Lesson video

Hello everybody.

My name is Mrs. Johnson.

I am so happy to be here today to help you with some of your maths learning.

I hope you are ready to work hard and have lots of fun as we learn new things.

Let's have a look at what we're going to be learning about today.

This lesson is called read scales in metres and centimetres.

It comes from the unit sense of measure.

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to read scales in both metres and centimetres.

You're going to become really good at reading scales that will help you measure lengths in metres and centimetres.

There are some key words that are going to help in this lesson.

We're going to practise saying them.

It will be my turn first and then your turn.

Ready? My turn.

Ruler.

Your turn.

My turn, metre stick.

Your turn.

Good job.

Listen out for those words today because they are going to be really important for what we are learning about.

There are going to be two parts to this lesson.

To begin with, you're going to review measuring in the centimetres.

That means you're going to think about what you already know and make sure that you can remember how to measure in centimetres accurately.

And then in a little while you're going to learn how to measure in metres.

Let's get started with reviewing, measuring in centimetres.

There are two friends who are going to help in this lesson today.

Their names are Sam and Alex.

Listen carefully to what Sam and Alex have to tell you because it's going to be really helpful for your learning.

Sam and Alex have designed a rainbow decoration that they want to make.

They need to cut each colour ribbon so that it is the correct length for their design.

I wonder if you've ever designed anything and you've needed to cut pieces to be a specific length.

That's what they're going to do.

Sam says that she's going to use a ruler to measure the length of each piece of ribbon, but before they start, they're going to try and remember what they've learned before about using a ruler to measure length.

They need to make sure that they can remember how to do it accurately so that they don't make any mistakes when they're cutting the ribbon for their decoration.

Sam can remember that when you want to measure the length of something, you need to place it next to the ruler like this.

And Alex can remember that the number at the end of the object tells him the length.

So this pen is 13 centimetres long.

I think Alex might have remembered something else.

That's really important when you want to measure length using a ruler.

He remembers that you need to place your object as close to the ruler as possible.

This pen isn't in the right place.

It needs to be here as close to the ruler as possible.

Now we can see that this fountain pen is 15 centimetres long.

Sam remembers something else.

If it's an object that can't be placed close to the ruler like this leaf, you need to imagine straight lines at each end pointing down to the ruler, like this.

Now you can see that this leaf is eight centimetres long.

There is something else that's important too.

When you use a ruler to measure length, you need to make sure that you always start at zero, not at the end of the ruler.

Sam says, line up one end of the object with zero like this, and Alex says he's going to ignore the space at the end of the ruler and make sure that his object aligns up with the zero.

Now you can see that this highlighter is 10 centimetres long and this eraser is five centimetres long.

Let's check that you can remember how to measure length using a ruler.

You might need to imagine some straight lines at the ends of the objects to help you.

The feather is, mm, centimetres long.

The spoon is, mm, centimetres long.

Pause the video and have a go at that now.

Well done, let's see if you are correct.

Let's place those lines at the ends of the object pointing down to the ruler.

We can see that this feather is 10 centimetres long.

Let's add the lines for the spoon and you can see that the spoon is 14 centimetres long.

Well done if that's what you said too.

Good job.

Let's check if you can remember how to measure accurately with a ruler.

Have a look at how Alex is measuring this crayon.

How could you help him to use the ruler more accurately? He thinks that this crayon is eight centimetres long.

I wonder if he's right or if there might be something he needs to do first, pause the video and have a think.

Let's see what you noticed about how Alex is measuring this crayon.

What could he do to be a little bit more accurate? Well, he should really place it as close to the ruler as he can, like this.

He also needs to make sure that it's lined up with the zero.

At the moment it isn't.

Line it up with zero.

Imagine a straight line at the end of the crayon pointing down to the scale on the ruler.

Now Alex can see that this crayon is seven centimetres long.

Well done, if you notice those mistakes that Alex had made, good job.

Now Alex and Sam feel confident that they know how to use a ruler to measure length.

That means that they are ready to start measuring and cutting their ribbon for their decoration.

Sam says that they need a piece of red ribbon that is 14 centimetres long.

Here's the red ribbon and a ruler.

Alex says, "Maybe we don't need to cut this piece.

It's already 14 centimetres long, isn't it?" What do you think? Look carefully at that ribbon.

Hmm, let's have a look together.

Sam thinks that the ribbon should be straight before she can measure the length.

I agree.

I think she's right.

They need to straighten the ribbon and then measure 14 centimetres.

Sam is going to make a mark where 14 centimetres is, like this, and now she knows where to cut.

She can cut the ribbon to the correct length.

Now they've got their piece of red ribbon that is 14 centimetres long.

Next they need a purple ribbon that is four centimetres long.

Sam's going to make a mark where four centimetres is on the ruler.

Then she can cut the ribbon to the correct length and now they have a piece of purple ribbon that is four centimetres long.

