Community Garden Beds: Counting Square Units

Count the unit squares that cover each garden bed to find its area.

Answer Key

The garden map

This map shows the beds in the community garden. Each small square is 1 square unit. Count the unit squares that cover each bed.

Bed A is covered by 6 unit squares, so its area is 6 square units.

What is the area of Bed D?

9 square units

What is the area of Bed F?

7 square units

Which bed has the greatest area?

A. Bed C
B. Bed D
C. Bed E
D. Bed B

Which two beds have the same area?

A. Bed A and Bed F
B. Bed B and Bed D
C. Bed C and Bed E
D. Bed D and Bed F

Find the area of each bed. Then sort the beds.

Bed ABed BBed CBed DBed EBed F

Less than 10 square units	Exactly 10 square units	More than 10 square units
Bed A Bed D Bed F	Bed C Bed E	Bed B

Think about area

Use what you know about unit squares to answer each question.

Look at the garden map again. Bed F is long and thin. Bed A is short and wide. Which bed covers more ground?

A. Bed A, because it is wider.
B. Bed F, because it is covered by 7 unit squares and Bed A is covered by 6.
C. They cover the same amount of ground because both are rectangles.
D. Bed A, because it has more rows.

Mr. Patel covers his new bed with exactly 14 unit squares. There are no gaps and no overlaps. What is the area of his bed?

14 square units

Lena covers a bed with square tiles, but she leaves gaps between the tiles. She counts 9 tiles. Why is 9 square units NOT the area of the bed?

A. The gaps are part of the bed too, so it takes more than 9 unit squares to cover the whole bed.
B. The tiles should overlap so they cover more of the bed.
C. Area means counting the sides of the bed, not the tiles.

Here is the herb bed drawn on grid paper. Each small square stands for 1 square foot.

10.

Count the squares that cover the herb bed.

The herb bed has an area of 15 square feet.

Plan new beds

Each small square is 1 square unit. Shade whole squares, with no gaps and no overlaps.

11.

Shade a new bed that has an area of 8 square units.

Sample answer:

Any bed made of exactly 8 unit squares is correct, such as 2 rows of 4 squares.

12.

Shade two beds with different shapes. Each bed must have an area of 12 square units.

Sample answer:

For example, 2 rows of 6 squares and 3 rows of 4 squares. Each bed is covered by 12 unit squares.

13.

Bed C and Bed E on the garden map have different shapes. Explain why they have the same area.

Each bed is covered by 10 unit squares with no gaps or overlaps, so each has an area of 10 square units. The shapes are different, but the number of unit squares is the same.