Mathematics

Intermediate

50 mins

Teacher/Student led

Learning Goals

Learning Outcomes

Lesson Files

+95 XP

What you need:
IWB/Projector/Large Screen
Measuring jug
Weighing scales

Measures Investigation: Estimate Then Measure Around the Room

Estimate measurements around the classroom, then use the right instrument — ruler, metre stick, scales or jug — to measure and record your results. Compare how close your estimates were.

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1 Getting Started
2 Watch and Notice
3 Try It Together
4 Rule Your Investigation Table
5 Reading a Ruler to the Nearest Mm
6 Class Challenge
7 What Did We Notice?
8 What's Next
Pupil practice

1 - Getting Started ~4 mins

Illustration for Getting Started Look around our classroom. How long, how heavy and how full are the things all around us?

Think about three things: the length of a desk, the weight of a lunchbox, and how much a mug holds. For each one, which tool would you reach for — a ruler, a metre stick, a weighing scale, or a measuring jug?

👇 Mark your steps as done as you complete them.

+5 XP

2 - Watch and Notice ~8 mins

Watch as I estimate first, then read the scale.

Here is a metre stick reading a desk length, and a ruler reading a small object. Notice how the marker lands right on a line, and that I say a guess out loud before I read the number.

👇 Mark your steps as done as you complete them.

+10 XP

3 - Try It Together ~12 mins

Going outside

Set three measuring stations around the room — a length station (ruler and metre stick), a weight station (weighing scales), and a capacity station (measuring jug and water tray); groups of four rotate around them with one copybook and pencil each.

Materials

ruler
metre stick
weighing scales
measuring jug
water tray
copybook
pencil

Plan

At each station, say your estimate aloud and write it down before you touch the instrument. Length station: line the zero of the ruler or metre stick up with one end of the object, then read the mark at the other end in centimetres or metres. Weight station: hand-feel the object to estimate, set it on the scales, work out the step size, then read where the pointer rests in grams or kilograms. Capacity station: estimate how full the container is, then read the water level on the jug at eye level in millilitres. Write each measured value beside your estimate and work out how far apart they were.

If you can’t go out: indoor alternative

Run all three stations at desks rather than moving about the room — pass the objects and instruments between groups, keeping the same estimate-then-measure rhythm at each.

+15 XP

4 - Rule Your Investigation Table ~2 mins

COPYBOOK MOMENT

In your maths copy, rule a three-column table headed item, my estimate and measured. Fill in one length, one weight and one capacity that you measured yourself, writing your estimate before the measured value in each row.

+10 XP

5 - Reading a Ruler to the Nearest Mm ~5 mins

Key point

Before our next round, let's look together at how to read and write a small length as centimetres and millimetres. Watch where the pencil's edge meets the ruler, then read it as __ cm __ mm.

Reading a ruler to the nearest mm

+15 XP

Pupil practice

Module 4 · Measures: Length, Weight and Capacity Measures

Lesson 55 · Measures Investigation: Estimate Then Measure Around the Room

Download Activity Book page (PDF)

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