They need a piece of yellow ribbon that is 10 centimetres long.

Sam is going to make a mark where 10 centimetres is and then cut the ribbon to the correct length and now the piece of yellow ribbon is 10 centimetres long.

Let's check if you can find the length of these pieces of ribbon.

Alex and Sam have cut their ribbons to the length that they need.

How long is the green ribbon and the orange ribbon? Pause the video and have a go at that now.

Good thinking.

Let's see if you are right.

The green ribbon is eight centimetres long and the orange ribbon is 12 centimetres long.

Well done if you said that.

Now let's check that you can spot who has used their ruler in the most accurate way.

The last piece of ribbon that Alex and Sam need is a blue ribbon that is six centimetres long.

Who do you think has used their ruler correctly to measure six centimetres? Look carefully and pause the video to have a go at that now.

Well done for looking really closely at these two pictures of the rulers.

You might have noticed that Sam is not correct because she didn't line up the end of her ribbon with the zero.

Alex used his ruler correctly to measure six centimetres.

Well done if you said it was Alex.

That was correct.

Alex and Sam took all those pieces of ribbon that they had measured and they attached them to a cloud shape that they cut out from some card to finish making their rainbow decoration that they designed.

You can see what it looked like now.

It's a beautiful rainbow design, isn't it? You are going to have a practise at cutting some different lengths now in centimetres and you are going to be able to design your own decoration.

It doesn't have to be a rainbow.

It could be any decoration and you can use whichever colours you like.

You could use lengths of ribbon, string, wool or strips of paper, but they need to be the same length as the measurements that you can see in the box.

So you need to have one piece that's 21 centimetres long, one piece that's 19 centimetres long and so on, so that you've measured and cut all of the lengths that you can see in this box.

You can choose how you want to join those strips or those lengths together and you can make any design that you like as long as each piece matches the lengths that are in this box.

Alex has reminded you to make sure that you use your ruler carefully and accurately to measure each length before you cut.

I wonder what your decorations are going to look like? You're going to pause the video and go and have a go at that now.

Off you go.

Well done.

You were able to think really creatively about what type of decoration you wanted to make.

Here are a couple of examples of the kind of decoration that you might have made, but perhaps yours might look completely different to this and that's okay.

You had to think really carefully about how you could use your ruler in the most accurate way to get those measurements correct.

Well done.

Now it's time for the second part of this lesson where you are going to be thinking about measuring in metres.

So far in this lesson today you have practised using a ruler to measure length in centimetres, but Sam wants to know what happens if you want to measure a longer length? Would you still use a ruler? What do you think? Maybe you've tried to measure a longer length before? Let's have a look.

When you want to measure a longer length, you could choose to measure in metres and not centimetres.

There is a special tool that you can use to measure length in metres.

It's called a metre stick because it is exactly one metre long.

You could have a metre stick that looks like this or perhaps you have a metre stick that's a different colour.

I wonder if you've ever seen a metre stick before.

A metre stick is longer than a ruler.

Here is a 15 centimetre ruler next to a metre stick so that you can see that a metre stick is much longer than a ruler.

The ruler looks really short compared to the metre stick, doesn't it? Alex says, I can use my metre stick to show that these lengths are all about one metre long.

The height of the door handle is about one metre.

The width of the staircase is about one metre and the length of the guitar is about one metre.

We can use the metre stick to show each length is about one metre long.

Alex and Sam could measure the width of this car using metre sticks.

They need to place the metre sticks in a line from one side of the car to the other, like this.

You can see that this car is two metres wide.

Now Alex and Sam could measure the width of the garage door using metre sticks.

Again, they're going to place the metre sticks in a line from one side of the door to the other.

You can see those metre sticks there, so we know that this garage door is three metres wide.

They could measure the width of the garage using metre sticks.

The whole garage building.

They're going to place metre sticks in a line from one side of the building to the other, like this.

How long do you think the garage building is going to be? Let's have a look.

This garage building is four metres wide.

Let's check if you can measure using metre sticks.

Look really carefully at these metre sticks in the picture.

Who do you think is correct? Sam says the garage building is four metres tall.

Alex says the garage building is three metres tall.

Pause the video and have a think.

Good thinking everybody.

The garage building is three metres tall.

There are four metre sticks in this picture, but the height of the garage lines up with the end of the third metre stick, so Alex is correct.

The garage building is not four metres tall.

It is three metres tall.

Well done if you spotted that too.

Alex is going to play a game now with Sam.

Alex wants to throw different balls to see how far they can throw each time and Sam thinks that they could use metre sticks to measure the distance that they throw each ball.

Let's watch them play this game.

They're going to stand on the line when it's their turn to throw so that they always start in the same place.

Alex has thrown the basketball.

He's going to use his metre sticks.

Alex can see that he threw the basketball three metres.

Sam has thrown a football.

