Walaa, Susanna, Christy

Applying And Understanding The Volume formula

Mathematics Learning Objectives:
Students will be able to assign the correct measure of units (square or cubic) to the volume. Students will label
each (length, width, and height) with a measurement. When they multiply the numerical value of the length,
width, and height, they will also multiply by the measurement unit (ft, lbs, m).
For the second objective, students will be able to demonstrate that the volume is found by using the formula V
= l w h is the same as would be found by multiplying the edge lengths of the prism. Students will then list the
steps for determining the surface area in the GD, and then give a brief description to how finding the volume
and surface area are different processes.

Language Objectives:
Student will be able to orally describe the process of finding the volume of a prism.
Student will be able to explain what the meaning of the volume formula components are and
what Length, Width, and Height represent and mean in a prism.
Students will be able to compare and contrast the differences in finding the volume by
summarizing them in a Google Document, while using correct vocabulary and proper grammar in their
explanations. Students will be engaged through their groups in writing in their GD, and discussing the
differences in each mathamatical formula.
Students will be able to assign the correct units to the numerical value of the volume found.
Essential Question:
How do you find the volume and surface area of various shapes and assign the volume the correct dimention?
Common Core State Mathematics Standards:

Solve real-world and mathematical problems involving area, surface area, and volume.

Common Core State Mathematical Practice Standards:

6.G.2 Find the volume of a right rectangular prism with fractional edge lengths by packing it with unit cubes of
the appropriate unit fraction edge lengths, and show that the volume is the same as would be found by multiplying the
edge lengths of the prism. Apply the formulas V = l w h and V = b h to find volumes of right rectangular prisms with
fractional edge lengths in the context of solving real-world and mathematical problems.
5.MD.3 Recognize volume as an attribute of solid figures and understand concepts of volume measurement.
This includes students learning to identify the difference between a square unit and a cubic unit by analyzing
dimensions.

Provision for individual Differences:

Despite that they would all have attended the same lessons prior to this one, some students who have less
experience involving hands-on concrete exercises might find it difficult to comprehend and catch as quickly the
abstract nature and concept of solving volume problems by visual processing. Therefore, I will begin by asking
a question for the class for a student to explain to the rest how each of the measurements come to life by
explaining dimensions of the white board for a bigger picture to ease them into the concept of concrete thinking.
Students will complete the exercise in class, so no students will have an advantage over the other in terms of
available resources and tools.

Walaa, Susanna, Christy

Materials:
Any rectangular prism or shape from students surroundings or belongings (teacher will have
brought backup notebooks and desks can always be used as rectangular shapes also).
White board/Marker or large notebook/clipboard
Pencil and paper
Access to a computer (Padlet)
(Walaa will bring in plastic interlocking unit cubes and a transparent rectangular prism tank)
Rulers
Notes to the reader:
The students will have completed a prior unit covering how to find the area of different prisms and shapes.
Students will have completed procedural problems that involve plugging in the correct measurements
appropriately into the volume formula to find the volume of a prism given its dimensions.
Time: Assume 15 minutes
Time What is the teacher doing? (Be sure to include
questions the teacher will ask and academic
language supports)
3
Christy will begin the conversation by asking each
min student to pull out something rectangular with an
easily calculated volume such as a notebook or
binder from their bookbag. During this instruction
Walaa will pass out rulers. Then students will then
be asked to approximate using whole numbers the
length of the object. Christy will then ask the
students for answers in hopes one student will say
the numerical value without the units. If a student
does not assign the answer with a unit, Christy will
promptly ask the student to clarify their answer
with my assistance. She will then ask the students
to find the volume by plugging into the formula
they already know from a previous lesson,
V=l*w*h. Then, Christy will ask them to give me
an answer. Hoping that a student omits the units in
their answer, I will again ask them to clarify their
answer with my assistance. If the students answer
with the correct unit assigned, Christy will give an
example of what would have happened if they
forgot. Christy will tthen provide a real life
example of how a volume with a given number can
mean a multitude of things without the unit of
meassurement.

What are students doing?

Students will use their ruler to approximate the
length of their binder or notebook. Students will
then interact with the teacher by answering follow
up questions after every measurement. Students
will the recall the volume formula and plug in
their measurements. Students will then provide
their answer to the instructor and discuss why it is
right or wrong.

