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South Carolina ETV
1101 George Rogers Boulevard
Columbia, SC 29201-4761
Phone: 803-737-3545

Make Me Metric (Grades 5-6)

Master Teacher

Christi Sauls

Time Allotment

Two 90-minute class periods

Overview

The students will discover the need for standard units of measurement. The beginning activity will use nonstandard units of measurement to measure different objects. The students will be engaged in estimation, problem solving, and use of measurement tools to begin an understanding of the metric system.

Subject Matter

Mathematics

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to:

• estimate the length of different objects
• measure everyday objects with nonstandard units
• measure objects with standard units
• write about their observations during
• the measuring activities in a journal
  

South Carolina Standards

Visit the South Carolina Department of Education for the South Carolina Mathematics Standards.

Mathematics—Grade 6

Measurement

1. Understand the structure and use of the nonstandard and standard (U.S. customary and metric) systems of measurements. (5.B.)

• Length—millimeters, centimeters, meters, and kilometers.

*This lesson only deals with the metric system and primarily measuring length.

Media Components

MeasureMetric, Lesson 1: The Greatest Measurement Show on Earth is about a magician at a circus who performs measurement experiences for the audience. There is an older lady in the crowd who demonstrates why the use of measurement is important.

Web Sites

Math.com is an interactive site that allows students to choose grade levels and concepts that they want to practice. It gives them immediate feedback on their responses.

Yahooligans.com is a search engine for students to link to other sites and to play educational games. This can be used as a follow-up activity site for practice.

Ask Dr. Math is a question and answer service for math students and their teachers. The students can learn more about certain skills and they can ask questions about their homework. The students are to generate questions to ask Dr. Math about the metric system and record the responses in a journal.

Materials

Per group: (no more than three students to a group)

• several sheets of white typing or copier paper
• white strips of paper that are 1 meter long (Adding machine paper works well.)
• a tool that is a decimeter long (Base-ten rods work well. DO NOT USE A RULER.)
• a tool that is one centimeter long (Base-ten blocks work best.)

Per student:

• a copy of Activity Sheet 1
• paper
• pencil
• journal or notebook

Prep for Teachers

• Prior to teaching, bookmark all of the Web sites used in the lesson.
• Load any plug-ins necessary to run the Web sites.
• Cue the videotape to the appropriate starting point.
• Copy Activity Sheet 1. You can reproduce this chart on the overhead and let the students copy it that way if you prefer. This chart will be used for all activities that require students to record information.
• Cut the meter long strips of paper.
• Gather the decimeter tool and the centimeter tool.
• Get the book How Big Is a Foot? by Rolf Myller.

Introductory Activity: Setting the Stage

The following activity will introduce your students to the metric system.

Step 1

Have each student trace his/her foot (with or without a shoe on) This will be the student's pattern.

Step 2

On the overhead, make a table of five objects for students to use to measure against their foot size. (See Activity Sheet 1.) Before allowing them to measure the objects, answer any questions to make sure they know what they are suppose to measure. Have them make an estimate of the object from their seat without using their pattern to measure. Give students copies of Activity Sheet 1to record their estimates and actual findings.

Step 3

As the students are measuring the different objects, make notes about how they are measuring and what they are doing. Take note of any conversations and interactions between the students. (Allow them to work together but do not suggest it.)

After the students have finished measuring, talk about the problems that occurred and then record data in a table similar to their record sheet. Take measurements from 5 or 6 students so they can compare. Have students compare the measurements in the data table you created.

Step 4

If you want to make the activity even more effective, have someone use the pattern from a male's foot that is much bigger than his/her foot. Students should see a difference in the number of units for the various objects, but that's okay because it's a great opportunity to talk about the need for a variety of units. For example, you could go into a brief discussion about why longer tools are used to measure longer distances and shorter tools are used to measure shorter distances.

End of day one.

Learning Activity (Day 2)

Step 1

Before the showing the excerpt from Measure-Metric, brainstorm with your students all the kinds of measurement activities they have done in the past and why is it important to have measurement skills in everyday life.

Step 2

Focus for Media Interaction: In the following excerpts, ask students to look for the who, what, where, when, and why of measurement in everyday life. Also tell them to raise their hands when they hear the three reasons for measuring. Have them record their answers in their journals.

START the lesson at the beginning of the tape. It begins with the scene of a circus and reads the "Greatest Measurement Show on Earth." STOP when the Kid and Lord Longfellow measure the panda the first time. Ask the students what was wrong with their measurements.

RESTART the tape and STOP it when Smiling Bob introduces the units of measurement for weight, capacity, and length. He will be standing on stage and will say, "This is what we use to measure weight, capacity and length." This goes into the next lesson, so the tape does need to be stopped at this point.

After your students have examined and recorded the information, ask them to:

• describe the who, what, where, when, and why we use measurement everyday. Have them write these responses in their journals/notebooks.
• list the three reasons for measuring and to list one example of each.

Step 3

Discuss with the class the meaning of standard units. Tell them that now they will use standard units to measure different objects. Pass out the decimenter tool, centimeter tool and the meter strip in that order. Tell the students to measure the same five objects using these tools. Stop at the end of each object to record the results. This information will be recorded on the same chart as used earlier.

Culminating Activity/Assessment

Read the story How Big Is a Foot? In this story, the king orders a bed to be made for the queen's birthday. He measures how big it should be using his foot. The apprentice makes the bed using his smaller foot. The bed is too small and the king throws the apprentice into jail. The apprentice comes up with a plan and is able to make the bed the correct size.

Read the story up to the point where the apprentice is thrown in jail. At this point the children will probably react to what happens. Talk about the story and their reaction to what happened.

Have them write a letter to the king telling him what they think about what he did. This can be used as an assessment tool to see if the students understand the need for a standard unit of measurement.

Finish the story and have the students follow up with a journal entry explaining what they learned from the first activity and the story as well as what they need in order to measure. Tell them to include personal experiences of using a ruler or some other tool.

Ask students to log on to "Ask Dr. Math" and ask him what are standard units of measurement and why they are important. The students can generate other problems to ask Dr. Math and record responses in their journals.

Cross-Curricular Extensions

Science: The metric system can be used in science in measuring capacity, mass and length. Several experiments can be done on measurement. For example, the science teacher at your school may know some great scientific experiments that can be accomplished while studying mass and capacity.

Language Arts: See suggested activities under the Culminating Activity/Assessment.

Community Connections

• Take the students on a field trip to an architectural firm to learn how architects use measurement in their jobs.
• Other industry leaders could come in and demonstrate how measurement is used in their jobs.

Activity Sheets (PDF)

• Activity Sheet 1