Planning tool

Students:

• estimate and calculate perimeter
• use familiar household items as benchmarks when estimating mass and capacity (e.g. compare capacities based on knowing the size of a 600 mL bottle of water, a 1 L carton of milk, a 95 g can of tuna or a 1 kg packet of flour)
• read and interpret metric measurements to the nearest graduation (the nearest marking) using instruments including a ruler, measuring tape and thermometer
• estimate values that lie between whole units by visualising subdivisions of the unit (e.g. 0.5 cm, 0.5 kg, 0.5 L)
• recognise and use grams and kilograms to measure mass
• understand the relationship between grams and kilograms and convert between them
• understand the concept of capacity as the amount of fluids or gas that a container will hold and use millilitres and litres to measure capacity
• understand the relationship between millilitres and litres and convert between them.

Some students may:

• not recognise the role of the zero on a scale such as a ruler, and instead count zero as one
• confuse perimeter with area
• not yet understand that using smaller units will produce a larger total measure than using larger units, and vice versa – using larger units will produce a smaller total measure than using smaller units.

Provide multiple opportunities to estimate and measure a range of objects, discussing which unit of measurement is appropriate. Discuss measurement scale and graduations. 

The Learning from home activities are designed to be used flexibly by teachers, parents and carers, as well as the students themselves. They can be used in a number of ways including to consolidate and extend learning done at school or for home schooling.

Learning intention

• We are learning how to use metric units to measure.
• We are using a ruler to measure and compare lengths.

Why are we learning about this?

• We are using standard units to measure length with accuracy.

What to do

1. Find four objects and a ruler marked in centimetres. Record your answer for each of the following.
2. Estimate, and then measure the length of each object using a ruler.
3. Create a table to record your estimate and the length of each object measured in centimetres.
4. Order the objects from shortest to longest.
   
   1. What is the length of the shortest object?
   2. What is the length of the longest object?
5. Compare the shortest object to the longest. What is the difference in length?
6. Place each item end-to-end. What is the total length?

Success criteria

I can:

• measure objects using a familiar metric unit of length using a ruler
• order objects using a familiar metric unit of length
• compare objects using a familiar metric unit of length.