4
min

Walaa, Susanna, Christy

Christy will state the simplified objective of
Students will listen to hear the purpose of their
5.MD.3. Christy will explain the objective by
first assignment and hear a simplified version of
reflecting on the previous warm up exercise.
the instructors learning objective. The students
Christy will remind them how numbers could
will then hear an analogy and see examples of
mean anything without the measurements.
why measurements matter. Then, students will
Therefore, she will tell the students that since
complete a quick practice worksheet and raise
measurements are so important, they will spend the their hands if they have any further questions.
rest of the class making sure they can identify the
correct measurements. She will explain to the class
that multiplying measurements together in finding
the volume or area is just as important as
multiplying the numbers together. She will explain
to them that without a unit of measurement,
numbers are meaningless. Christy will then tell a
short story about how a guy named number and a
girl named measurement are inceperatable. This
short story is to provide them with an anology that
will help them remember the learning objecvtive.
Christy will then provide actual examples by
writting them out on a white board. While Christy
is finishing up on the white board, Walaa will pass
out a practice worksheet. The worksheet will help
Christy and Walaa assess if extra practice should
be provided or if it is time to move onto the next
part of the lesson. Christy and Walaa will ask one
student to state their answer. Then, Christy and
Walaa will ask the other two to explain why he/she
is correct or incorrect.

2
min

Walaa will pick up the conversation Christy started

and state the objective for her section of the lesson
clearly repeating it two to three times. Say Today
we will be investigating the situation of volume in
a real life situation, measuring volumes of objects
right here in class
Walaa will begin with an activity to grab
students attention. I will have a transparent
rectangular prism (similar to a small fish tank), and
plastic interlocking 1-inch unit cubes. I will
explain that I need to figure out how much filtered
water I would need to buy to fill it up for my fish. I
will line the base with one layer of 1-unit cubes
and ask students to pass it around and count how
many 1-unit cubes are needed to line the base. At
this point some may multiply the sides to find the
total. If students dont multiply, I will explain that
to find the number of cubes, especially for a bigger
tank, we just take the area of the base
(lengthxwidth) to make it easier to count. I will
then ask them to approximate the number of bases
to be built to fill up the tank under my monitoring
and guidance.
I will then ask students to determine, based on
their answer of how many cubes make up a base
and how many are bases needed, to determine how
many total cubes would be needed to fill up the
tank.
If a student answers correctly, I will ask him/her to
explain it to the class. If not, or for further
clarification, I will explain that to find the number
of 1-unit cubes for the base, we found the area of
the base, and to find the height we found the
number of bases to the top and multiplied those
together to find the total fill of the tank.
Congratulations you have created the volume
formula! Walaa will then briefly explain to
students that the volume formula that they have
been using procedurally in past lessons is what
they have just developed through conceptualization
of real-life situations on their own.
Walaa will stop and ask for any questions before
moving on, saying, before I explain our activity
for today, does anyone have any questions about
what I have said so far?

Walaa, Susanna, Christy

Students will listen to the instruction and ask any
questions from the introduction and objective.

Students will be discussing the activity and asking

questions along the way if needed.

Students will provide their explanations or listen

to other students justifications after they
complete the task.

Students will listen to Walaas explanation and

connection-making to the formula and ask any
questions or make any comments about the
activity or teacher/student explanations.

Walaa, Susanna, Christy

5min I will stop here and restate the concept of volume
in real-life (coming back to the objective and
steering the discussion back to the central focus of
my lesson) by saying, It is just as necessary that
you learned to use the terms area and volume
and apply proper units to measurements as it is to
experience these concepts in real-life, as you have
done with filling up the tank for our fish.
The co-teacher will begin passing out materials
Walaa will say: Since we are a small group of
three, each of you will be working seperately
before sharing with one another. She will then
explain the activity.
Walaa will say You will be creating a short word
problem intended for another student to find the
volume of your object by providing them with the
dimensions, or providing the volume and enough
information about the shape so that they find the
dimensions repeat twice and list on board if
necessary
Say Your tasks are also to identify and justify
what you have found to the rest of the class
Walaa will reassure them that they will have help
throughout the lesson (for students with special
needs and those who might struggle with
understanding the instructions the first time
around).
Teachers will go around and answer any questions
and observe any side discussions leading the
conversation towards the correct way of thinking
about it and asking leading and challenging but not
revealing questions. Hmm, how did you decide
that? Can you explain why you think that? and
stop to address the whole class if a good thought or
idea comes up that is meaningful to share

Students will be clearing their desks and

preparing for the assignment and recieving
handouts of paper and pencil while listening to
the teachers instruction
Students will state any questions, doubts,
confusions.
Students should be using this time to work on
finding a shape to work with and formulating
their word problems.
The co-teacher could possibly come in between
working students and discuss possible similarities
and differences between the students approach.
and giving positive and constructive verbal
feedback these are very nice ideas/examples

1
min

Walaa will pose the question From what you have

learned from your lesson on area regarding
irregular shapes, how would it be different if I had
asked you to find the volume of a T-shaped tank
(teacher will draw shape on board for anyone
unfamiliar or a more visual processor).
Possible answer: (Measuring a bulky
bookbag would be very similar to that of irregular
shapes but includes a more rigorous and careful
fractioning of the irregular shape, and knowledge
of more advanced geomterical figures)
Assessment will also effectively take place
through class discussion, student feedback, and
class reaction to the activity. Students will discuss
why their problems were challenging and why they
think this would be challenging to solve given
what we have learned in the unit so far. Additional
observational assessment will occur through
integration of concept and vocabulary in Susannas
interactive writing portion of the lesson.

