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).
Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards benchmark: 6.2.3.2 · the volume of 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 Minnesota
In the Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards, this is unit 8 of 17 in 6th grade Math, after Perimeter & Area and before Probability.
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.
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
A jug holds 2.7 L of lemonade. How many 300 mL glasses can it fill?
🍋2.7 Lanswer box
9
Hint: Change liters to milliliters (× 1000), then divide by 300.
Question 2
This is the bottom layer of a box packed with 1 cm cubes. The box is 3 layers high. What is the volume of the box?
🧊🧊🧊🧊🧊🧊🧊🧊🧊🧊🧊🧊answer boxcm³
36 cm³
Hint: Find the number of cubes in one layer (rows × columns), then multiply by the number of layers.
Question 3
Write 2750 mL in liters.
answer boxL
2.75 L
Hint: 1 L = 1000 mL. To change liters to milliliters, multiply by 1000. To change milliliters to liters, divide by 1000.
Question 4
Which unit is best for measuring the volume of a shipping container?
- milliliters (mL)
- cubic meters (m³)
- square meters (m²)
- cubic centimeters (cm³)
cubic meters (m³)
Hint: Volume is measured in cubic units. A shipping container is huge, so use meter cubes.
Question 5
A rectangular prism is 11 cm long, 7 cm wide and 7 cm high. What is its volume?
answer boxcm³
539 cm³
Hint: Volume = length × width × height. Multiply two of the numbers first, then multiply by the third.
Question 6
A fish tank is 10 cm long, 20 cm wide and 20 cm high. 1 cm³ holds 1 mL. How many liters of water does the full tank hold?
answer boxL
4 L
Hint: Find the volume in cm³, which equals the capacity in mL. Then divide by 1000 to change mL to liters.