Be prepared for different solutions to the drawing riddles. 6'' square of construction paper and a pair of scissors. Next I ask students to work with a partner and figure the area of a small triangle if the area of the square tangram piece is worth 1 square unit. This is a bit trickier, but by moving the tangrams around and fitting some on top of others, they discover that the parallelogram is worth 1 square unit. I then direct them to figure the total area of their shape if the square piece is worth 1 unit of area.
Students draw a picture of their shape and explain in writing how they solved the problem.