Pamela Henderson

November 26, 2017

Learning Activities
Lesson Goal:
This lesson is the beginning of a volume unit at the beginning of the school year; it is an
introduction to the mathematical concept of volume to fifth grade students. This will be the first time
many of them are exposed to this concept in a three dimensional way so it will be a broad overview
lesson getting the students familiar and comfortable with the concept.

Standards:
CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.5.MD.C.3
Recognize volume as an attribute of solid figures and understand concepts of volume
measurement.
CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.5.MD.C.3.A
A cube with side length 1 unit, called a "unit cube," is said to have "one cubic unit" of
volume, and can be used to measure volume

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.5.MD.C.4
Measure volumes by counting unit cubes, using cubic cm, cubic in, cubic ft, and improvised
units.

Content Objectives:
1. SWBAT measure volume by counting cubes in a shape.

Social & Academic Language:

Volume
Cubic
Measure
Fill
Length
Width
Height
Label
How much?
Unit
Where?

Language Objective (REVISED):

SWBAT orally discuss volume of a cube or rectangular prism using academic language (i.e. length,
width, height, cubic units) in partners.

I chose this language objective because it is important to the understanding of the lesson and by
assessing this objective it will allow me to really grasps the students understanding of the content. It
is important for the students to understand the academic language associated with this lesson because
it comes into play when learning the formula to determine the volume of a rectangular prism. By
expressing the language that the students should understand before the lesson it will allow the
students to know what to focus on during the lesson and provide the language ahead of time.

Assessment:
For the first assessment students will fill out a worksheet on one of the rectangular prisms
they worked with. They will draw the prism and label the length width and height and write
down their solved equation for the volume. Then the students will get into pairs and discuss their
different prisms and how they got the volume based on the L, W, & H. The second assessment
will be the oral presentations of their prisms using the worksheet in front of the class. Students
will be assessed by presenting their rectangular prisms to the class in their pairs and explaining
the volume and the length, width, and height and how they used the equation (L x W x H) to find
the volume. This will allow the students in the class to review what they learned throughout the
day and it will also allow the teacher to assess the students understanding of the content and
academic language because they will collect the worksheets and assess the students writing and
then how they use the language orally in the context of explaining their prism. The teacher can
assess the students language development by assess their writing on the worksheet as well as
how they use the language during their oral presentation. The group work allows for the students
to model for each other before the oral presentation so students at lower levels can feel more
comfortable. The group work and worksheet allows ELL students to have the support they need
for this task. The worksheet will be modeled by their peers as well as the oral presentation.

Learning Activities:

My learning activities are going to be, first, the students filling out a KWL chart at the

beginning of the lesson. This will give the basis for how the teacher should adapt and support the

lesson for the various needs of the student. It also gives both the teacher and student an idea

about where the class is with this concept and what background knowledge the students already

have. The second activity will be in small groups, the students will get rectangular prisms on

pieces of paper that the group will cut out and create a three dimensional prism. (See bellow)
The prisms will have graphing squares on them so the students can predict how many cubes will

fill the prism. Then the students will actually use the manipulatives to fill the square and get a

rough estimate. Next they will find the length width and height of the prism (by counting the

squares on the sides) and use the equation to calculate the actual volume. This activity is good

because it allows the students to predict and come to conclusions themselves without the teacher

just giving them the volume equation. While the students are working on this activity the teacher

should read through the students KWL chart to see where they might need to differentiate their

instruction based on the students needs and background knowledge. The teacher can give

different groups easier or harder prisms depending on the level of the students in the group, this

allows the students to model the language to each other while working on a hands on activity. To

tie in other students cultures the teacher will lead a discussion at the end of the lesson asking

students where they see prisms in the real world (i.e. buildings, the pyramids, etc)