§  Make a Cubic Meter Class Activity / ·  CLASS DISCUSSION: How many cubic decimeters will fit along edge of a meter stick? How many would it take to stack as tall as a meter?
·  In an open corner of the classroom, if possible, use the cubic decimeters they made and stack 10 high. Relate this to the meter stick.
·  Lay 9 cubes on the floor from the corner going along the wall (perpendicular). Compare this length to the meter stick. Ask: Why am I only adding 9 cubes?
·  Stack 9 cubes on top of the last cube. (Continue to compare to the meter stick.)
·  Lay 9 more cubes on the floor coming out at a 90-degree angle (perpendicular) from the wall. (Use paper clips to hold cubes together.) Use as many cubes as you can to show the edges of the new cubic meter.
o  On the wall behind the cubic meter you just made, hang the poster board you made earlier with the sq. decimeters marked. Use this for the comparison of the length and height of the cubic units.
o  Substitute a meter stick for the 10 cubic decimeters stacked in the corner and against the walls.
o  When done showing length, width, and height with the cubic decimeters, hang from the ceiling with poster board at the top (marked in square decimeters and with one square decimeter marked in square centimeters) as the lid.
o  Hang a cubic millimeter representation (here you could use a piece of salt), a cubic cm, and a cubic dm all labeled within the cubic meter, as a mobile.
o  Hang a second cubic dm with each side labeled with its different equivalences: 1 liter, 1000 cubic cm, 1000 ml & 1000 g. (The students may find it interesting to see that filling a one-liter bottle is equivalent to one cubic decimeter.) / ·  Decimeter cubes
·  Meter sticks
·  Paper clips to hold the cubic decimeters together.
·  Poster board with 100 sq. dm marked and one of the square decimeters marked in square centimeters
·  Meter sticks or meter stick representations made from sentence strips.
·  String or fishing line
·  Magnifying glasses
·  Salt
·  Centimeter rulers with millimeters / ·  The goal is to make a very visual representation of a cubic meter using the individual parts that it is made of. If it is possible, it will be beneficial to leave the cubic meter up for awhile in order for students to refer to.
o  The relationship between the cubic inch, cubic foot, and cubic yard could be shown in a similar manner.
o  There are other topics and strands that can be discussed and interwoven in this unit with rich vocabulary: angles, perpendicular, parallel, etc.
·  Make labels with both words and abbreviations for all of the different parts of the mobile ahead of time.
o  Students can use magnifying glasses to look at the table salt and choose a grain that comes closest to a cubic millimeter.
o  Each student should have a net of a cubic decimeter labeled with 1 liter, 1000 cubic centimeters, 1000 millimeters and 1 gram. This concept can be experimented with or given as a fact. Have students realize that this is where volume, capacity, and weight are compared as a scientific standard.