3-D shapes, plans and elevations – Year 9 maths lesson

Lesson 19 of 38 in the Year 9 maths course

UK version. UK school years, UK spelling and pounds (£). · US Math Department

A complete 45-minute lesson for Year 9 (ages 13–14) that runs on this page – at school or at home. Every answer is marked straight away, with a worked explanation.

Time: 45 minutes + 20 min homework
Year: Year 9 (ages 13–14)
You need: Paper, a pencil and this page
Marked: Instantly, with explanations

For parents: how to use this lesson

You don't need to know this topic yourself. The lesson explains each step on screen, one tidy step at a time. Every answer is marked straight away with a worked explanation, so you never have to mark anything.

Read what your child will learn and the big ideas together.
Press Start the lesson below and sit with your child for the teaching and the worked examples (about 19 minutes).
Let them do the practice on their own. They choose Getting started, On track or Challenge – start on On track and move up after a few right in a row.
Finish with the exit ticket and the talk question: “What shapes can you get by slicing a cube?”
Later that day or the next day: the homework (20 minutes), then a practice test.

Watch out for

Drawing hidden edges in a plan. Draw only what you can see from that direction.
Counting the same edge twice. Use the base: a prism with an n-sided base has 3n edges.

Tip for home: Slice fruit or cheese in different directions and look at the cross-sections.

What your child will learn

We are learning to describe 3-D shapes, draw plans and elevations and find cross-sections.

Success looks like

I can count faces, edges and vertices.
I can draw plans and elevations.
I can describe cross-sections.

Key words

plan: the view from above
elevation: the view from the front or side
cross-section: the face made by a slice
vertex: a corner (vertices)

What to have ready

Paper and a pencil
This page on a computer, tablet or phone
For the hands-on part: Build a shape from cubes and draw it from the top, the front and the side.

The big ideas (for the adult)

A 3-D shape has faces, edges and vertices. For a prism or pyramid, count them from its base shape.

A plan is the view from above; elevations are the views from the front and the side.

A cross-section is the shape you see when you slice a solid. Rotating a flat shape around a line makes a solid, such as a cylinder from a rectangle.

The lesson, step by step

45 minutes in 5 parts
Part	Time	How it is checked
Starter: quick recall	5 min	Marked by Classfern
Teaching input	10 min	Not assessed, self-checked
Worked examples and guided practice	9 min	Not assessed, marked by Classfern
Independent practice	15 min	Marked by Classfern
Plenary and exit ticket	6 min	Marked by Classfern, self-checked

Starter, "your turn", practice and exit ticket are marked by Classfern. Worked examples and teaching are not assessed. The hands-on task and the reflection are self-assessed. Explanations in talk are judged by the parent and not recorded.

The lesson

It runs here on the page. No sign-up and no names – progress is kept only in this browser.

Homework and practice at home

20 minutes: 10 practice questions, 3 multiple-choice questions and 2 to remember from earlier work, then a short reflection. New questions every time, all marked instantly.

More practice

All Year 9 maths lessons and tests · Maths Department

More Year 9 maths lessons

Curriculum

National Curriculum for England, Year 9: “use the properties of faces, surfaces, edges and vertices of cubes, cuboids, prisms, cylinders, pyramids, cones and spheres to solve problems in 3-D”

GCSE subject content G13: “construct and interpret plans and elevations of 3D shapes.”

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Our lessons and questions are our own. They are not written or endorsed by any government department, testing agency or exam board.