Measuring Length

mm, cm, m, km

Set up your yellow paper• Fold on the dotted lines and Cut on the solid

lines (be sure to cut out the top right so “units” shows)

• Label the left three flaps in this order:▫Length▫Basic Unit▫Tools

• Label the right four flaps in this order▫mm▫cm▫m▫km

What is Length**Write these under the flaps**

Length: The distance between two points

Basic Unit: The basic unit of measurement for length and distance is the meter (m).

Tools: When measuring length we use meter sticks (m and cm) and metric rulers (cm and mm).

mm, cm, m, and km

•Meters (the basic unit of length and distance) can be broken down into smaller parts.

•These smaller parts are centimeters (cm) and millimeters (mm)

•Let’s start with centimeters (cm)…

Centimeters (cm) are used to measure small objects.

This is a centimeter

(cm).

A centimeter (cm) is about the same size as one

m&m.

Write this under the cm flap:• cm= centimeter• These are small• 1 regular m&m candy = 1cm• 100cm = 1 meter

• *used to measure:▫A desk▫A shoe▫A book▫A pencil

Write this on the back of the cm flap:

We put several centimeters (cm) together to make a metric ruler.

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Look at the ruler on your desk. Find the side with centimeters (cm). This

is what a metric ruler looks like!

Like This

Now, we can use this metric ruler to measure larger objects like pencils, books, and keyboards.

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How to Use a Metric Ruler:Looking at the ruler on your desk. Look for the

line farthest to the left. This is the Zero (0) line.

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Zero Line

Line up the edge of the object you are measuring with the Zero line.Then find the number that matches with the other end of the object. This is the length of the object in centimeters (cm).

Lines up with 6 so the crayon is 6 cm long.

How long is this pencil?

Did you say 7 centimeters (cm)?

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How long is this keyboard?

Did you say 22 centimeters (cm)?

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1

2

3

4

5 6

7

8

9

10

11

12 1

3 1

4 15

16

17

18 1

9 20

21

22 2

3 24

25

26 2

7 28

29

How tall is this stack of books?

Did you say 12 or 13

centimeters (cm)?

What if we wanted to measure really small things? If you look very closely at a centimeter, you’ll see it’s divided up into ten tiny parts.

Let’s make it bigger to see these little parts.

Each one of these tiny parts is called a millimeter.

There are 10 millimeters in every centimeter.

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milimeters (mm) are very, very tiny.Mm=milimeterThe thickness of about 9 sheets of notebook paper is equal to 1 milimeter (mm)

There are 10mm in every centimeter (cm).

*used to measure • eraser tips, • fingernails, • eye lashes.

Write this under the mm flap:

Write this on the back of the mm flap:

What about larger objects? When we need to measure larger items, we need to put a lot of centimeters (cm) together.

Instead of using lots of centimeters (cm) we measure using meters (m).

The metric ruler on your desk is little more than 30 centimeters (cm), so we’d need a little more than 3 of these

to make a meter

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To make a meter (m) we need 100 centimeters (cm).

Use the metric rulers on your desk and lay them end to end.Take the meter stick and lay it next to the metric rulers.How many metric rulers did it take to make a meter stick?

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Meters are used to measure things like tables, rooms, and hallways.

Put this under your m flap• m = meter

▫These are larger• You sitting in a chair is about 1m tall• 1,000 m = 1 kilometer

Put this on the back of your m flap*Used to measure:•A room•A hallway•The length of a car

What if you want to measure distances between places that are far apart like Corona and Disney World?

That’s a LONG distance!

It would take a LONG TIMEto do it with a meter stick,

wouldn’t it?

To measure long distances with metrics we use kilometers. To make a kilometer, it takes 1,000 meters.

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61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89

91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29

31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59

61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89

91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99

1,000 of these end to end

would make 1 kilometer.

The family car is a great place to see kilometers.

If you look at the speed dial in the car, you’ll see that the speed of the car can be seen in two ways, miles per hour (MPH) and kilometers per hour (km/h).

Chris Cuppett – Wicomico County,

Maryland

Put this under your km flap• km = kilometer

▫These are largest• From CHIS to Pick up Stix next to Albertsons

is about 1km

Put this on the back of your km flap*Used to measure:•Very far distances

▫Corona to Disney World in Florida▫Corona to New York

When we write numbers in metrics, we usually don’t write out the whole word. There are shorter names for each unit of measurement.

Metric Abbreviations•Millimeter – mm•Centimeter – cm•Meter – m•Kilometer - km

Pretty easy to

remember, right?

Let’s review:To measure very small

objects and distances, what

do we use?

To measure objects like

pencils, what do we use?

To measure objects like rooms or

hallways, what do we use?

To measure long distances like from here to

Disney World, what do we use?