6th grade · Math · Unit 8 of 17
Volume & Capacity
Cubes, liters and milliliters
What your child practices
Finding the volume of rectangular prisms, converting between liters and milliliters, and connecting volume to capacity (1 cm³ holds 1 mL).
Alaska content standards learning standard: 6.G.2 · volume of right rectangular prisms
How we explain it
Children can open this short lesson before they practice.
- Volume is the space inside a solid, in cubic units like cm³.
- Volume of a rectangular prism = length × width × height.
- 1 cm³ holds 1 mL. 1000 mL is 1 L.
Example: A box is 5 cm long, 4 cm wide and 3 cm high. What is its volume? 5 × 4 = 20. 20 × 3 = 60. Answer: 60 cm³
Volume & Capacity in Alaska
In the Alaska content standards, this is unit 8 of 17 in 6th grade Math, after Perimeter & Area and before Integers & Decimals.
Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.
Source: Alaska Department of Education and Early Development
Sample questions
A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.
Question 1
Which unit is best for measuring the volume of a shoebox?
- square centimeters (cm²)
- cubic meters (m³)
- cubic centimeters (cm³)
- centimeters (cm)
cubic centimeters (cm³)
Hint: Volume is measured in cubic units. A shoebox is small enough for centimeter cubes.
Question 2
How many milliliters are in 7.25 L?
answer boxmL
7250 mL
Hint: 1 L = 1000 mL. To change liters to milliliters, multiply by 1000. To change milliliters to liters, divide by 1000.
Question 3
A rectangular prism is 7 cm long, 11 cm wide and 11 cm high. What is its volume?
answer boxcm³
847 cm³
Hint: Volume = length × width × height. Multiply two of the numbers first, then multiply by the third.
Question 4
A jug holds 1 L of lemonade. How many 250 mL glasses can it fill?
🍋1 Lanswer box
4
Hint: Change liters to milliliters (× 1000), then divide by 250.
Question 5
This is the bottom layer of a box packed with 1 cm cubes. The box is 6 layers high. What is the volume of the box?
🧊🧊🧊🧊🧊🧊🧊🧊🧊🧊🧊🧊answer boxcm³
72 cm³
Hint: Find the number of cubes in one layer (rows × columns), then multiply by the number of layers.
Question 6
A box has a volume of 448 cm³. It is 8 cm long and 8 cm wide. How high is it?
answer boxcm
7 cm
Hint: Volume = length × width × height. The base is 8 × 8 = 64 cm², so divide the volume by 64.