Area And Perimeter Anchor Chart for Third Grade Classroom

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Today, I want to share with you my area and perimeter anchor chart and how it’s helped teach my third-grade math students the concept.

Area and Perimeter: Difficult to Differentiate for Third Graders

In third grade, my students have such a hard time distinguishing the difference between area and perimeter. This is the first time they are introduced to the idea and are taught the concepts at about the same time. It always takes quite a bit of time for them to remember which is which.

Make an Area and Perimeter Anchor Chart

As for any topic in Math, a visual is key. Here is the anchor chart I use for area and perimeter. I put it on the inside of the door to our classroom.

The students can see this throughout the day, including when we line up. I also like to emphasize the word “rim” in perimeter so they can associate perimeter with measuring the rim or outside of the area.  I’ve written the word perimeter four times around the edge of the anchor chart on each side, and I’ve written area really large on the inside of the chart.

By putting this on the inside of my door, the students see it constantly. When I finally remove it for the STAAR test, the students are still able to “see” it hanging on the door. If they can just remember that the word area is written in the middle, they will know it covers the space inside of the figure.

Use Different Strategies to Teach Topics

When it comes to teaching any topic, it is so important for you to use as many different strategies as you can. This is only one of the beginning strategies that set the pace for the rest of the module.

This is such an easy way to help your students! Not to mention, it takes about 2 minutes to make on a poster board but allows for hours of visibility. It is one of my go-to anchor charts when we are reviewing at the end of the year.

I hope you can use this in your classroom and it will help your students as well! Do you have a great area and perimeter anchor chart that you use in your class? Please share any of the ideas that work for you!

If you want to read more about teaching, visit our teaching page.  Also, check out my top 10 anchor charts post!