There’s Dirt in my Bed

Students will measure an existing raised bed using the formula for determining area. They will also use unifix cubes to model the length, width, and depth of a raised bed with each cube equaling one square foot. Students will ultimately discover how many square feet of soil they will need to fill their raised bed.

Concepts: Measuring Volume

Essential Questions

  • How can we use our understanding of volume to prepare soil for our raised bed?

Standards Addressed

  • CCSS.M.5.MD.C.3. Student will recognize volume as an attribute of solid figures and understand concepts of volume measurement.
    • CCSS.M.5.MD.C.3.A. A cube with side length 1 unit, called a “unit cube” is said to have “onc cubic unit” of volume, and can be used to measure volume.
    • CCSS.M.5.MD.C.3.B. A solid figure which can be packed without gaps or overlaps using “n” units is said to have a volume of “n” cubic units.
  • CCSS.M.5.MD.C.4. Students will measure volumes by counting unit cubes, using cubic cm, cubic in, cubic ft, and improvised units.
  • CCSS.M.5.MD.C.5. Students will relate volume to the operations of multiplication and addition and solve real world and mathematical problems involving volume.
    • CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.5.MD.C.5.A Find the volume of a right rectangular prism with whole-number side lengths by packing it with unit cubes, and show that the volume is the same as would be found by multiplying the edge lengths, equivalently by multiplying the height by the area of the base. Represent threefold whole-number products as volumes, e.g., to represent the associative property of multiplication.
    • CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.5.MD.C.5.B Apply the formulas V = l × w × h and V = b × h for rectangular prisms to find volumes of right rectangular prisms with whole-number edge lengths in the context of solving real world and mathematical problems.
    • CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.5.MD.C.5.C Recognize volume as additive. Find volumes of solid figures composed of two non-overlapping right rectangular prisms by adding the volumes of the non-overlapping parts, applying this technique to solve real world problems.