Grade 5

Hook

15 min.
Talk about the history of water clocks. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_clock
Relate this to how the Greeks used the water clock to limit debate in public life.
Discuss how the Greeks divided the day into 12 hours, so they changed length as the seasons changed.
Show the Tower of the Winds in the Agora. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_the_Winds

Lesson Flow

10 min - Divide the children into groups. Ensure each group has a heterogenous mix of students. Introduce the experiment. List required information to be gathered for the lab report.

Rationale

To teach the children to relate the 12 and 24 hour clocks, to measure time intervals to the nearest second, and to determine elapsed time.

Vocabulary

elapsed time, millennium, century, decade, year, month, day, hour, minute, second

Expectations

Overall Expectations

• Estimate, measure and record ... elapsed time, using a variety of strategies.
• Determine the relationship among units and measurable attributes.

Specific Expectations

Rational

Strand Measurement Code Specific Expectations Determine, through investigation using stacked congruent rectangular layers of concrete materials, the relationship between the height, the area of the base, and he volume of a rectangular prism, and generalize to development the formula.

Material

Volume worksheet. Math Makes Sense textbook. Centicubes or simmilar

Vocabulary

height, length, width, volume, dimensions, formula

Hook

Rational

This will give the children another method to discover the formula for volume.

Lesson Layout

5 minutes - introduction to activity - they will draw a slip of paper from a bucket with a number on it. They will get that number of cubes and make a rectangular pyramid.
15 minutes - children will create the cubes
30 minutes - record results - prompt - how did you choose those dimensions?

Material

Centicubes or similar
Smartboard, overhead, or chart paper to record results

Expectations

Setting

Students
The students will have just finished the unit on geometric shapes

Lesson Overview

Lesson 1 - Break out the centicubes and let the children build whatever they want for 15 minutes. Bring them together and have them estimate the volume of their creations. Record the estimates?
Lesson 2 - Transformers rule! - have the children transform their creations into a rectangular pyramid. Have them record H, L, W and calculate the actual volume. Have them record this on the smartboard.