Mastering Volume With Smoothies

Lesson Plan - Get It!

Audio:

• What is volume?

Volume is the amount of space something takes up. For example, the volume of a glass of juice tells you how much space the juice fills in the glass.

The capacity of a container is how much liquid it can hold.

There are three common volume units used in the kitchen or when making a smoothie: gallon, quart, and pint.

A pint is the smallest of these three units. Two pints equal the next unit: a quart.

A quart is bigger than a pint. Four quarts equal the largest unit: a gallon.

A gallon is the biggest volume unit.

Knowing the relationship between pints, quarts, and gallons helps you measure ingredients correctly. This is called making a conversion, which means you’re changing one unit of measurement into another while keeping the amount the same.

Check out the conversion chart below.

Try an example.

• How many pints are in one gallon?

Yes! There are 8 pints in 1 gallon.

It’s great to have a chart, but break it down a little more so you can really understand how conversions work.

Think about Ben and his smoothie recipe. He has one quart of milk, but he only needs one pint.

• How much milk should he pour?

According to the chart, 1 quart equals 2 pints. Ben only needs 1 pint, which is half of a quart. So, he should pour half the quart of milk to get the right amount.

You are getting the hang of this! Try another one.

Imagine you’re having a birthday party with 16 friends. You want to give each friend 1 pint of lemonade, but your mom buys lemonade by the gallon.

• How many gallons should she buy?

Since there are 8 pints in 1 gallon, 1 gallon isn’t enough for 16 friends. But if you multiply 8 pints by 2, you get 16 pints. So, multiply 1 gallon by 2, and you get 2 gallons.

That means your mom needs to buy 2 gallons of lemonade.

Now that you’re getting the hang of it, it’s time to practice converting volume units with some fun activities and games!

Head to the Got It? section and test your skills.