Subscribe

3rd grade · Math · Unit 16 of 16

Equal Areas

Split shapes into equal parts

What your child practices

Splitting rectangles, circles and grids into parts with equal areas, and naming each part's area as a unit fraction of the whole, such as 1/4.

New York State Learning Standards learning standard: NY-3.G.2 · splitting shapes into parts with equal areas and naming the area of each part as a unit fraction of the whole

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Split a shape into parts that have equal areas. The parts do not have to look the same.
  2. If there are 4 equal parts, each part is 1/4 of the whole area.
  3. To find the area of each part, divide the whole area by the number of parts.

Example: A rectangle of 12 square units is split into 3 equal parts. What is the area of each part, and what fraction is it? 12 ÷ 3 = 4 square units. There are 3 equal parts, so each is 1/3. Answer: 4 square units, 1/3 of the whole

Equal Areas in New York

In the New York State Learning Standards, this is unit 16 of 16 in 3rd grade Math, after Scaled Graphs.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: New York State Education Department (NYSED)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    The shape is split into parts with equal areas. What fraction of the whole area is shaded?

    • 7/8
    • 1/8
    • 1/9
    • 1/7

  2. Question 2

    A rectangle of 36 square units is split into 6 parts of 6 square units each. What fraction of the area is one part?

    • 6/37
    • 1/6
    • 1/36

  3. Question 3

    Zoe splits a tray of corn bread into 6 pieces with equal areas. One is for a friend. What fraction of the tray of corn bread is that?

    • 6
    • 1/5
    • 1/7
    • 1/6

  4. Question 4

    A shape is cut into 3 parts: 1 big and 2 small. Is each part 1/3 of the area?

    • Yes, if the big part is shaded
    • Yes, there are 3 parts
    • No, a third needs 4 parts
    • No, the parts do not have equal areas

  5. Question 5

    A rectangle of 72 square units is split into 8 parts of 9 square units each. What fraction of the area is one part?

    • 9/73
    • 1/9
    • 1/8
    • 1/72

  6. Question 6

    These 20 squares are split into 4 parts with equal areas. How many squares are in each part?

    • 5
    • 16
    • 4
    • 7

More 3rd grade