MA.4.G.3.3 Select and use appropriate units, both customary and metric, strategies, and measuring tools to estimate and solve real-world area problems.

Benchmark Number:	MA.4.G.3.3
Benchmark Description:	Select and use appropriate units, both customary and metric, strategies, and measuring tools to estimate and solve real-world area problems.
Subject Area:	Mathematics
Grade Level:	4
Body of Knowledge:	Geometry
Big Idea:	BIG IDEA 3 - Develop an understanding of area and determine the area of two-dimensional shapes. Related Instructional Resources » More Information »
Date Adopted or Revised:	09/07
Date of Last Rating:	06/07
Cognitive Complexity:	Moderate - What does this mean?
Status:	State Board Approved
Assessed?	Assessed
Remarks/Examples:	Students should recognize that the area of a piece of paper might be measured in square inches, the area of a room might be measured in square feet, and the area of a large piece of land might be measured in square miles. Alternately, these measurements might be in square centimeters, square meters, and square kilometers, respectively. Example: Students find the area of a composite shape. An L-shaped region may be decomposed into rectangular regions. Example: Find the area of the polygon in the picture. Explain or show how you found the area.

RELATED RESOURCES (2)

Good Benchmark Tie (2)	Resource Type(s)
» Parking at the Mall (Area) Students estimate and determine the area for parking spaces at a mall. They are also introduced to determining percents. This is Lesson 1 of a two lesson sequence.	Lesson Plan (Primary Type) Worksheet
» Sidewalk Capers Students will explore spatial relationships by determining the area of various shapes and creating tessellation patterns. They use a variety of manipulatives in this lesson to explore spatial relationships of squares and their transformations. ...read more	Lesson Plan (Primary Type) Worksheet

* Please note that examples of resources are not intended as complete curriculum.

Test Item Specifications

Reporting Category:

Geometry and Measurement

Item Type(s):

This benchmark will be assessed using: MC, GR items.

At Grade 4, this benchmark will be assessed using MC and GR items.

Clarification:

Students will find the area of a rectangle by multiplying the base by the height.

Students will solve problems involving the area of a rectangle or a composite shape composed of adjacent rectangles, such as L- or E-shaped figures.

Students will select appropriate units and/or tools to estimate and/or solve real-world area problems, (e.g., recognize that the area of a room is expressed as square feet, compared to an area of land expressed in square miles or kilometers).

Content Limits:

Items may include figures with whole-number dimensions of 100 or fewer units.

Items will not include the formula for area of a rectangle.

Stimulus Attributes:

Items may be on a grid, but this is not required.

Graphics should be used in most items.

Students may be required to use a ruler to measure the dimensions of a figure to determine its area.

Response Attributes:

Responses may include incorrect units of measurement.

Prior Knowledge:

Items may require the student to apply mathematical knowledge described in the Standards from lower grades. This benchmark requires prerequisite knowledge from MA.3.G.5.1.

SAMPLE TEST ITEMS (2)

Test Item #	Question	Difficulty	Type

Sample Item 1:	Mr. Hanson is getting new carpet in his classroom. Which is the best estimate of the total amount of... ...read more	NA	MC : Multiple Choice MC items should take an average of one minute per item to solve. MC items are worth one point each. MC items should have four answer choices (A, B, C, D or F, G, H, I for alternating items). During item development and review, the correct response should be indicated with a star next to the answer choice letter. During item development and review, the rationale for options (incorrect answer choices) should be indicated and set off in brackets. In most cases, answer choices should be arranged vertically beneath the item stem. If four graphics are labeled horizontally or vertically and horizontally, the labeling should be as follows: A. B. C. D. or A. C. B. D. Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 or Figure 1 Figure 3 Figure 2 Figure 4 If the answer choices for an item are strictly numerical, they should be arranged in ascending or descending order, with the place values of digits aligned. When the item requires the identification of relative size or magnitude, choices should be arranged as they are presented in the item stem. If the answer choices for an item are neither strictly numerical nor denominate numbers, the choices should be arranged by the logic presented in the question, by alphabetical order, or by length. Distractors should represent computational or procedural errors commonly made by students who have not mastered the assessed concepts. Each distractor should be a believable answer for someone who does not really know the correct answer. Outliers (i.e., answer choices that are longer phrases or sentences than the other choices, or choices with significantly more/fewer digits than the other choices) should NOT be used. Responses such as “None of the Above,” “All of the Above,” and “Not Here” should NOT be used. Responses such as “Not Enough Information” or “Cannot Be Determined” should NOT be used unless they are a part of the benchmark being assessed. They should not be used as distractors for the sake of convenience. If a response is a phrase, the phrase should start with a lowercase letter. No period should be used at the end of a phrase. If a response is a sentence, the sentence should be conventionally capitalized and punctuated.
Sample Item 2:	Lana bought a patch in the shape of an “L” to sew onto the back of her denim jacket. The size of the... ...read more	NA	GR : Gridded-Response GR items should take an average of 1.5 minutes per item to complete. GR items are worth 1 point each. The bubble grids used with GR items contain either four, five, six, or seven columns. Columns in which students may bubble a numeral contain the digits 0 through 9 enclosed in bubbles. Appendix I provides examples of the various FCAT Mathematics grids. The GR format is designed for items that require a positive numeric solution (whole numbers, decimals, percents, or fractions) at Grades 4–6. Items in Grades 7–10, and Algebra 1 EOC, require either a positive or negative numeric solution. A seventh column is added to these grids to allow for the negative sign. Note: The only benchmarks in Grade 7 that will use negative grids are MA.7.A.3.2 and MA.7.A.3.3. Multiple formats (e.g., equivalent fractions and decimals) are acceptable for items as long as each form of the correct response can be recorded in the grid. Four- or five-column grids are used for Grades 4 and 5 and may be preceded with a dollar sign ($) or followed by a percent sign (%), as appropriate. Special grids are provided at Grades 4 and 5 for gridding decimal numbers. The decimal grid is six columns wide with a fixed decimal point in the third column from the left. That is, there are two columns preceding the column with the decimal and three columns following it. There are two types of currency grids for Grades 4 and 5. One includes a decimal point for dollars and cents and one does not. Both grids have a dollar sign preceding the grid. Grade 6 uses a six-column grid that includes the digits 0 through 9 plus two symbols: a decimal point (.) and a fraction bar (/) for gridding fractions. Grades 7 through 10, and Algebra 1 EOC, use a six-column grid that includes the digits 0 through 9, plus two symbols: the decimal point (.) and the fraction bar (/) for gridding fractions. As previously stated, a seventh column is added to these grids to allow for the negative sign. All grids include light shading in alternate columns. Shading should not interfere with students’ ability to read the numbers inside each column. GR items should include instructions that specify the unit in which the answer is to be provided (e.g., inches). If several units of measure are in the item (e.g., in an item involving a conversion), the final unit needed for the answer should be written in boldface. GR items are written with consideration for the number of columns in the grid.