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5th grade · Math · Unit 8 of 15

Parallel Lines and Quadrilaterals

Sort four-sided shapes

What your child practices

Finding parallel and perpendicular edges and sides, and sorting quadrilaterals (rectangles, squares, trapezoids, parallelograms and rhombuses) by their sides and angles.

New York State Learning Standards learning standard: NY-5.G.3; NY-5.G.4 · sorting two-dimensional figures in a hierarchy by their properties

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Parallel lines stay the same distance apart and never meet.
  2. Perpendicular lines meet at a right angle.
  3. Sort quadrilaterals by parallel sides and equal sides.

Example: A quadrilateral has two pairs of parallel sides and four right angles. What could it be? Two pairs of parallel sides: a parallelogram. Four right angles: a rectangle. Answer: A rectangle

Parallel Lines and Quadrilaterals in New York

In the New York State Learning Standards, this is unit 8 of 15 in 5th grade Math, after Mental Math Tricks and before Converting Units.

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

    A wall and the floor of a room are…

    • parallel
    • the same
    • perpendicular

  2. Question 2

    A rhombus has…

    • only two equal sides
    • four equal sides
    • three equal sides

  3. Question 3

    Which letter has parallel lines?

    • V
    • X
    • H

  4. Question 4

    A rectangle has…

    • only one pair of parallel sides
    • no parallel sides
    • two pairs of equal, parallel sides

  5. Question 5

    How many right angles does a rectangle have?

    • 0
    • 2
    • 4

  6. Question 6

    Why is a square a special rectangle?

    • It has no parallel sides
    • It has four right angles and its sides are all equal
    • It has three sides

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