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Identify and Describe Cubes

Students identify cubes among three-dimensional shapes and describe their attributes: 6 equal square faces, 8 vertices, and 12 edges. Students distinguish cubes from rectangular prisms and other 3D shapes.

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Identify and Describe Cubes

Grade 2 · Shapes and Their Attributes · question 1 of 3

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12 rungs. A star at the top.

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Dara is at the aquarium. She finds toy blocks. Which solid is a cube?

Which solid? Type its number.

How it is taught

0:00 of 2:44

A cube has square faces that are all the same.

It also has corners and edges you can count.

Read it: Find the cube

A cube is a solid with flat faces that are all squares. A box that is longer one way is not a cube.

  1. Look for flat faces, not curves.
  2. Check that every face is a square.
  3. Count the faces: top, bottom and the ones around.

A sphere is round all over, so it has no flat faces.

A cone has a point, and a cylinder has a curved side.

Every edge of a cube is the same length.

A cube has square faces, all the same size.

Calling any box a cube.

A cube's faces are all squares. A long box has faces that are not squares.

A cube has how many edges? An edge is where 2 faces meet. — 12. 4 edges on top, 4 on the bottom, and 4 up the sides: 12.

Cube attributes

Look at this block. It looks like a dice or a sugar cube. What shape is this?

Grade 2 · 6 faces, 8 vertices, 12 edges

It's a cube! Let's see what makes it special.

A cube has flat sides called faces.

Top, bottom, front, back, left, and right — six square faces in all!

The pointy corners where edges meet are called vertices.

Count them: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Eight vertices!

The straight lines where two faces meet are called edges.

A cube has twelve edges in all.

And every single face is the same size square. That's the rule that makes a cube a cube!

A cube has six faces, eight vertices, and twelve edges. Nice work!

Now you try. Find the volume of this solid. Type the volume.

What you see

While they climb, your page writes one true line to ask about tonight, and a short note each Sunday.

MayaGrade 3 · Mathematics
Did you know?

A chessboard has 64 squares — share them out between the 8 rows and each row holds exactly 8.

Today’s goal
1 star — one skill mastered, every rung of its ladder climbed
Climbing now
Divide within 100

An example student.

MayaGrade 3 · Mathematics

Maya earned 2 stars this week — Interpret multiplication as equal groups, which took 6 answers over 3 days before its star landed 3 days ago and Multiply by 6, 7, 8 and 9. Next up: Divide within 100.

An example week.

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