Name: Hannah Reed, Lauren Best

Title of Unit: The Metric System

Title of Lesson: Mini Metric Olympics
Grade Level: 4th
Goal: Students will develop a better understanding of metric units.
Objectives:
1. The students will
be able to make
reasonable
estimations using
metric
measurements.
2. The students will
be able to
accurately
measure length,
volume, and mass
using metric units

Standards:
PA CORE (MATH)
1.-2. CC.2.4.4.A.1: Solve
problems involving
measurement and
conversions from a larger
unit to a smaller unit
Common Core (Math)
1.-2. 2.3.4.A: Use
concrete objects to
demonstrate an
understanding of
measurement quantities
(e.g., length, weight,
temperature)
NCTM
1.-2. F. Select and apply
appropriate NCTM
standard units and tools
to measure length, area,
and volume, wright, time,
temperature, and size of
angles
Practice Standards:
CCSS.MATH.PRACTICE.MP
5 Use appropriate tools
strategically.
Common Core (Science)
1.-2. 3.1.4 B6: Science as
Inquiry

Formative Assessment:
1.-2. Students will be
estimating and measuring
using the metric system
during class.

Content Knowledge:
Prior: Students need to be familiar with how to use a scale, rulers, and
measuring cups. They will have already learned how to do subtraction.
Current: Students will be able to distinguish a difference between
measurements such as distance, mass, and volume (cm, g, and ml). Students will
also learn to make appropriate approximations.

Future: Students will learn how to convert units.

Procedures:
Lesson Beginning:
Bell Ringer: Four subtraction problems to get the students ready for the
mathematics involved in the lesson. *attached at the end of the lesson, Bell
Ringer.
-

We will bring up pictures of famous Olympic athletes, and ask the students
who they are and how they became famous. This will get students
thinking about the Olympics.
Good afternoon 4th grade. Do you know any of these people up here on
the screen? Can you identify the sport they are involved in? Who are
they? How did they become famous?
When students can identify a person/event, they get to touch the picture
to uncover the activity for the day.

Lesson Development:
-

Today we are going to be playing our own Olympic games! You will be
filling out this worksheet while doing the four different challenges. Station
one has the marble grab, station two involves squeezing the water out of
a sponge, station three will require you to throw a cotton ball, and at
station four you will be throwing straws. On your paper you will be
estimating the mass of the total amount of marbles you can grab, the
amount of water you can squeeze out of a sponge in terms of mL, and the
distance you can throw a cotton ball and a straw. *worksheet attached at
the end of the file, Mini-Metric Olympics.
Before we go to these stations, we need to make estimations of the
distance, mass or volume for each event. Who can tell me what an
estimation is?
Before we start estimating, lets take a look at some examples to
develop a better understanding as to how much a gram weighs, how long
a centimeter is, and how much a milliliter is.
Once you write down an estimation, do not erase it. You will then go to
each station in groups, and see how close your estimations were to
reality.
There will be some examples on a slide for them to look at.
We will then break into four equal groups, based on recommendations
made by the classroom teacher.
Miss. Reed, Miss. Best, and Mrs. Grejda will all be at different stations to
run that station. One station will be without a teacher, so one of us will
instruct and supervise two groups. The instructor at station 3 will be in
charge of station 3 and 4 since the students will be doing similar activities
at these two stations.
Each group will only have about five minutes at each station, and then
they will rotate to a new station.

After each group has been at every station, we will gather the class back
up as a whole.
Now, you need to add all of the numbers in the far right column, under
the heading score, to find your total. Students will be given a few
minutes to figure out their total.
Who would like to share their individual total score?
Now we want you to add your individual total scores together to get a
group score. *Students will be able to write their group scores on the
smart board.
Which station was your favorite, why? Were you surprised by any of the
actual measurements? Did you think the cotton ball would go further than
it did?

Lesson Ending:
-

What measurement system did we use today?

Was it the standard measurement system or the metric measurement
system?
How did we measure mass? How about volume? What about length?
What units did we use for each?
Which system do you think is easier, standard or metric?
Do you know how many countries use the standard system?
Why do you think that countries use the metric system?
Do you think that the United States will ever use the metric system more
than the standard system?

***If time activity***

-

Now that we have looked at different measurements lets estimate

again.
Pick several objects in the room, ask the class to estimate, and then find
the actual measure of the item. Use this to fill out a couple of places on
the smart board. Give the students the activity sheet and give them some
time to find some things that are the same measure as those given on the
worksheet.
Students will do a metric scavenger hunt. Their job will be to go around
the room finding objects they think are close to measurements written on
the hand-out. They will write the name of the object, the actual length of
the object, and then will find the difference between the actual and their
guess.

Materials: -

handouts
Station directions

Station #1 (Marble Grab)

-

Marbles
Bowl
Scale

Station #2 (Sponge Squeeze)

-

Sponge
Water
Bowl
Graduated Cylinder

Station #3 (Cotton Ball Shot Put)

-

Cotton balls
Rulers
Tape

Station #4 (Straw Javelin Throw)

-

Straws
Rulers
Tape

References: Mrs. Grejda, AIMS

Mode: independent, groups
Special Adaptations: Making specific groups based on the behavior and academic
level of the students. We adapted this lesson from having six stations to four
stations.
Anticipated Difficulties: Students may use the inches side of the ruler instead of
the cm side. They may not remember to take the tare of the bowl when doing the
marble grab. Students may miscalculate. Students may erase their estimations in
order get a better score.
Reflection:

Bell Ringer
Name:_____________________________________
1)

5 cm3 cm=

2)

51 mL43 mL=

3)

85 g62 g=

4)

15 mL8 mL=

Bell Ringer
Name:_____________________________________
1)

5 cm 3 cm=

2)

51 mL43 mL=

3)

85 g62 g=

4)

15 mL8 mL=