A square is a rectangle?

Math, Uncategorized 1 Minute

Yes. You read that right. A square IS a rectangle.

Sidenote: As I was typing this title my younger brother is sitting next to me and he reads this and replies “yeah, so a rectangle is a square” PERFECT TEACHING MOMENT!

So naturally, I had to take advantage of this and test out my own skills with a quick lesson. My brother is 9 so this is great practice. Here is essentially how this conversation went; and I’m happy to say that he now has a pretty good understanding of this concept as well!

My response to his statement that a rectangle is a square is no. Initially he was confused, much like I was when I first learned this concept. What helped me was drawing out a visual. One square and a rectangle next to each other. Now, list some of the characteristics of each one. There are more, and he could be more specific but; this is what he came up with.

Square:

  • 4 sides
  • equal sides
  • 4 right angles

Rectangle:

  • 4 sides
  • 4 right angles

With this, I had him check off the things that matched from the square to the rectangle list. Notice anything? Everything that’s on the rectangle list is also on the square list. That means yes, a square is a rectangle. It has 4 sides and 4 right angles. BUT we aren’t finished yet. Look at the rectangle list. There’s one thing left over. Does a rectangle have to have 4 EQUAL sides? No! So it can’t be a square!

It was just a quick spontaneous lesson, but I also found some cool interactive websites with activities for students learning basic geometry.

https://www.mathsisfun.com/quadrilaterals.html

http://interactivesites.weebly.com/geometry-shapes.html

Unknown's avatar

Published by korrinebastian

Hey there everybody! My name is Korrine Bastian, and I am in school perusing a career in education! I am so close to graduating I can almost reach out and grab it. I have been through many trials throughout the last few years of school. Math in particular has always been a difficult subject for me, and now I am taking a course specifically designed to help future teachers learn how to teach math. I look forward to sharing some of my thoughts/experiences with you!

Published

2 thoughts on “A square is a rectangle?”

  1. Korrine,
    I loved this blog post because like you said it was the ideal teaching moment, and great practice at that. I did some of my service learning hours with fifth graders, so roughly your brothers age. They were introduced to the same geometry concept, how a square is a rectangle but a rectangle isn’t always a square. You could tell that they kind of questioned the idea and their teacher because how could one thing be something but the other couldn’t? I liked the idea of him checking off what matched and what didn’t match between a rectangle and a square that will typically help a visual learner, which most students tend to be. I’m a hands on learner like some of the students I was with in that 5th grade classroom, and showing them the difference of side lengths using a ruler or protractor helped them visual the concept as well! Great job on this blog post, it is great for all age levels. Also interactive websites that you linked are always helpful, they show different ways of understanding and teaching this kind of lesson because some ways don’t make sense to everyone!

    Like

    Reply

  2. Hello Korrine!
    I also love how you saw that moment as a perfect teaching moment. That is definitely your inner teacher coming out. I thought the way you explained it to him was very nice. It even helped me a little too. I always get confused whether a square is a rectangle or if a rectangle is a square and I found the way you explained it to him was very helpful! Great post!

    Like

    Reply

Leave a comment