Students will construct their own meaning of volume with this hands-on math investigation! Using background knowledge of rectangular prisms and cubes, students will construct towers. After recording length, width, and height, students will determine the formula for volume on their own! Includes teacher instructions, student recording page, and pictures of this lesson in action. Enjoy! Alicia Broughton :)

Students will construct their own meaning of volume with this hands-on math investigation! Using background knowledge of rectangular prisms and cubes, students will construct towers. After recording length, width, and height, students will determine the formula for volume on their own! Includes teacher instructions, student recording page, and pictures of this lesson in action. Enjoy! Alicia Broughton :)

Introducing the concept of volume to my students is never as easy as I always think it is going to be. I mean, I usually just assume that when I explain that volume is basically length x width x height, the kids will think, "Oh, yeah! That's like area with one more thing to multiply!" It never goes that way. I mean, never. Ever. So this year, when I set out to introduce the concept of volume to my students, I knew I needed to do something memorable that would help the concepts sink in. So what did I do? I broke out the trusty marshmallows. Yes. You heard me right. Marshmallows. You see, mini-marshmallows are basically a cube shape. They aren't perfect, but they are close enough that using them to help my students understand the concept that volume is the amount of space something takes up in cubic units was just what my students needed. I gave each student a quart-sized baggie that was pre-filled with about two handfuls of marshmallows. I purposefully didn't count them as I wanted all of the students to be using different amounts of marshmallows as we progressed through the lesson. Once they had the marshmallows, I gave the students a recording sheet and we began to work. Using a whole group lead by the teacher method, we began on the first task. Each of the six tasks had the students working on ideas of volume in a progressively more difficult manner. They were introduced to the idea of dimensions, layers, "missing" cubes, and so much more. We didn't really talk about length x width x height at all, but by the end of the tasks, the students were seeing the arrays that the marshmallows were forming and coming up with that algorithm all on their own. It was amazing! After the six tasks were conquered, I wanted the students to do a hands-on performance task, taking all of those ideas we learned together and apply them on their own. I gave them another recording sheet, this time as a performance task. They used all of the marshmallows in their baggie and needed to create rectangular prisms with specific guidelines in mind. They were to diagram the prisms, record the dimensions, and find the volumes of each. I *thought* this would be easy for them, given our work together on the previous six tasks, but I was mistaken. Working on the performance task was quite a challenge for many of them. Having to think of their own rectangular prisms, proving they were different from each other, and visualizing this concept on their own was difficult. There was a lot of productive struggle going on as I walked around and guided the students towards creating their own rectangular prisms. Overall, though, once the lesson was done (which took us about 2 hours), the students really did have a much more firm grasp of what volume is. Now, when I say layers or I ask them what the dimensions of a drawn 3-D figure is, the students are confident that they know. Manipulating the marshmallows really helped to solidify a firm understanding of this big fifth grade CCSS concept. Would you like to resources I used in this lesson? You can pick them up here. How have you taught the concept of volume in a hands-on way? Let me know below!

Introducing the concept of volume to my students is never as easy as I always think it is going to be. I mean, I usually just assume that when I explain that volume is basically length x width x heig

Using marshmallows to introduce the concept of volume is the perfect way to get students to buy in while learning the basics of this fifth grade standard.This three part lesson set has been designed to introduce the concepts of length, width, height, and volume in a hands-on way using marshmallows a...

Introducing the concept of volume to my students is never as easy as I always think it is going to be. I mean, I usually just assume that when I explain that volume is basically length x width x height, the kids will think, "Oh, yeah! That's like area with one more thing to multiply!" It never goes that way. I mean, never. Ever. So this year, when I set out to introduce the concept of volume to my students, I knew I needed to do something memorable that would help the concepts sink in. So what did I do? I broke out the trusty marshmallows. Yes. You heard me right. Marshmallows. You see, mini-marshmallows are basically a cube shape. They aren't perfect, but they are close enough that using them to help my students understand the concept that volume is the amount of space something takes up in cubic units was just what my students needed. I gave each student a quart-sized baggie that was pre-filled with about two handfuls of marshmallows. I purposefully didn't count them as I wanted all of the students to be using different amounts of marshmallows as we progressed through the lesson. Once they had the marshmallows, I gave the students a recording sheet and we began to work. Using a whole group lead by the teacher method, we began on the first task. Each of the six tasks had the students working on ideas of volume in a progressively more difficult manner. They were introduced to the idea of dimensions, layers, "missing" cubes, and so much more. We didn't really talk about length x width x height at all, but by the end of the tasks, the students were seeing the arrays that the marshmallows were forming and coming up with that algorithm all on their own. It was amazing! After the six tasks were conquered, I wanted the students to do a hands-on performance task, taking all of those ideas we learned together and apply them on their own. I gave them another recording sheet, this time as a performance task. They used all of the marshmallows in their baggie and needed to create rectangular prisms with specific guidelines in mind. They were to diagram the prisms, record the dimensions, and find the volumes of each. I *thought* this would be easy for them, given our work together on the previous six tasks, but I was mistaken. Working on the performance task was quite a challenge for many of them. Having to think of their own rectangular prisms, proving they were different from each other, and visualizing this concept on their own was difficult. There was a lot of productive struggle going on as I walked around and guided the students towards creating their own rectangular prisms. Overall, though, once the lesson was done (which took us about 2 hours), the students really did have a much more firm grasp of what volume is. Now, when I say layers or I ask them what the dimensions of a drawn 3-D figure is, the students are confident that they know. Manipulating the marshmallows really helped to solidify a firm understanding of this big fifth grade CCSS concept. Would you like to resources I used in this lesson? You can pick them up here. How have you taught the concept of volume in a hands-on way? Let me know below!

