YourHomeschool YourHomeschool Curriculum By state Workbooks Games Open the Tutor
Curriculum › Grade 5 › Mathematics

Shared Shape Properties

  • Grade 5
  • Mathematics
  • 5.G.B.3
  • Geometry
  • Free lesson

Aligned to 5.G.B.3 — Common Core State Standards for Mathematics.

What this lesson teaches

When shapes belong to a bigger group, they share the properties of that group. If every shape in a category has a certain property, then every smaller type inside it has that property too. This lets you reason about shapes you have not measured.

Worked examples

Example 1

Every rectangle has 4 right angles. A square is a special kind of rectangle, so a square must also have 4 right angles. You know this just from the categories, without measuring any square.

Example 2

Every square is a rectangle, but not every rectangle is a square. A 2-by-5 rectangle has 4 right angles and is still not a square.

Example 3

All rhombuses have 4 equal sides, so a square — which has 4 equal sides and 4 right angles — is a rhombus too.

Practice questions

  1. All squares have 4 equal sides. Does a shape need equal sides to be a rectangle? Explain.
  2. Every parallelogram has opposite sides that are parallel. Is a rectangle a parallelogram? What does that tell you about its sides?
  3. Name one property that every square has because a square is also a rectangle.

Watch the lesson

Every lesson comes with a video taught in English and Spanish — the same video the QR code in the printed workbook opens.

▶ Watch this lesson

En español

Propiedades compartidas de las figuras

Cuando las figuras pertenecen a un grupo más grande, comparten las propiedades de ese grupo. Si toda figura de una categoría tiene cierta propiedad, entonces todo tipo más pequeño dentro de ella también la tiene. Esto te deja razonar sobre figuras que no has medido.

Ejemplo 1: Todo rectángulo tiene 4 ángulos rectos. Un cuadrado es un tipo especial de rectángulo, así que un cuadrado también debe tener 4 ángulos rectos. Lo sabes solo por las categorías, sin medir ningún cuadrado.

Ejemplo 2: Todo cuadrado es un rectángulo, pero no todo rectángulo es un cuadrado. Un rectángulo de 2 por 5 tiene 4 ángulos rectos y aun así no es cuadrado.

Ejemplo 3: Todos los rombos tienen 4 lados iguales, así que un cuadrado — que tiene 4 lados iguales y 4 ángulos rectos — también es un rombo.

More Geometry lessons

Coordinate Plane and Classifying Shapes5.G.A.1Graphing Points to Solve Problems5.G.A.2Sorting Shapes in a Hierarchy5.G.B.4

Teach this lesson today

An AI tutor that guides with questions instead of just giving answers — all K–12 core subjects, every child in the family.

Start free — no card required