1
min

Walaa will wrap up by connecting the concept of

volume to area by explaining to students that the
same could be done to any other regular shape by
finding the area of the base and multiplying it by
the height (number of bases piled). Say The same
way we had discussed that the formula of area for
a rectangle is different than the formula for a
circle, the same goes for volume. A cylinder
follows the same idea of volume if you find the
area of the base (which is a circle), and multiply it
by the height, which gives the formula for
cylindrical shapes, which we will cover in another
lesson.
You all did a wonderful job, thanks for being so
attentive and being such an awesome group of
students

Walaa, Susanna, Christy

Students will shift their attention back and listen
to the teachers question, and answer according to
their understanding. Students will be evaluating
others arguments and explanations and deciding
whether they make sense or not given the
justifications they or other students have made, in
which case they will express concern or pose a
counter-argument to what was said.
Possible conjectures include:
What if we are measuring a bulky
bookbag though? (aka, students might
consider irregular shapes that need to be
fractioned into more familiar shapes).

Students will ask any questions to clarify on what

was claimed and any general last comments or
inquiries will be made if necessary.

Susannas Lesson Plan: Implementing English

4
min

I (Susanna) will ask the class to pull out their notebooks, binders,
or anything rectangular while passing out rulers and scrap paper
to the students. While students are pulling out their school items, I
will ask them to approximate the length of their notebooks or
binders on all sides. When I ask students for their answers, I will
look for an answer that does not have untis attached to it. Then, I
will prompt the student to name the length with a unit of measure.
After the correct answer is found, I will ask the students to find

Students will be pulling out thier

supplies, measuring, and firguring
out their formula problems with
the correct units.
Students will collectively recall the
formula for finding the volume of
a rectangular prism.

Walaa, Susanna, Christy

the volume of their notebooks or binders by having them use the
formula V=l*w*h (in which they already know). During this
exercise, I will go around the room and help students that struggle
with finding volume of a rectangular prism. I will ask the class
what the formula is, write it on the board, and give an example of
finding the voume of my own object. This will give students a
clearer idea of what they need to do. Once answers are found, I
will again look for students to answer the question with the
correct measure of units.
2
min

Susanna will then state the student objectives for the day, which
are the following:
5.MD.3 Recognize volume as an attribute of solid figures and
understand concepts of volume measurement. This includes
students learning to identify the difference between a square
unit and a cubic unit by analyzing dimensions.

Students will listen to the

objectives, and give full attention
to the brief explanation of todays
lesson.

AND
(Production and Distribution of Writing) 6. Use technology,
including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and
link to and cite sources as well as to interact and collaborate
with others, including linking to and citing sources.
After explaining these objectives, I will give a breif overview of
what we will be doing with each objective. I will also recap the
objectives since they are extensive to read aloud and understand.

5
min

Susanna will then say Next, we are going to work seperatley and
create a word problem for each other. Each student will recieve a
piece of paper, and they will write out a word problem regarding
the volume of a prism. You will implement the formula V=l*w*h.
Then, they will pass thier word problem to their neighbor, and
that student will solve the word problem. Be sure to use correct
units of measure when you label your word problem, and when
you solve your neighbors word problem. At this point, I will go
around the room and help students that are struggling to create
their word problems. I will make sure that they are using correct
units of measure, and that their word problems are reasonable and
clear.

Students will create word problems

for each other, and then solve each
others work on a sheet of paper.
They will use the correct units of
measure while labeling and solving
their word problems.

Walaa, Susanna, Christy

3
min

Susanna will ask the students to enter their neighbors word

problem into a Padlet, along with the answer they solved from
the problem to be graded later. Susanna will say In this portion
of the lesson, please use correct grammar and sentence structures
when typing your word problem. Studets will visit
https://padlet.com/sgmauney/volume204

Students will enter in thier word

problems and answers in the
Padlet.

1
min

Susanna will recap the lesson and the objectives that were used,
and ask the students if they have any questions about the lesson.
I will have maybe one student share their word problem, the
class will solve it on the board together, and we will recap the
process of finding the volume, as well as writing the parts of a
word problem.

Students will listen to the recap,

and rasie their hands for questions
if they have any.

Make sure that your lesson is detailed enough that someone else could teach from it. This is
especially important during class discussion phases. For example, be sure to detail what the teacher
should be sure to bring out in a whole class discussion, including possible questions to pose.
If students are working in pairs / small groups this should be noted (including how the groups are
to be determined)
All tasks / examples should be worked out
All HW should be worked out