Grade 5 · Math · Unit 12 of 13
Prisms, Pyramids & Moves
3D objects, slides, flips, turns
What your child practises
Naming and classifying prisms and pyramids by their bases, counting faces, edges and vertices, and describing single transformations: translations (slides), reflections (flips) and rotations (turns).
Nunavut Curriculum approved guide: Alberta Mathematics K–9 (2007), Shape and Space · single transformations of 2-D shapes
How we explain it
Children can open this short lesson before they practise.
- A prism has two matching bases. A pyramid has one base and triangle sides meeting at a point.
- The base shape names the solid: a triangular prism, a square pyramid.
- A slide, a flip and a turn move a shape without changing its size.
Example: A solid has a square base and four triangle faces that meet at a point. What is it? One base and a point on top means a pyramid. The base is a square. Answer: A square pyramid
Sample questions
A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.
Question 1
Which of these is a pyramid?
- cylinder
- pyramid
- cone
- cube
pyramid
Hint: A pyramid has 1 flat base and triangular faces that meet at a point. A cone has a point too, but its base is a circle and its surface is curved.
Question 2
What do all prisms have?
- Only triangular faces
- A curved surface
- 1 base and a point at the top
- 2 matching bases joined by rectangles
2 matching bases joined by rectangles
Hint: Think of a box or a tent: the shapes at both ends match.
Question 3
How many vertices (corners) does a square pyramid have?
answer box
5
Hint: Count the corners of the base, then add 1 for the apex (the point at the top).
Question 4
Which single transformation changes the first letter into the second?
b → p- translation (slide)
- reflection (flip)
- rotation (turn)
reflection (flip)
Hint: A translation slides (no turning or flipping). A reflection flips over a line, like a mirror. A rotation turns around a point.
Question 5
Point A was translated (slid) to A′. How many units down did it move?
answer box
3
Hint: Count the grid squares from A to A′ going straight up or down only.
Question 6
Which describes the translation from A to A′?
- 4 units right, 2 units up
- 2 units right, 4 units up
- 2 units right, 4 units down
- 2 units left, 4 units up
2 units right, 4 units up
Hint: Count how far A moves across (right or left) first, then how far it moves up or down.