Lesson Topic: Volume of Rectangular Prisms Grade: 7 Subject: Math 7
Student Teacher: Jordan Hunt
Virginia Standards of Learning Objective
 Standard 7.5b
 Strand: Measurement
 Grade Level 7
o “Solve practical problems involving the volume and surface area of rectangular
prisms and cylinders.”
Lesson Objective
 Students will be able to define key terms related to finding volume, recognize practical
uses of finding volume, and use the formula to find the volume of rectangular prisms.
 The students will demonstrate their understanding of the lesson in a few ways:
o Applying the volume formula when given different rectangular prisms in
different problems, including word problems
o Finding volume activity for homework
o Ticket to leave
Task Analysis
 Essential understandings, knowledge, and skills:
o Find the volume of a rectangular prism.
o Solve practical problems that require finding the volume of a rectangular prism.
 Do the students know what volume means?
o Students will have heard the word volume before, but not in the context of
three-dimensional figures.
 Do the students know what a rectangular prism is?
o The student knows what a rectangle is, but this lesson will work to help them
understand what a rectangular prism is.
 Do students know properties of basic shapes?
o Yes, students should know the properties of basic shapes.
 Are students proficient in the topic of 2D measurement; i.e. finding the area a rectangle
and a circle, finding circumference and perimeter, etc.?
o Students should know these things, but a review may be necessary. The formulas
are on the SOL formula sheet, so that should be a good reminder for them.
Key Terms (Teacher Input)
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Three-Dimensional- An object that has height, width, and depth, like any object in the
real world.
Volume- The volume of a solid is the measure of space occupied by it; the amount of
liquid or solid that will fill a 3D object.
Units Cubed- What volume is measured in; ex. cubic centimeters (cm3) or cubic inches
(in3).
Rectangular Prism- A rectangular prism is a solid figure that has two parallel and
congruent sides, or bases, that are rectangles.
Sequence of Lesson
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Anticipatory Set:
o Students are accustomed to looking at the board to see what they will be doing
at the very beginning of class and start on it immediately. So, there will be a
PowerPoint up on the board that reads “Take your seats, clear your desk, and
please do not touch the boxes and cubes until I instruct you to do so” on the very
first slide.
 When students are quietly seated in their desks, move to the next slide
and lay out the rules:
 “We are going to have a competition. I want each of you to fit
those cubes perfectly in the box, when you have them perfectly
fit, count them and raise your hand to tell me what you got. DO
NOT yell out your answers. If you yell out the answer you will be
disqualified. The first person to raise their hand and give me the
correct answer will win a blue ticket.” (This will encourage
students to participate and to follow the rules of the game)
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Teacher Input
o After the students do the hands-on activity, the PowerPoint slides will prompt a
discussion of what they just did and why they just did it.
o Students will also be given a notes outline to fill in as they are shown the
PowerPoint. Remind the students that anything they need to write on their
outline will be in red.
 Tell students that what they just did was finding the volume of the box.
Let the students turn to their elbow buddies brainstorm what volume
might mean then. Allow students about two minutes to talk to their
elbow buddy, then ring bell.(Use bubbl.us to type each idea in a new
bubble—will give students a good visual)
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When students are finished discussing ideas with their elbow buddies,
ask for volunteers to give some ideas and write down the final definition,
which should be more refined and a combination of their ideas:
 Volume is the amount of liquid or solid that will fill a 3dimensional object and is always measured in units cubed (u3).
o After this definition is given, give quick definition 3-D.
Next, move to slide entitled rectangular prism. This slide defines
rectangular prism and really sums up what was done in the beginning
activity. This slide also gives examples, which will help relate the topic to
students’ lives. Expand on examples as well, i.e. classroom, refrigerator,
ask students for examples.
Now that the students have a general understanding of what volume is,
introduce them to the formula by posing the question, “So, what if we
wanted to find the volume of this classroom?”
The next slide reveals the formula for volume. Show how this formula
works for the activity they did in the beginning of class.
 Also, hand out the SOL formula sheet the students will be given
whenever they are asked to find the volume of a rectangular
prism. (These will be laminated and printed on colored paper.
Also suggest that they should keep these sheets in the front of
their math section in binder)
o Instruct students on how to use the formula to find the
volume of a given rectangular prism.
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Modeling
o The next three slides of the PowerPoint introduce very basic problems involving
finding the volume of a rectangular prism. Walk the students through these
problems. (Use SmartBoard to model)
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Check for Understanding
o The next two slides present word problems involving finding volume of
rectangular prisms. (Use SmartBoard to model)
o As teacher goes through these problems, the students should become more
involved. Use popsicle sticks with students names on them and randomly choose
them out of a cup to call on students to answer various questions, i.e. in this
word problem, what is the width of this box, what is the height of this box, what
is the length of this box, where can I find the formula for the volume of a
rectangular prism on the SOL formula sheet?
