, take the lesson a step further by discussing the addition and multiplication that could occur to figure out the area of the floor.  

Help children see the connection between the activity above and the formula for area.

Area Worksheets

We  have created two beginning area worksheets you can use for student practice or assessment.

Area Squares & Recording Pages – While many of you may already have plastic square tiles as math manipulatives in your classroom, we realize not all teachers have access to some.  For those people we have created simple sheets of squares that you can print on card stock, laminate and cut out.  Place these in baggies and have students use them to measure the areas of various surfaces in the classroom.  This is a great hands-on idea and really helps some students grasp the concept of area.  

Students can use rulers or yardsticks to measure the perimeter of things around your classroom.  You will find recording pages where students can list the names of the classroom items they are measuring and record measurements.

Area & Perimeter Blank Books

With these pages you can create books for your students.  They find items in the classroom, draw and label the pictures with measurements and determine the area of perimeter. This can be a very engaging activity for students.  If you feel some of your students might struggle, think about having them work in pairs for this activity.

Make-a-Shape Pages

These four pages require students to draw shapes and measure them to determine their area or perimeter. 

Distributive Property Booklet

To help students practice finding area using the distributive property, use the booklet shared.  

To help students understand this better, we have created a booklet that you can work through with your class.

Area Task Cards

This set of task cards contains six simple shapes and six shapes requiring the use of the distributive property to solve.  (You can use the recording sheet from the above set of task cards with this set as well.)

Use the Formula for Area Practice Page

Unlike the previous practice pages, the shapes on this page do not show the square units.  Students will need to use the labeled sides and the formulas they have learned to determine the areas.

Exit Tickets

These simple exit tickets can be used as a quick assessment.

You will find the resources for area and perimeter here:

Math Download

Looking for other resources to add to your geometry collection? Try these:

If you need some additional resources to challenge students, take a look at our Area & Perimeter of Rectangles post from the 456.

Thank you to Glitter Meets Glue for the glittery shapes & thank you Tangstar Science for the interactive notebook page!

As with all of our resources, The Curriculum Corner creates these for free classroom use. Our products may not be sold. You may print and copy for your personal classroom use. These are also great for home school families!

You may not modify and resell in any form. Please let us know if you have any questions.