Cubic Units of Measure
10 min
Narrative
The purpose of this Warm-up is for students to notice there are different sized cubic units. This will be useful as students use standard units to measure the volumes of right rectangular prisms in upcoming activities. While students may notice and wonder many things about these cubes, the characteristics of a cube and size of the cubes are the important discussion points.
Launch
- Groups of 2
- Display the image.
- “What do you notice? What do you wonder?”
Teacher Instructions
- 1 minute: quiet think time
- 1 minute: partner discussion
- Share and record responses.
Student Task
What do you notice? What do you wonder?
Sample Response
Students may notice:
- They look like cubes.
- They are different sizes.
- One of the cubes is big enough to hold a boy.
Students may wonder:
- How big are those cubes?
- What are those cubes for?
- How many of the little cubes fit inside the big cube?
Activity Synthesis (Teacher Notes)
- “The little cube represents a cubic foot. The big cube represents a cubic yard. About how many of the big cubes could we fit in our classroom?” (If time permits, measure the length, the width, and the height of the classroom, round each measurement to the nearest yard, and check the reasonableness of the estimates.)
- “We have been using cubic units to measure volume, but haven’t defined the size of the unit. The choice of the unit depends on the size of the object.”
Standards
Addressing
- 5.MD.4·Measure volumes by counting unit cubes, using cubic cm, cubic in, cubic ft, and improvised units.
- 5.MD.C.4·Measure volumes by counting unit cubes, using cubic cm, cubic in, cubic ft, and improvised units.
10 min
10 min
15 min
Knowledge Components
All skills for this lesson
No KCs tagged for this lesson
Cubic Units of Measure
10 min
Narrative
The purpose of this Warm-up is for students to notice there are different sized cubic units. This will be useful as students use standard units to measure the volumes of right rectangular prisms in upcoming activities. While students may notice and wonder many things about these cubes, the characteristics of a cube and size of the cubes are the important discussion points.
Launch
- Groups of 2
- Display the image.
- “What do you notice? What do you wonder?”
Teacher Instructions
- 1 minute: quiet think time
- 1 minute: partner discussion
- Share and record responses.
Student Task
What do you notice? What do you wonder?
Sample Response
Students may notice:
- They look like cubes.
- They are different sizes.
- One of the cubes is big enough to hold a boy.
Students may wonder:
- How big are those cubes?
- What are those cubes for?
- How many of the little cubes fit inside the big cube?
Activity Synthesis (Teacher Notes)
- “The little cube represents a cubic foot. The big cube represents a cubic yard. About how many of the big cubes could we fit in our classroom?” (If time permits, measure the length, the width, and the height of the classroom, round each measurement to the nearest yard, and check the reasonableness of the estimates.)
- “We have been using cubic units to measure volume, but haven’t defined the size of the unit. The choice of the unit depends on the size of the object.”
Standards
Addressing
- 5.MD.4·Measure volumes by counting unit cubes, using cubic cm, cubic in, cubic ft, and improvised units.
- 5.MD.C.4·Measure volumes by counting unit cubes, using cubic cm, cubic in, cubic ft, and improvised units.