# Lesson 6

Distance Around Shapes

## Warm-up: Notice and Wonder: Paper Clips & Shapes (10 minutes)

### Narrative

The purpose of this warm-up is for students to visualize the idea of perimeter and elicit observations about distances around a shape. It also familiarizes students with the context and materials they will be working with in the next activity, where they will use paper clips to form the boundary of shapes and compare or quantify their lengths.

### Launch

• Groups of 2
• Display the image.
• “What do you notice? What do you wonder?”
• 1 minute: quiet think time

### Activity

• 1 minute: partner discussion
• Share and record responses.

### Student Facing

What do you notice? What do you wonder?

### Student Response

For access, consult one of our IM Certified Partners.

### Activity Synthesis

• “Can you predict how many paper clips it might take to go around the whole shape?”
• Consider asking: “The paper clips in the picture are standard paper clips. If we use jumbo paper clips, which are larger, would we need more or fewer paper clips to build the shape?”

## Activity 1: What Does It Take to Build the Shapes? (15 minutes)

### Narrative

The purpose of this activity is to give students a concrete experience of building the boundary of shapes and quantifying that length of the boundary, allowing them to conceptualize perimeter as a measurable geometric attribute. Students use $$1\frac{1}{4}$$-inch paper clips as the units for measuring the distances around four shapes. The reasoning here prepares them to reason about equal-size intervals that can be marked on the sides of a shape to measure its length (as students will see in the next activity).

### Required Materials

Materials to Gather

Materials to Copy

• What Does It Take to Build the Shapes?

### Required Preparation

• Each group of 4 needs 25-50 paper clips that are $$1\frac{1}{4}$$-inch long each.
• If using 1-inch paper clips, use 80% scale when making copies of the blackline masters.

### Launch

• Groups of 4
• Give each group a copy of the blackline master and 25–50 paper clips.
• “Make a prediction: Which shape do you think will take the most paper clips to build?”
• 30 seconds: quiet think time
• Poll the class on whether they think shape A, B, C, or D would take the most paper clips to build.

### Activity

• “Work with your group to find out which shape takes the most paper clips to build. You may need to take turns with the paper clips.”
• 5–7 minutes: small-group work time
• Monitor for students who:
• place paper clips one at a time and then count the total
• place paper clips one at a time and then add up the numbers on all sides
• use multiplication ($$3 \times 3$$ for B, $$(2 \times 4) + (2 \times 2)$$ for C, or $$(2 \times 6) + 2$$ for D)
• use estimation

### Student Facing

Your teacher will give you four shapes on paper and some paper clips.

Work with your group to find out which shape takes the most paper clips to build. Explain or show how you know. Record your findings here. Draw sketches if they are helpful.

A

B

C

D

### Student Response

For access, consult one of our IM Certified Partners.

### Activity Synthesis

• Select previously identified students to share their responses and strategies for finding the number of paper clips. Record the different strategies for all to see.
• “What we have done in this activity is to find the length of the boundary of shapes. The boundary of a flat shape is called its perimeter.”
• “When we find the distance all the way around a shape, like we did with paper clips, we are measuring its perimeter.”
• “To find the length of the perimeter of a shape, we can find the sum of its side lengths.”
• “We can say that the perimeter of shape A is 13 paper clips long.”
• “When we say ‘find the perimeter,’ we mean find the length of the perimeter.”

## Activity 2: Distance Around (20 minutes)

### Narrative

In this activity, students find the perimeter of shapes—first on dot paper, and then using the tick marks on the sides of the shapes. Students may need a reminder that when we measure length, we count the number of length-units, not the number of endpoints. While students may count the tick marks on all sides and add them, they may also observe that some side lengths are the same, especially on shapes A and B, and use this structure and multiplication by 2 to find the perimeter efficiently (MP8).

MLR8 Discussion Supports. Synthesis: To support the transfer of new vocabulary to long-term memory, invite students to chorally repeat these phrases in unison 1–2 times: perimeter and distance around a shape.
Action and Expression: Develop Expression and Communication. Synthesis: Identify connections between strategies that result in the same outcomes but use differing approaches.
Supports accessibility for: Visual-Spatial Processing

### Launch

• Groups of 2
• “Earlier, we used paper clips to measure the distance around shapes. What are some other units we could use to measure distances or lengths?” (The side length of a square on grid paper, the distance between points on dot paper, centimeter, inch, foot)
• “Let’s find the length of the perimeter of some shapes on dot paper and some shapes whose side lengths are shown with tick marks.”

### Activity

• “Work independently to find the perimeter of each shape. Afterwards, share your responses with your partner.”
• 5 minutes: independent work time
• 3–5 minutes: partner discussion
• Monitor for the different strategies students use to find the perimeter of each shape, such as counting one unit at a time, adding the number of length units of all sides, and using multiplication.

### Student Facing

Find the perimeter of each shape. Explain or show your reasoning.

### Student Response

For access, consult one of our IM Certified Partners.

If students lose track of the side lengths they are counting, consider asking:

• “How are you finding the distance around the shape?”
• “How could you keep track of the side lengths as you work?”

### Activity Synthesis

• Select students to share their responses and strategies. Start with those who counted individual units and move toward those who use operations.
• Record the strategies for all to see.
• “Which shape, C, D, or E, has the greatest perimeter?” (C. Its perimeter is 33 units. The other two are 30 and 32 units.)
• Consider asking: “Which shape has a greater perimeter: the rectangle in the first problem or the triangle?” (The triangle has 33 units while the rectangle has 22 units, but the units aren’t the same length, so we don’t know which perimeter is greater.)

## Lesson Synthesis

### Lesson Synthesis

“Today we learned what perimeter is. How would you describe perimeter to a friend?” (Perimeter is the distance around a shape or the length around a shape. It’s the length of all the sides added together.)

“How do you find the perimeter of a shape?” (We can count the number of units all the way around a shape or add up the number of units on each side.)

“One situation where we might find the perimeter of a shape is when putting a frame around a piece of artwork. The perimeter of the artwork can tell us how much framing material we need.”

“Can you think of other situations where it might be helpful to find the perimeter of a shape?” (Enclosing a yard with a fence. Decorating the edges of a piece of paper with ribbon.)

## Cool-down: What is the Perimeter? (5 minutes)

### Cool-Down

For access, consult one of our IM Certified Partners.