Illustrative Mathematics · Grade 6 · Unit 1 · Area & Surface Area
Every building starts on graph paper. Measure the shapes, find their areas, count the faces of polyhedra, and fold up the nets. Each zone matches lessons from class. New to this? Learn it first →
Each zone deals 8 fresh problems (the Final Blueprint deals 10). A right answer on the first try earns 10 points. After a wrong answer, the game names the likely mistake and gives one more try for 5 points.
Hints use the same moves as class: cut and slide a parallelogram into a rectangle, double a triangle into a parallelogram, split a shape into rectangles, color a polyhedron’s bases and dot its hidden vertices. A used hint caps that problem at 5 points.
Shapes drawn inside a rectangle, solved like the class worksheets: rectangle area minus the unshaded pieces. A wrong first answer switches to Build it, which checks each piece one at a time. Dented shapes unlock after 2 stars in that zone. The zone also has shapes with a hole cut out, like the unit’s practice problems: find the whole shape (adding up lengths that come in pieces, such as a height of 3 + 2), then subtract the hole.
Using the slanted side instead of the height, forgetting to halve a triangle, counting only 3 faces of a prism, counting only the faces or edges you can see, naming a pyramid by its triangles instead of its base, deciding about two figures at once instead of each on its own, agreeing that two nets make the same prism when their pieces are different sizes or one won’t fold closed, and mixing up surface area with volume.