The 3rd grade is busy investigating the perimeter and area of shapes. Perimeter is made up of the Greek prefix “peri” which means “around”, “about’, ‘enclosing, 'surrounding’ and the Greek root “meter” with the meaning “measure”, thus making up the definition, to measure around. 

To practice calculating perimiters, students made tetrominoes, which are shapes using only four cubes. The students attempted how many of the same tetromino shapes can fit into a 12 x 8 rectangle. Then they calculated the area and perimeter of polygons that have four or more sides. During this process, students used multiplication to help them find the area. With shapes that had more than four sides, the students made the large shape into smaller shapes and then added the areas together.