Have students brainstorm a list of all the terms they know that relate to measurement. Record their answers in list form on a chart. Students may also write each term on a separate index card.
Student answers may include length, weight, height, meter, centimeter, liter, mile, inch, foot, and so forth.
Organize the students in pairs and have them group and label the terms that the class has just brainstormed. This helps students establish connections among the various categories of terms. Students can move the cards around on the chart paper as they group the terms.
Have the class reach a consensus on the major categories in which the terms can be grouped, and record these categories on a chart. Then ask students to group terms that have common attributes. For example, students may place the terms liter, meter, or gram in a “metric” category. Or, they may categorize the terms according to length, weight, volume, etc. A sample table appears below.
Sample Measurement Terms
| Length |
Volume
(Capacity) |
Weight |
Mass |
Time |
Temperature |
| inch | gallon | pound | milligram | second | degrees Celsius |
foot | quart | ounce | gram | minute | degrees Fahrenheit |
yard | pint | ton | kilogram | hour | |
mile | cup | | | day | |
meter | fluid ounce | | | month | |
centimeter | liter | | | year | |
kilometer | milliliter | | | decade | |
millimeter | kiloliter | | | century | |
Students may work in groups or individually to write brief sentences about what they know about the terms.
This activity allows you to get an idea of what the students know before you delve further into the concepts of the unit. The activity gives you an opportunity to adjust the lesson based on students' strengths and weaknesses. It also gives students an idea of what topics will be covered in upcoming lessons.
As time permits, have a class discussion about the terms the students just brainstormed. Access students' prior knowledge about the relationships between them. For example, how does a foot compare to a yard?
