Rochester College

Lesson Plan Template

8/27/15
Lesson Title

Teacher Candidate Name

Date

Surface area

Kylee Wright-Alexander

10-12-15

Lesson Summary
The students will learn how to calculate surface area and volume of cubes and rectangular prisms. They will then use
their knowledge to construct a mobile containing those shapes and finding the volume and surface area of them.
Subject Area
Math
Grade Level
6th
Higher Order Thinking Skills (Revised Blooms)
*Remembering-Recalling information (Recalling basic area formulas)
*Understand- Explaining ideas or concepts (Showing work on how they calculated answers)
*Analyzing- Breaking information into parts to explore understandings and relationships (Understanding how surface
area and volume relate)
Approximate Time Needed for Lesson
1 hour
Common Core Standards and/or State of Michigan GLCEs and/or HSCEs
M.TE.06.03 Compute the volume and surface area of cubes and rectangular prisms given the lengths of their sides,
using formulas.
Student Objectives/Learning Outcomes
By the end of this lesson students will be able to compute surface areas and volume of 3D shapes, including cubes
and rectangular prisms. Not only will they understand how to calculate the answer, they will understand the reasoning
behind it.
Curriculum-Framing Questions
Essential Question

Why is it important to know how to calculate volume and surface area?

Unit Questions

How do surface area and volume relate?

Why do you need to know the height for volume?

Content Questions

How do you find the volume of a cube?

How do you find the surface area of a cube?
How do you find the volume of a rectangular prism?
How do you find the surface area of a rectangular prism?
Assessment Summary

The assessment will be informal as it will be graded on the outcome of their project. The criteria being if the math was
done right, it is visually appealing, and the amount of effort put into it.

Lesson Timeline

Start of the Lesson

Math warm up (area)
Video about volume/surface area

Mid-Lesson Activities
Lecture
Math practice worksheet

End of Lesson Activities

Assign Prism Mobile
Work on Prism Mobile

Prerequisite Skills
Identification of 3D shapes, basic addition and multiplication.

Instructional Procedures
Class will be started with a math warm up to get them in the right mindset, and to refresh their memory of what they
learned the day before. Following that, we will watch a short one minute twenty-nine second video about surface
area/volume and how the two relate. After the start of the lesson we will move on to the mid lesson activities which
consist of a lecture and a worksheet. I will verbally give the lecture and have the students take notes in their math
journals. There will be a short worksheet that I will collect when they are finished. At the end of the lesson their
informal assessment will begin. They will construct a Prism Mobile. This will consist of making a mobile with moving
pieces. The moving pieces must be 2 cubes and 2 rectangular prisms that are all various sizes. They will measure all
sides and calculate the volume and surface area of each individual prism. The prisms must be decorated and have
effort put into it.
Accommodations for Differentiated Instruction
Special Needs Student

Have a teachers aid help the special needs student when necessary

Gifted/Talented Student

Add more complex shapes along with those listed above

Technology Hardware (Check off all equipment needed)

Camera

Laser Disk

VCR

Computer (s)

Printer

Video Camera

Digital Camera

Projection System

Video Conferencing Equipment

DVD Player

Scanner

Interactive Responders

Internet Connection

Television

Other - Click here to enter text.

Technology Software (Check off all software needed)

Database/Spreadsheet

Image Processing

Web Page Development

Desktop Publishing

Internet Web Browser

Word Processing

E-mail Software

Multimedia

Smart notebook software

Encyclopedia on CD-ROM

Other - Click here to enter text.

Printed Materials

Volume worksheet
Surface area worksheet
Mobile instruction sheet

Supplies

Wire and/or wire hanger

Paper
Crayons/colored pencil/marker/paint
Glue
Scissors
String
Internet Resources

Volume/Surface Area Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZPeEBigUpk

Other Resources

N.A.