few_shots: Example:
Problem/activity:
Narrative
The purpose of this activity is for students to create composite shapes and compose new shapes from composite shapes. For example, students may find that a rectangular prism can be made from four triangular prisms or from eight smaller cubes. Students then discover that they can combine two of the composed rectangular prisms to make a new rectangular prism.
Required Materials
Materials to Gather
Geoblocks
Launch
Groups of 4
Give each group geoblocks.
Display a large cube.
“This cube can be built from other shapes. See how many ways you can build a cube using other shapes.”
3 minutes: partner work time
Share responses.
Activity
“Choose a different shape. Try to find smaller shapes you can use to build that shape.”
5 minutes: partner work time
Student Response
Teachers with a valid work email address can
click here to register or sign in
for free access to Student Response.
Activity Synthesis
Display a cube and a composite cube—for example, a cube composed of four small cubes and one rectangular prism.
Demonstrate putting the shapes together.
“What new shape did I make with the cube and the cube I made?”
“Put your shapes together to make a rectangular prism.”
Display a rectangular prism and two triangular prisms.
“Find these shapes. Put them together. What new shape can you make?” (a cube, a rectangular block)


Mathematical concept/skill options: 
A. Reason with shapes and their attributes.
B. Understand similarity in terms of similarity transformations.
C. Use coordinates to prove simple geometric theorems algebraically.
D. Translate between the geometric description and the equation for a conic section.
E. Understand congruence and similarity using physical models, transparencies, or geometry software.
F. Analyze, compare, create, and compose shapes.
G. Identify and describe shapes (squares, circles, triangles, rectangles, hexagons, cubes, cones, cylinders, and spheres).
H. Understand congruence in terms of rigid motions.
I. Classify two-dimensional figures into categories based on their properties.
J. Draw, construct, and describe geometrical figures and describe the relationships between them.
K. Explain volume formulas and use them to solve problems.
L. Prove theorems involving similarity.
M. Prove geometric theorems.
N. Solve real-life and mathematical problems involving angle measure, area, surface area, and volume.
O. Define trigonometric ratios and solve problems involving right triangles.
P. Apply trigonometry to general triangles.
Q. Visualize relationships between two-dimensional and three-dimensional objects.
R. Draw and identify lines and angles, and classify shapes by properties of their lines and angles.
S. Make geometric constructions.
T. Apply geometric concepts in modeling situations.
U. Solve real-world and mathematical problems involving area, surface area, and volume.
V. Graph points on the coordinate plane to solve real-world and mathematical problems.
W. Solve real-world and mathematical problems involving volume of cylinders, cones, and spheres.
X. Understand and apply theorems about circles.
Y. Understand and apply the Pythagorean Theorem.
Z. Experiment with transformations in the plane.
AA. Find arc lengths and areas of sectors of circles.


Your response:
Thought: This activity asks students to reason how shapes can combine to make other shapes.
Answer: A

Now, assign the following problem or activity to one or more relevant mathematical concepts/skills it teaches.
shot_info: im_lesson_009431

1
options: Perform operations on vectors.

Use properties of rational and irrational numbers.

Extend the properties of exponents to rational exponents.

Apply and extend previous understandings of multiplication and division to divide fractions by fractions.

Represent and model with vector quantities.

Know that there are numbers that are not rational, and approximate them by rational numbers.

Perform arithmetic operations with complex numbers.

Apply and extend previous understandings of numbers to the system of rational numbers.

Perform operations on matrices and use matrices in applications.

Use complex numbers in polynomial identities and equations.

Reason quantitatively and use units to solve problems.

Represent complex numbers and their operations on the complex plane.

Compute fluently with multi-digit numbers and find common factors and multiples.

Apply and extend previous understandings of operations with fractions to add, subtract, multiply, and divide rational numbers.
problem_activity: Optional activity
In this Fermi problem, students estimate the total volume occupied by all of the breakfast cereal purchased in a year in the United States.
Monitor for different approaches to solving the problem, and select students to share during the discussion. In particular, look for:
A range of estimates
Different levels of precision in reporting the final estimate
Different arrangements of boxes
Launch
Arrange students in groups of 1–4. Provide access to four-function calculators. If students are doing their own research, provide access to internet-enabled devices. If conducting a gallery walk at the end, provide access to tools for making a visual display.
Before starting, ask students to come up with a guess about the answer and poll the class. Record all guesses.
Ask students to brainstorm the information they need to answer the question. Give the information provided when students ask for it, or provide access to internet-enabled devices so that students can find the information they need.
Vital information to have on hand includes:
Every year, people in the U.S. buy 2.7 billion boxes of breakfast cereal.
A “typical” cereal box has dimensions of 2.5 inches by 7.75 inches by 11.75 inches.
Representation: Internalize Comprehension.
Represent the same information through different modalities by using physical objects to represent abstract concepts. Some students may benefit by starting with an image, video, or a typical size cereal box to support visualization.
Supports accessibility for: Conceptual processing; Visual-spatial processing
Student Facing
Imagine a warehouse that has a rectangular floor and that contains all of the boxes of breakfast cereal bought in the United States in one year.
If the warehouse is 10 feet tall, what could the side lengths of the floor be?
Student Response
Teachers with a valid work email address can
click here to register or sign in
for free access to Student Response.
Anticipated Misconceptions
Students may not think about
how
the boxes are packed. That is, they may make a volume calculation and then perform division. (Ask these students to think about how the boxes are placed in the warehouse.)
Students may struggle with unit conversions. (Encourage them to go step by step: How many inches are in a foot? How many square inches are in a square foot? How many cubic inches are in a cubic foot?)
Activity Synthesis
Invite students or groups to share different solution approaches. Consider asking students to create a visual display and conducting a gallery walk. Highlight strategies that include keeping careful track of the information used including:
What is the volume of each box?
How are the boxes arranged for storage?
How are the dimensions of the warehouse floor determined?
Make sure to discuss why different people have different estimates.
Some students may just calculate volume and not think of how the boxes are packed. (This is OK as the amount of empty space will not be large unless the boxes are placed haphazardly.)
Students may place the boxes in a different way.
Students may or may not take account of the small amount of space in the warehouse that is not filled by the boxes.
There are an infinite number of rectangles with suitable area to serve as the floor of the warehouse. Note, however, that having an appropriate area (e.g., 36,000,000 square feet) is
not
sufficient. For example, we could not have a warehouse that is 1 inch wide and 432,000,000 feet long. In general, if one of the dimensions is too small, it increases the amount of wasted space.


correct_option_index: 12