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Surface Area Using Nets (Prisms & Pyramids)

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What you will learn from this videoWhat you will learn
- We'll learn how to find the surface areas of prisms and pyramids using nets.
- We’ll also learn to identify 3D shapes based on their 2D nets.
- And we'll see how this knowledge can help us go camping, make owl boxes, and even start a business.
- Discussion Questions
Before Video
What is special about a square?ANSWERAll the sides are congruent, and all the angles are congruent.
Rectangles still have four congruent angles. They have two pairs of congruent sides instead of all four congruent sides. So, a square is a special kind of rectangle.
For any rectangle, I can multiply length by width, or base by height. If it’s a square, I can multiply one side length by itself.
Base times height divided by two, or half the base times the height.
A prism is a solid object with two identical ends and flat sides connecting them. A prism where all of the sides are squares is called a cube. A pyramid is a solid object where there is a polygon on the base and the sides are triangles that meet at a point at the top.
After Video
What 3D shape consists of six squares?ANSWERA cube.
Find the area of one face, then multiply by 6.
I have to add up all of the face’s areas, some of them might be triangles or other shapes.
The prism consists of rectangles along with whatever shape the two bases are. The pyramid has triangles along with whatever shape the one base is.
Picture unfolding the shape until it lies flat, and make sure that only congruent sides are touching.
- Vocabulary
- Area DEFINE
The amount of space, in square units, inside of a 2D shape (for example, for a rectangle, area is length times width; for a triangle, area is half the base times the height).
- Decompose DEFINE
To break apart a shape (or quantity) into smaller parts.
- Surface Area DEFINE
The total area, in square units, of the surface of a 3D object.
- Net DEFINE
An unfolded, flat picture that represents a 3D shape.
- Rectangular Prism DEFINE
A 3D shape that has six faces that are all rectangles.
- Cube DEFINE
A special rectangular prism that has six faces that are all squares.
- Prism DEFINE
A 3D shape with two identical bases connected by three rectangular faces (for example, in a triangular prism, the bases are triangles; in a pentagonal prism, the bases are pentagons).
- Right Triangle DEFINE
A three-sided polygon that contains a 90-degree angle.
- Pyramid DEFINE
A 3D shape that has 5 faces (for example, in a rectangular pyramid, 4 triangular bases are built along a rectangular base, and meet at a point).
- Area DEFINE
- Reading Material
- Practice Word Problems
- Practice Number Problems
- Lesson Plan
- Teacher Guide