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We had a discussion about this at work the other day, I shall be following this tread with interest!

It was me who said about rectangles being squares, and every poo-pooed me............. so I did what I seem to do a lot lately and though 'blow it, why worry' and went back to what I was doing - I think maybe I need a change of job now :(:( as I seem to be losing the will to fight anymore :mellow:

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It should be oblong, but as others have said, it went sort of out of fashion, despite being mathematically correct. Rectangle is a more generic term, like flower or bird, and includes both squares and oblongs. So, if a child calls that shape a rectangle, it isn't wrong, but I would go further and say its a special rectangle, called an oblong. (drawing attention to the 'long' in oblong) If you liken it to the flower, a child says that's a flower, you might go on and tell them its a rose or a daffodil. So calling it a flower isnt wrong.

The problem comes when a child calls a square a rectangle and we correct them. But a square is a rectangle, again its a special type of rectangle. That would equate to telling the child that the daffodil isnt a flower.

I am passionate about teaching correct mathematical vocabulary because if we don't it causes so many problems and misconceptions in maths later on. If you've ever tried to teach year 4 that a square is indeed a type of rectangle, its no wonder children get confused after years of being told no it isnt.

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I have always used rectangle as the general term for squares and oblongs, 'this rectangle us called a square'. This teaches children that there are clusters of shapes in the same way that triangles can all look very different, but they are still triangles. I don't use ovoid for egg shapes and ovals though ~ Perhaps I should!

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We had a discussion about this at work the other day, I shall be following this tread with interest!

It was me who said about rectangles being squares, and every poo-pooed me............. so I did what I seem to do a lot lately and though 'blow it, why worry' and went back to what I was doing - I think maybe I need a change of job now :(:( as I seem to be losing the will to fight anymore :mellow:

A rectangle is a quadrilateral with four right angles so you are absolutely correct. You can go back and tell the staff that ;-)

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and to be even more pedantic all you need to do is to say that the 'face' of this shape is a rectangle, or whatever it is, and of course the sides of the shape will be a rectangles as well as well ;-) I can only think of a sphere and a triangular pyramid which don't have any rectangular sides, but I expect there are others.

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Having only discovered a few years ago that oblongs were a subset of rectangles I try to remember to use the term with my children but it's a hard habit to break (having just remembered the shape work I did with my year ones where I didn't mention it once. :( ) I sometimes worry about my subject knowledge - how do I know I don't know something or that I know it incorrectly?

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we don't use the word oblong but square and rectangle

its a word not worth worrying about its not wrong

 

but I love the word tessilate

Edited by Suer
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The difference between an oblong and a rectangle is that an oblong is a rectangle whose sides are of different lengths. A rectangle on the other hand is a four sided polygon that has four right angle corners.

 

You of course wild flowers must tell you children whatever you feel comfortable with using

Edited by Suer
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I also don't tell a child that they are wrong, but have up to now said, when a child has called a square a rectangle, e.g. "hmm... a rectangle has two long sides and two short..." encouraging them to think further. This discussion has helped me become aware of my ignorance ~ thanks!

We have now decided not to bring oblongs in the mix and instead say, "yes it is a kind of a rectangle called square because..."

Edited by Wildflowers
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