Five pages for Year 6 on the cross-sections of solids: the flat face you would see if you cut straight through a solid. Page 1 cuts prisms parallel to the base, and children draw and name each cross-section, then work out the sides of a slice from the measurements of a prism. Page 2 cuts pyramids and a cone parallel to the base and asks how each slice compares with the base, then which of two slices is bigger. Page 3 is the slice test: two slices of each solid, the same size or not, and is it a prism? Page 4 cuts solids straight down, on a slant and from corner to corner, and children circle the shape of each cross-section. Page 5 shows a solid as a stack of slices, and children name the solid.
Cut a block of cheese, a loaf of bread or a slab of modelling clay shaped as a prism, and hold up each slice: every one matches the end. Then cut a clay pyramid or cone the same way and compare the slices. Ask the class why a cylinder passes the slice test but is still not a prism.
Look for prisms in the kitchen: a block of butter, a box of tissues, a stick of celery cut across. Slice a carrot, a banana or a cucumber and talk about the shape of each slice, and whether the slices stay the same size.
This pack supports the following Common Core State Standards for Mathematics:
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Cross-sections of prisms, pyramids, cylinders, cones and spheres, and how slices cut parallel to the base show which solids are right prisms. Students draw and name cross-sections, compare slices, use the slice test to find the prisms, match cuts made in other directions to their shapes and name solids from their slices.
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