Are you looking for an engaging, hands-on activity? This perimeter, area, and volume activity might be just right for your students. The activity is hands-on and allows for the students to be actively involved in creating a structure made of marshmallows. Students will have the opportunity t...

Upper elementary blog with practical, rigorous, classroom tested ideas to implement with your students.

This activity allows students to discover the meaning of volume. Students will measure the size of a marshmallow as well as a variety of containers to determine the number of marshmallows that would fit inside the container. This hands-on activity motivates and engages students. The marshmallow m...

Upper elementary blog with practical, rigorous, classroom tested ideas to implement with your students.

We have been learning all about 3D shapes this week. What better way to get the kiddos to learn all of the shapes and labels then to create their own. They had so much fun doing this. They started by making all of the 3D shapes out of playdoh. Boy was this fun!!! Then it was on to marshmallows and toothpicks! They were to make a rectangular prism, pyramid, and a cube. After they all made their shapes we identified the flat surfaces and vertices. Once everyone knew their shapes, it was time for a scavenger hunt!! Click the link below for the scavenger hunt recording sheet. Enjoy! 3D Shape Scavenger Hunt Recording Sheet

Today, I wanted students to get a "real feel" for the volume of rectangular prisms. We learned the formula yesterday and I felt as if they understood how to complete the formula, but I wasn't convinced that they were convinced that there really were 36 cubic centimeters in the rectangular prism they calculated on paper ;) Whenever possible, I like to bring in some hands-on activities so that students can grasp a concept and truly see how a formula, fractions, etc work. I find that in math it is very easy to do! Materials Needed: cardstock or construction paper marshmallows (sugar cubes work best, but no one sells them anymore!) glue I first modeled EXACTLY what I wanted students to do with the materials. I have the luxury of a document camera, but you can also gather them on the floor/carpet to demonstrate. I made sure they set up the paper with both equations (V=B*h & V=l*w*h) and told them that they could decide whether to use a certain amount of marshmallows or build and then count as they built. The idea is to have them see that the total can really be found by using the formula, so they need to know what the total is before they complete the formulas. I built my rectangular prism using 18 marshmallows and we labeled the base and the height together and filled in the formula as a class. Next, I let students go to town on building their rectangular prism models. Some chose to make two models, others chose to make irregular prisms. This is a great activity that allows for differentiation and for me to see exactly what level each child is understanding this concept.

Are you looking for end of the year activities for 4th grade? Are you looking for a hands-on math activity to keep students engage? This Math & Make: Dog Treats is a hands-on activity that reinforces adding fractions and converting measurements. Then, students make dog treats with the new recipe. This activity is sure to be a hit the last few weeks of the school year when learning and fun coexist! INCLUDES: Teacher information: Original recipe, materials, and procedure Student sheets – pages 1 and 2 Answer key If you like this product, you may be interested in the HANDS-ON math products below. Math & Make: Math Rocks Punch Marshmallow Structures: Perimeter, Area, & Volume Adding Fractions and Converting Fractions Hands-On Domino Activity Remember that leaving feedback earns you points toward FREE TpT purchases. Also, click here to follow me and be notified when new products are uploaded. All the best in teaching, Tara from Summer Sweetness

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This is another great activity I saw in The Mailbox Magazine for teachers (I'm obsessed) and I couldn't resist doing it with my kids. I took the liberty of making my own worksheet so I

Hey, everyone! Hope you had an awesome week whatever you did! I have an amazing group of kids so far, and that’s excellent because that means I can do a lot of fun things. Like pretzel stick marshmallow geometry. 🙂 I have seen this a bunch on Pinterest, so I’m not sure who to give …

This Volume STEAM project is good anytime during the school year. It is a hands-on STEM activity that will keep your students engaged while working in small groups of to create, design, and construct a package for a candy company. It is a great review for computing the volume of spheres, prisms, and/or cylinders. Included is 6 pages of reflection questions with enough space for your students to record their responses. To save paper, your students could record the questions and responses in their Math/Science journals. By the end of this activity, your students will have a deeper understanding of teamwork, engineering, problem solving, patience, Packaging Design Process, and more! This package includes: · Teacher Directions · 6 pages/phases of Guiding Questions · List of tutorial videos · Rubric · Pictures showing student engagement · Student samples of Completed Project You May Also Like... · STEM PROJECT~EGG TOWER · STEM PROJECT~MARSHMALLOW TOWER · STEM PROJECT~STRAW BRIDGES · STEAM PROJECT~CREATE A BOARD GAME Thank you for visiting my store, Michelle Delaney MathWithDelaney

Quick- What movie is this a line from - "It's the best of the best....." Can't decide? Keep thinking about it and I'll let you know later. In the meantime, this post is about the best of the best! About two weeks ago I added a post about the favorite STEM challenges in my