Lesson 6
Hierarchy of Quadrilaterals
Lesson Purpose
Lesson Narrative
The purpose of this lesson is for students to first relate squares and rhombuses and then relate rectangles and parallelograms. They see that if a shape is a square then it is also a rhombus and if a shape is a rectangle then it is also a parallelogram. But there are rhombuses that are not squares and there are parallelograms that are not rectangles. Students record these observations on the anchor chart from previous lessons. This gives students a chance to organize the quadrilaterals in a hierarchy and highlight the relationships they see between the properties of the shapes they worked with in this lesson. Students should have access to straight edges, protractors, and patty paper throughout this lesson.
When students define shapes and make explicit connections between shapes and categories, they reason abstractly and quantitatively (MP2).
- Representation
Learning Goals
Teacher Facing
- Classify parallelograms in a hierarchy based on angle measurements and side lengths.
- Explain why a square is also a rhombus.
Student Facing
- Let’s explore the hierarchy of quadrilaterals.
Required Materials
Materials to Gather
Required Preparation
- Gather diagram from a previous lesson.
Activity 1:
- Each group of 2 needs 6 toothpicks.
Lesson Timeline
| Warm-up | 10 min |
| Activity 1 | 15 min |
| Activity 2 | 20 min |
| Lesson Synthesis | 10 min |
| Cool-down | 5 min |
Teacher Reflection Questions
Suggested Centers
- Which One? (K–5), Stage 7: Grade 5 Shapes (Addressing)
- How Are They the Same? (1–5), Stage 5: Grade 5 Shapes (Addressing)
- How Are They the Same? (1–5), Stage 4: Grade 4 Shapes (Supporting)