Explain why standard units of measure are needed | Maths

Starter quiz

Lucas measured the length of this leaf. It is 4 dominoes __________.

tall

long ✓

far
Sofia measured the __________ of the robot. It is 13 blocks tall.

distance

bottom

height ✓
To find how far something has travelled, we measure the __________.

length

height

distance ✓
What is the height of the doll? The doll is ______ blocks tall.

'9' ✓
What is the distance that the car has travelled? ______ cubes.

'7' ✓
The length of the carrot is ______ cubes.

'13' ✓

Exit quiz

Jun asked Aisha this question. What is the answer to the question?

No, we can only use cubes as a unit of measure.

Yes, as long as they are all identical. ✓
The toy car is as heavy as ______ dominoes.

'8' ✓
In the story about Pedro Panda and Sydney Snake, why was the bed too small for Sydney?

Pedro didn’t measure carefully.

Pedro, Freda and Claire used different-sized footsteps to measure. ✓

Sydney Snake grew longer.
A __________ unit of measure does not get larger or smaller. It will always be the same size.

different

standard ✓

block
Which of these units is a standard unit of measure?

paper clips

centimetre or cm ✓

blocks
Who has used a standard unit of measure to find the height of the astronaut?

Jun

Aisha ✓

Worksheet

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Lesson Details

Key learning points

If we all choose our own way to measure, we will end up with different measurements of the same thing.
When you use the same unit of measure, you will get the same result.
Standard units of measure are useful because they are always the same size and do not change.
Centimetres are an example of a standard unit.

Common misconception

Children may think that the same type of object, for example a pencil, can be used as a unit of measure, even when they are different lengths.

Read the story of Pedro's birthday quest again and discuss why the friends using their own footsteps for measuring led to them getting different results.

Keywords

Unit of measure - Something used as a standard of measurement. It is '1' of the measurement.
Standard unit - Uniform units of measure that are agreed throughout a community.