Mathematics 5 curriculum guide 2015 I table of contents acknowledgements

Achievement Indicators:
5SS3.5 Provide a referent for a 
cubic centimetre and explain the 
choice.
Students should be aware that although a cubic centimetre is a volume 
equivalent to the space occupied by a cube with a side length of 1 cm, 
an object which has a volume of 1 cm
3 
is not necessarily cube shaped.
That being said, estimation of the volume of 3-D objects should 
begin with object which are in the shapes of cubes or right rectangular 
prisms. 
5SS3.8 Estimate the volume of a
given 3-D object using personal 
referents.
A good way to model a cubic metre as a personal referent is to take 
12 rolls made from a double sheet of newspaper (1 metre long each) 
and tape them together to form a cube. If the cube were solid it would 
have a volume of 1 m³. Students will be able to see that the newspaper 
cube has a height, length and width of one metre each. Ask students to 
estimate how many cubic metres there are in a telephone booth or an 
elevator.
5SS3.6 Provide a referent for 
a cubic meter and explain the 
choice.
Give students a set of sticky notes with examples or images of common 
items which have an approximate volume of 1 mm
3
, 1 cm
3
, or 1 m
3
.
Have students sort the sticky notes into three groups with headings 
of 1 mm
3
, 1 cm
3
, and 1 m
3
. Examples might include a grain of salt 
or sugar, a sugar cube or centicube, something about the size of a 
small grape, a box from a wall oven, a rectangular prism made up of 
approximately 26 paper boxes or bankers boxes.
Using a series of different 3-D objects (or images of large items), ask 
students if they would be better measured in cubic centimetres or cubic 
metres. They should justify their reasoning. Students could vote using 
personal whiteboards, coloured paddles, Senteo devices, or inside- 
outside agreement circles.
5SS3.7 Determine which 
standard cubic unit is represented 
by a given referent.

---