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Lesson

5th Grade Math - Calculating Volume of Rectangular Prisms

Clip 5/13: Calculating Volume of Rectangular Prisms Lesson Part 1D

Overview

Moving into act two of the Three-Act Task, Mallory plays another video clip, saying, “Use this piece of information to create another estimate … You’ll go a little bit deeper.” She plays the video twice, another brief clip in which the sugar cube box is open, showing the top layer of cubes with one removed, and then a hand carefully places one cube back into the top layer. Students watch, whispering to each other about the number of cubes they see. They then continue their table discussions, refining their estimates, as Mallory engages them in unpacking their observations: “How many layers do you think there are in that box?”

Teacher Commentary

I don’t know if a lot of the students understand what layers mean—that there is a layer, and if you were to take away that layer, what would be behind that? I think students are coming to understand that something is behind it because there are rows and columns.

Materials & Artifacts