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Grade 5 Math · Level 4, Solids, Volume & Data

Volume with Unit Cubes

How the lesson starts: Volume with Unit Cubes

1. Grandpa Leo's Fudge Factory

   Welcome to Grandpa Leo's Fudge Factory! Leo makes fudge in perfect little cubes and packs them into boxes. How many cubes fit in a box? That number is the box's volume, the space inside!

2. Pack it in layers

   Each fudge cube is one unit cube, one cubic unit of space. Leo fills a box one layer at a time. Each layer has 6 cubes: 6, 12, 18, 24! Four layers times 6 cubes is 24 cubic units. Volume uses cubic units, like cm³, not cm².

3. Fill a 3 × 4 × 5 box

   How many unit cubes fill a 3 by 4 by 5 box? One layer is 3 × 4 = 12 cubes. The box is 5 layers tall. 12 × 5 = 60. So 60 unit cubes, or 60 cubic units. Watch out: don't add 3 + 4 + 5!