In this activity students explore the relationship between the area of a rectangle and the number of squares that make up a border around it. This activity provides students an opportunity to explore the operations of addition and multiplication, and area and perimeter. Students will work to find patterns as they organize data and look for ways to record their observations. This activity makes space for young mathematicians to count, describe shapes, explore ideas, build with square tiles, investigate conjectures, analyze patterns, organize findings, add and takeaway square tiles, and create visuals to explain and justify their thinking.
