Garden Bed Fraction Areas

Tile and multiply to find the area of garden beds.

Answer Key

Part 1: Tile a 1-yard square

The community garden is split into squares that are 1 yard long on each side. Gardeners split each square into equal tiles.

Mrs. Chen's garden square is split into equal tiles. The shaded part is her pepper bed.

Each tile is 1/3 yd wide and 1/4 yd tall.
The area of one tile is 1/12 square yard.
The pepper bed covers 6 tiles, so its area is 6/12 square yard.

Now multiply the side lengths of the pepper bed. You should get the same area.

2/3 × 3/4 = 6/12 square yard

Mr. Patel splits his 1-yard garden square into tiles that are 1/4 yard wide and 1/5 yard tall. His bean bed is 3/4 yard wide and 4/5 yard tall.

Tiles that fill the whole 1-yard square: 20
Area of one tile: 1/20 square yard
Tiles that cover the bean bed: 12
Area of the bean bed: 12/20 square yard

Part 2: Beds longer than 1 foot

In these pictures, each small square is 1/2 foot long on each side.

Jamal's herb bed is 3 1/2 feet long and 2 1/2 feet wide. It is tiled with squares that are 1/2 foot on each side.

Use the tiles to find the area of Jamal's herb bed.

Number of 1/2-foot squares: 35
Area of one 1/2-foot square: 1/4 square foot
Area of the herb bed: 35/4 square feet

Check by multiplying. Write 3 1/2 as 7/2 and 2 1/2 as 5/2.

7/2 × 5/2 = 35/4 square feet

Ravi's tomato bed is 2 1/2 feet by 1 1/2 feet. He splits it into 4 parts, A, B, C, and D. Find the area of each part, then the area of the whole bed.

Part A: 2 square feet
Part B: 1/2 square foot
Part C: 1 square foot
Part D: 1/4 square foot
Whole bed: 3 3/4 square feet

Zoe's flower bed is 2 feet by 1 1/2 feet. Draw lines to split it into squares that are 1/2 foot on each side.

Sample answer:

Draw lines to make 4 squares across and 3 squares down, 12 squares in all.

Use your drawing to find the area of Zoe's flower bed.

Number of 1/2-foot squares: 12
Area of the flower bed: 3 square feet

Part 3: Plan the garden

Multiply the side lengths to find each area.

Circle every bed that has an area of exactly 3/8 square yard.

1/2 yd by 3/4 yd3/4 yd by 3/4 yd3/5 yd by 5/8 yd1/2 yd by 1/4 yd1/4 yd by 1 1/2 yd3/4 yd by 1/8 yd

10.

Sort the beds by their area.

3/5 yd by 5/6 yd1/2 yd by 1/2 yd5/6 yd by 4/5 yd7/8 yd by 4/7 yd9/10 yd by 2/3 yd2/5 yd by 1/2 yd

Less than 1/2 square yard	Exactly 1/2 square yard	More than 1/2 square yard
1/2 yd by 1/2 yd 2/5 yd by 1/2 yd	3/5 yd by 5/6 yd 7/8 yd by 4/7 yd	5/6 yd by 4/5 yd 9/10 yd by 2/3 yd

11.

Match each garden bed to its area. One area will not be used.

4/5 m by 1/2 mD
1 1/4 m by 2/5 mC
5/8 m by 2/3 mB
1 1/2 m by 1/6 mA

A. 1/4 sq m
B. 5/12 sq m
C. 1/2 sq m
D. 2/5 sq m
E. 1/3 sq m

12.

Lena's bed is 1 1/4 yards by 2/3 yard. Omar's bed is 3/4 yard by 1 1/3 yards. Which sentence is true?

A. Lena's bed has more area, by 1/6 square yard.
B. The two beds have the same area.
C. Omar's bed has more area, by 1/6 square yard.
D. Omar's bed has more area, by 1/3 square yard.