Planning GuideGrade 5
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Volume

Strand: Shape and Space (Measurement)
Outcome: 4

Step 5: Follow-up on Assessment

Guiding Questions

  • What conclusions can be made from assessment information?
  • How effective have instructional approaches been?
  • What are the next steps in instruction?

A. Addressing Gaps in Learning

To improve their estimating skills, have the students always estimate before measuring and then compare their measurements to the original estimates. As they become more familiar with the units used in volume measurements, the students will have a better sense of estimating the volume in the required units. Remind the student to use referents and/or chunking when estimating volume. Have the students share their estimates and strategies for estimating. Begin by having the students estimate by comparing the volumes of two different objects. Then have them estimate the volume of objects. Accept a range of estimates and narrow the range as the students’ estimating skills improve.

Conservation of volume develops as students mature. Continue to provide opportunities for students to compare the volumes of objects that have different shapes with the same size (volume) and have them communicate their thinking. Provide objects that are easily rearranged so that one object can be rearranged to look exactly like the other object. Use Multilink cubes as they are easily rearranged to make a variety of objects with the same volume. Encourage the students to rearrange them as needed.

Students who have difficulty repeating the same unit when measuring volume should have ample opportunity to explore using manipulatives such as sugar cubes, wooden cubes and centimetre cubes. Encourage the students to manipulate the concrete materials and explain how the unit is repeated when finding the volume.

If students have difficulty constructing different rectangular prisms for a given volume, use smaller structures made with Multilink cubes initially. Encourage the student to use the Multilink cubes to make one layer of cubes for the base of the rectangular prism and then build congruent layers for a given volume. If the student works randomly and misses some rectangular prisms with a given volume, suggest that he or she use a pattern to help solve the problem and record it in a chart. For example, the possible rectangular prisms with a volume of 12 cm3 could be represented in a chart such as:

Length

Width

Height

1

1

12

1

2

6

1

3

4

2

2

3

Remind the student that changing the orientation of the rectangular prism does not result in a new rectangular prism; i.e., a length of 3 cm, width of 2 cm and height of 2 cm is the same rectangular prism as one with a length of 2 cm, a width of 2 cm and a height of 3 cm.

B. Reinforcing and Extending Learning

Students who have achieved or exceeded the outcomes will benefit from ongoing opportunities to apply and extend their learning. These activities should support students in developing a deeper understanding of the concept and should not progress to the outcomes in subsequent grades.

Strategies for Reinforcing and Extending Learning  Word