Mathematics 5 curriculum guide 2015 I table of contents acknowledgements

5SS3 Continued...
Ask students to work in pairs. Give each pair five sheets of 1 cm grid 
paper. Students will need scissors and pencils. Have students trim each 
grid sheet to 10 squares x 11 squares (20 cm x 22 cm).
Caution students not to cut into squares when trimming. When sheets 
are all trimmed, have a quick discussion on the dimensions of the grids 
and ask how many squares each sheet has; work towards realization that 
the flat paper has no volume because it has no height. 
Length Width Height Volume
Total Number of Unit 
Squares Cut from 
Rectangles
Box 1
8
9
1
72 sq 
units
4
Box 2
6
7
2
84 sq 
units
16
Box 3
Steps:
1. Take grid sheet and cut one square off of each corner.
2. Fold up the outside row on each side and tape corner to make 
box. Fill the box using 1 cm cubes (multi link may be used if 
necessary) and record the total used.
3. Have groups report on findings and discuss strategies in order 
to lead them to discuss what the length and width were and their 
relationship to the total number of cubes (the volume).
4. The remaining boxes will be made using the same steps except 
for step 1 which changes each time as follows:
• 
box 2: cut a 2 by 2 square from each corner
• 
box 3: cut a 3 by 3 square from each corner
• 
box 4: cut a 4 by 4 square from each corner
After students have the understanding that a one cm cube has a volume 
of 1 cm
3
, they should build various rectangular prisms and find their 
volume. 
Achievement Indicators:
5SS3.3 Construct a right 
rectangular prism for a given 
volume.
Some students may generalize that volume is
number of columns (length) × number of rows (width) × number of 
layers (height), but this is not an expectation for Grade 5.
5SS3.4 Explain that many right 
rectangular prisms are possible for 
a given volume by constructing 
more than one right rectangular 
prism for the same given volume.

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