She's going to place the metre sticks and Sam can see that she threw the football four metres.

Let's watch what happens this time.

Alex says, how would I measure the distance if my ball landed here? Oh, this looks a bit tricky because it's not at the end of one of the metre sticks.

It's right in the middle.

I wonder what we would say.

Let's have a look at this together.

Sometimes a length could be between two measurements.

For this ball you could say that the distance the cricket ball has been thrown is between five metres and six metres, so it's not exactly five and it's not exactly six metres, it's between five metres and six metres.

If Sam threw this beach ball and it landed here, you could say that the distance the beach ball has been thrown is between one metre and two metres.

Let's watch Alex and Sam throw their next ball.

Alex has thrown a tennis ball this time.

He's going to line up his metre sticks and Alex says he threw the tennis ball five metres.

Hmm.

Oh no, Alex says, "Wait! I think I made a mistake." Can you see a mistake that Alex might have made? When you use metre sticks to measure length, you need to make sure there are no gaps between each metre stick.

Alex should have lined up his metre sticks like this with no gaps between them.

Then he could say he threw the tennis ball eight metres.

Sam has thrown a rugby ball.

She's going to line up her metre sticks and she says that she's thrown the rugby ball six metres.

Oh, wait a second.

Sam says, I think I've made a mistake.

Can you see Sam's mistake? Well done.

If you've noticed that when you use metre sticks to measure length, they must be in a straight line and they shouldn't be overlapping.

They need to just be next to each other, no gaps and no overlapping.

Sam needs to line them up like this in a nice straight line with no overlapping.

Then she can see that she threw the rugby ball five metres.

Let's check if you know how to use metre sticks correctly to measure length in metres.

How could you help Alex to use his metre sticks to measure the length of this fence more accurately? Pause the video and have a think.

Well done for looking really carefully at how Alex has used these metre sticks.

He thinks that the fence is eight metres long, but I don't think that his measurement is going to be correct because his metre sticks should be in a straight line, shouldn't they, with no gaps and no overlapping.

He also hasn't started right at the end of the fence and he hasn't finished right at the end of the fence.

Let's help him to use his metre sticks more accurately.

Let's place them in a straight line with no gaps, no overlapping from one end to the other.

Now Alex can see that actually this fence is nine metres long.

Now that he's used them accurately, he has got an accurate measurement of the length of this fence.

Well done, if you notice those things that Alex could do to improve his measuring.

Now it's time for you to practise measuring in metres.

You're going to look at these pictures carefully to help you find the height or the length of each object in the picture.

You have a wardrobe, a van and a crocodile.

You need to write the length in metres of each object.

Then you need to draw a tree that is three metres tall using the picture of the metre sticks to help you.

Once you've done that, you are going to learn about some world records that are to do with length.

The first one says that the world's tallest man was almost three metres tall.

Would he fit through your door and how could you check? Then you're going to think about this one.

The world record for the longest jump is almost nine metres.

Would your classroom be long enough for this jump? Would somebody be able to jump nine metres in your classroom? How could you find out? And finally, the longest neck of any animal that has ever lived was a type of dinosaur called a Saurapod and its neck was 15 metres long.

You are going to try and find out if this dinosaur was stood with its body in your classroom and its neck was 15 metres long, where could its head reach? What different places might its head end up reaching? You are going to pause the video and go and try those things out now.

Off you go.

Let's have a look and see how you've got on.

The wardrobe is two metres tall.

The van is five metres long.

The crocodile is five metres long and the tree that you needed to draw should be three metres tall so it needs to line up with the end of the third metre stick.

Maybe it looks a little bit like this.

Now let's have a think about these world records.

The world's tallest man was almost three metres tall.

Would he fit through your door and how could you check? You would need to measure your door with metre sticks to check its height.

Most doors are about two metres tall, so he wouldn't have been able to fit through.

The second world record said that the longest jump was almost nine metres.

Would your classroom be long enough for this jump? You needed to measure the length of your classroom with a metre stick to see if it's longer, shorter, or about the same as nine metres.

The last world record was about the dinosaur with the longest neck, which was 15 metres.

You would need to use metre sticks to measure 15 metres from your door in different directions.

I wonder what different places the dinosaur would've been able to reach with its head.

That's a very funny thing to imagine.

I can imagine that dinosaur being able to reach all sorts of places when it's got a neck that long.

Now that you are at the end of the lesson, you have learned that you can use a ruler when you want to measure length in centimetres.

You can use a metre stick to measure length in metres.

To measure accurately the object needs to be as straight as possible.

It should be lined up with the zero on the ruler or lined up with the end of the metre stick.

When lining up metre sticks to measure a longer length, you need to make sure that there are no gaps or overlaps and that the line is straight.

Well done for thinking so carefully about how you can measure and read scales in metres and centimetres today.

You have done some excellent thinking.

I hope that I will see you again soon for some more maths learning.

Bye everybody.