Building Prisms
5 min
Teacher Prep
Setup
Narrative
The purpose of this Warm-up is for students to reason about prisms formed from various nets. During the partner and whole-group discussions, listen for how students name each prism: pentagonal prism, triangular prism, square prism (but not a cube). Select students who correctly name each prism, and ask them to share during the whole-class discussion.
Launch
Arrange students in groups of 2. Give students 30 seconds of quiet think time to look at the nets, followed by 2 minutes to describe, with a partner, each net.
Student Task
Here are some nets for various prisms.
-
What would each net look like when folded?
- What do you notice about the nets?
Sample Response
- From top left: A pentagonal prism, a triangular prism where the base is a right triangle, a square prism (but not a cube), a triangular prism where the base is an isosceles triangle.
- Sample responses:
- They all have a long rectangle in the middle.
- The bases on the bottom are upside down compared to the bases on the top.
- There’s one base on each long side of the rectangle.
Activity Synthesis (Teacher Notes)
The goal of this discussion is to identify the prisms from their nets and to share key features of nets of prisms. Ask selected students to describe the object formed by each net. Record and display their responses for all to see. If a student's description does not include the name of the prism, ask other students to name the object and to explain how they know.
Ask students to share what they notice about all of the nets. Record and display their responses for all to see. While students may notice many things, important ideas to highlight during the discussion are:
- They all have a long rectangle in the middle.
- The bases on top and bottom are upside down.
- There’s one base on each side of the rectangle.
Standards
- 6.G.4·Represent three-dimensional figures using nets made up of rectangles and triangles, and use the nets to find the surface area of these figures. Apply these techniques in the context of solving real-world and mathematical problems.
- 6.G.A.4·Represent three-dimensional figures using nets made up of rectangles and triangles, and use the nets to find the surface area of these figures. Apply these techniques in the context of solving real-world and mathematical problems.
10 min
10 min
Knowledge Components
All skills for this lesson
No KCs tagged for this lesson
Building Prisms
5 min
Teacher Prep
Setup
Narrative
The purpose of this Warm-up is for students to reason about prisms formed from various nets. During the partner and whole-group discussions, listen for how students name each prism: pentagonal prism, triangular prism, square prism (but not a cube). Select students who correctly name each prism, and ask them to share during the whole-class discussion.
Launch
Arrange students in groups of 2. Give students 30 seconds of quiet think time to look at the nets, followed by 2 minutes to describe, with a partner, each net.
Student Task
Here are some nets for various prisms.
-
What would each net look like when folded?
- What do you notice about the nets?
Sample Response
- From top left: A pentagonal prism, a triangular prism where the base is a right triangle, a square prism (but not a cube), a triangular prism where the base is an isosceles triangle.
- Sample responses:
- They all have a long rectangle in the middle.
- The bases on the bottom are upside down compared to the bases on the top.
- There’s one base on each long side of the rectangle.
Activity Synthesis (Teacher Notes)
The goal of this discussion is to identify the prisms from their nets and to share key features of nets of prisms. Ask selected students to describe the object formed by each net. Record and display their responses for all to see. If a student's description does not include the name of the prism, ask other students to name the object and to explain how they know.
Ask students to share what they notice about all of the nets. Record and display their responses for all to see. While students may notice many things, important ideas to highlight during the discussion are:
- They all have a long rectangle in the middle.
- The bases on top and bottom are upside down.
- There’s one base on each side of the rectangle.
Standards
- 6.G.4·Represent three-dimensional figures using nets made up of rectangles and triangles, and use the nets to find the surface area of these figures. Apply these techniques in the context of solving real-world and mathematical problems.
- 6.G.A.4·Represent three-dimensional figures using nets made up of rectangles and triangles, and use the nets to find the surface area of these figures. Apply these techniques in the context of solving real-world and mathematical problems.