20 Ideas for Teaching Measurement

Teaching measurement can actually be a nice break from algorithms for both student and teacher!  Measurement tends to be a concept with a fairly even playing field.  Our spacially challenged kiddos will be put to the test with lining up those non-standard measurement tools, but we welcome the change of pace.  In this post, you will find 20 ideas for teaching measurement grades K through 3.  Feel free to skip down to the headings that best fit your needs or browse through each grade level at your leisure!

20 ways to teach measurement for kindergarten, first grade, and second grade

Measurement in Kindergarten

I thought I would start with a peek at how I store prepped measurement materials.  One way is to put all of the lesson plans and printables into a binder with the game and activity cards right in with the lessons.

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For example, here we have lesson 1 for kindergarten.  The lesson plan and cards for small groups are in the first sleeve.

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When you turn the page, the printable practice for lesson one is ready to go and lesson 2 follows.

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Taking a look at day 2, we see that students are building and comparing towers in order to begin using that descriptive language for measurement.

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We are sure to use vocabulary for measurement, taller, shorter, heavier, lighter, longer, shorter etc.  Lessons help students to identify objects in this way.

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By day 5 we are ready to measure with our own non-standard units to find the length.
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The standard in kindergarten for measurable attributes includes weight.  This can be a fun lesson!
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Lesson 10 is all about the understanding of capacity with objects that students can relate to.

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We wrap up kinder measurement with one last measuring activity using Unifix cubes.

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Measurement in First and Second Grades

Measurement in first and second grades incorporates non-standard measurement, but we begin to compare sets of objects and the differences in non-standard measurement tools.

Students measure and graph sets of objects using different measurement tools.

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Students order sets of objects by length.

20 ideas for teaching measurement

Each lesson has a whole group measurement activity and a small group measurement activity.
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Second grade switches to standard measurement with both inch and centimeter.

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Measurement in Third Grade

By third grade, it’s time to get into some bigger more complex understandings of measurement!  We start with a math warm-up problem of the day for every single lesson.  These can also be done as a homework component or exit ticket.

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In the measurement unit, we find perimeter and area as well.  There is an interactive notebook component with teacher’s guide and practice problems for all new measurement concepts.
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In the lesson below, the purple sheet is sized for a composition book and the blue paper is has the practice problems.

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measurement in third grade
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Lesson nineteen is a unit review in preparation for the assessment that is included.

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Measuring Up

Not everything was shown in this post as we would likely be here all day, but I hope this was helpful in laying out measurement activities in each grade level!  If you are looking for ready to teach lessons, you can get these by clicking the links below!

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Kindergarten Measurement

First Grade Measurement

Second Grade Measurement

Third Grade Measurement

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3 Comments

  1. Hello! We just purchased the Guided Math Bundle for second grade to use next year! Now the first grade team is interested in getting the first grade bundle. 2 questions: 1. How much overlap is there between the two bundles, and 2. When can we expect an announcement regarding your partnership with ETA? Thanks!

    1. There is not much overlap between the bundles. There are some lessons here and there but generally they are different. If the lesson is the same, likely the range of numbers is different. If you want the most current info with ETA, social media is the best way to stay on top of it. I also have a newsletter regarding the guided math kits from ETA too. You can find that on both my facebook and instagram. 🙂