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Guided Practice
o The next slide asks the students to get whiteboards. The next 4 slides will contain
questions that the students will work out on their whiteboard and when they are
done, they will hold it up and show their answers. The teacher will check the
whiteboards and simply say yes or no. If the teacher notices that someone got
the problem wrong, the teacher will use the SmartBoard to go through the
problem on the board. Also, take note of who is getting the questions wrong and
be sure to pay close attention to them during the independent practice.
o The majority of the students should feel comfortable with the topic by the 4th
question (judging by their answers on the whiteboard), so move on to
independent practice.
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Independent practice
o After students put whiteboards away, form groups by rows (about 4 students in
a group). Each group will be responsible for finding two rectangular prisms in the
classroom, measuring their length, width, and height, finding the volume using
the formula for volume of rectangular prisms, and recording it on the
SmartBoard. Each group must find rectangular prisms that another group has not
found.
 The teacher should assign roles to each member of the group. Attached
to this lesson plan there is a sheet that the teacher will hand each group
to tell them what each member of the group is responsible for.
 Before handing out these slips of paper with the roles on them, explain
what each role means and what they are responsible for.
o Instruct students to round each measurement to the nearest whole number.
o If time allows, groups can be asked to share their findings with the class and use
the SmartBoard to show how they found volume using the formula.
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Differentiation
o Bodily/Kinesthetic learners will find satisfaction in the beginning activity and
independent practice.
o Auditory learners will most likely learn best from listening to the lesson and
recognizing what they need to fill in on their notes outline.
o Working in groups during independent practice will appeal to interpersonal
learners whereas intrapersonal learners will more likely enjoy working out
problems on their own on whiteboards.
o Visual learners will learn best from the beginning activity where they can get a
true visual of what volume is and finding volume of real life objects that they see
every day.
o Logical/mathematical learners will most likely be the students who conceptualize
the beginning activity and capitalize on the questions and prompts derived from
that activity.
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Closure
o Students will demonstrate what they have learned with a ticket to leave. On the
ticket to leave, ask the students to write, in their own words, what it means to
find the volume of a rectangular prism on a piece of paper. Encourage them to
use pictures, words, charts, whatever works best for them.
o Ask students to hand their “ticket to leave” to the teacher as they leave the
classroom.
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Assessment
o The pre-assessment for this lesson will be the beginning activity using boxes and
cubes. Afterwards, students will brainstorm what volume means.
o Formative assessments will include the group activity in class, the ticket to leave,
and frequent checks for understanding using popsicle sticks to pose essential
questions.
o For homework, students will be asked to find three rectangular prisms at home
and find their volume by measuring and using the volume formula. This will be
more of a summative assessment for this lesson. (See homework worksheet and
quickly describe its format.)
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Materials
o SmartBoard
o Small boxes and unit cubes
o PowerPoint
o Notes Outline
o Yellow, green, and red index cards
o Whiteboards, markers, rags
o SOL formula sheet
o Group Work roles slips
o Homework Worksheet
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Technology Integration
o PowerPoint will be used to give students a visual of rectangular prisms. 3-D
objects are difficult to effectively and accurately draw on a whiteboard.
o Utilizing SmartBoard technology, the teacher will be able to underline, circle, or
add to sentences and pictures to better student understanding of finding volume
of rectangular prisms.
o Students will also get an opportunity to become more involved with the lesson
by using it to record their findings.
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Reflection
Math 7
Name:____________________
Notes- Volume of Rectangular Prism
Date:_________ Block:_______
IMPORTANT FACTS AND INFORMATION:
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_________________ is the amount of liquid or solid that will ______________ a three
dimensional object.
o Volume is always measured in __________________________.
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Three dimensional objects are not ______________.
Three dimensional objects have three measurements:
o _____________________
o _____________________
o _____________________
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A rectangular prism is a 3 dimensional figure that has _____________ faces that are all
____________________. Opposite faces are congruent and parallel.
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Formula for volume of rectangular prism: _____________________ (THIS IS ON
YOUR FORMULA SHEET!)
EXAMPLES:
Find the volume of this rectangular prism:
3 mm
2 mm
12 mm
A cereal box has a length of 8 inches, a width of 1.75 inches, and a height of 12.125 inches.
How much cereal will the box hold?
Finding Volume of Rectangular Prisms Group Work
Measurer: _____________________________________
Second Measurer: _______________________________
Recorder: ______________________________________
Formula Implementer: ____________________________
Name: ___________________________________ Date: ___________ Block: ____________
At home, find three objects that are rectangular prisms and write down what
they are in the rectangular prisms column; feel free to draw as well! Then,
measure each object’s length, width, and height (round to the nearest whole
number). Finally, use your formula and find the volume of each object.
Formula for finding volume of a rectangular prism: _____________________________
Rectangular Prism
Length
Width
Height
Volume