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, volume and capacity can be measured in litres and millilitres.

It comes from the unit sense of measure.

At the end of this lesson, you will be able to describe the volume of a litre and a millilitre, and you will be able to choose which unit might be best to measure different capacities and volumes.

Don't worry if you are not sure what that means at the moment because we're going to learn it together in this lesson.

There are some really important keywords for you to practise to get you ready for your learning today.

I'm going to say them first and then it will be your turn.

Ready? My turn, capacity.

Your turn.

My turn, volume.

Your turn.

My turn, litre.

Your turn.

My turn, millilitre.

Your turn.

Good job.

There are going to be two parts to this lesson today.

To begin with, you're going to be thinking about this question, what are millilitres and litres? Then in a little while, you're going to learn about measuring capacity and volume.

Let's get started with the question, what are millilitres and litres? There are two friends who are going to help in today's lesson, their names are Sofia and Jacob.

Listen carefully to the things Sofia and Jacob have to tell you, they're going to be really important for your learning today.

Sofia has a question, "What can you think of that could have a large amount of liquid inside it?" Hmm.

I wonder what you can think of, something that could hold a large amount of liquid.

Jacob's got some ideas.

He's thought of a bucket, a pond, the sea.

Those things hold a lot of liquid inside.

Now, Sofia has a different question, "What can you think of that could only hold a small amount of liquid inside it?" Hmm.

What can you think of this time? What do you think Jacob's going to think of? Let's have a look.

Jacob could think of a teacup, a teaspoon, or a yoghourt pot.

Those things hold a smaller amount of liquid, don't they? I wonder what you thought of.

When we think about how much liquid something can hold, we are thinking its capacity, so we could say that this teaspoon has a small capacity because it can only hold a small amount of liquid.

This pond has a greater capacity because it can hold a greater amount of liquid.

You can measure capacity using standard units.

Sofia remembers that when she measures mass, she can use the standard units grammes and kilogrammes.

So Jacob is wondering, "what are the standard units for measuring capacity going to be?" Have you got any ideas? Let's have a look.

There are lots of different standard units that you could use for measuring capacity.

Two of the standard units that are used most often are called millilitres and litres.

Sofia has noticed that when she gets a bottle of milk out of her fridge, the bottle says that it has a capacity of two litres.

Jacob wonders, "How much is one litre?" Let's have a look at that now.

All of these objects have a capacity of about one litre, a tub of ice cream, a large carton of juice, a bottle of paint.

Sofia says, "I think that one litre is more liquid than I could drink in one go." I agree, I don't think that I would drink a whole large carton of juice in one go.

I would pour it into a glass and have a smaller drink than that.

So one litre is more liquid than you could drink in one go, and it's about the capacity of a tub of ice cream, a large carton of juice or a bottle of paint.

Jacob has a question for you, "Do you think that one millilitre is going to be more or less than one litre?" Let's have a look.

One millilitre is a very tiny amount of liquid.

A raindrop is about one millilitre, a drip from the tap is about one millilitre and one drop of food colouring is about one millilitre.

Sofia says, "If I put one millilitre of water on my tongue, I would hardly notice it." So when we were talking about one litre, Sofia said, "That would be too much for her to drink in one go." Now she's imagining putting one millilitre of water on her tongue and she would hardly even feel it because it's such a tiny amount of liquid.

Jacob says, "One millilitre is definitely much less than one litre." These amounts of liquid are not inside a container.

Are we still thinking about capacity? Remember we said that capacity is the amount of liquid something can hold, but these amounts aren't inside a container.

Is this still capacity? That's a good question, let's have a look.

Jacob says, "Well spotted.

When we look at the amount of liquid, we are thinking about volume, not capacity." So instead of saying that one millilitre is a very tiny amount of liquid, now we can say that one millilitre is a very tiny volume of liquid.

Capacity is the amount of liquid a container can hold when it is full, volume is the amount of space that something takes up.

In this case, we are talking about the amount of liquid inside the container or even the amount of liquid that's not in a container like a raindrop or a drip coming out of a tap.

Capacity and volume can both be measured in litres and millilitres.

This bucket has a large capacity, but there is only a small volume of liquid inside.

Let's check that you have a good understanding of a millilitre and a litre.

Can you match the volume of liquid to the correct amount? Pause the video and have a go now.

Let's see if you've matched these correctly.

We have the liquid in the jug, that would be about one litre.

The liquid on the teaspoon is about one millilitre.

The drip coming outta the pipette is about one millilitre.

And the liquid in the bottle would be about one litre.

Well done if you got those correct.

Sofia has noticed that the bucket that her mom uses to wash the car says that it has a capacity of five litres.

The capacity of this bucket is five litres.

You can write L to show litres, so rather than writing the whole word, we can say the capacity of this bucket is five litres, but we just write it with a letter L.

Sofia has also noticed that in her recipe book, it tells her that the capacity of a teaspoon is five millilitres.

So we could write it like this, the capacity of a teaspoon is five millilitres.

But Jacob knows that you can also write millilitres using the letters ml.

We could also write the capacity of this teaspoon is five millilitres, but we would write ml rather than writing the full word millilitres.

Let's check that you understand how you can use L and ml to show litres and millilitres.

Can you match each volume of liquid to the correct amount? Pause the video and have a go.

Okay, let's have a look.

We should match one millilitre to one ml, one litre to one L, 16 litres to 16 L, and 16 millilitres to 16 ml.

But remember, we don't pronounce it 16 L, we would still say 16 litres, we can just write the L for short.

Now it's time for you to practise thinking about litres.

All of these containers have a capacity of about one litre, a bottle of paint, a large carton of juice, or an ice cream tub.

I would like you to have a look around you to find different objects and containers that you could write in each column of this table.

Look for things that might have a capacity that is greater than one litre, a capacity about the same as one litre and a capacity less than one litre.

Look around you carefully and remember that these containers you can see here are about one litre, so you could use those to help you to decide which column you're going to write each object in.

Pause the video and have a go at that now.

Okay, let's see how you got on.

Jacob said that he managed to find lots of containers with different capacities and he wonders, "What have you found out about capacity?" Let's see what Jacob found.

For his containers that might have a capacity greater than one litre, he found a bucket, a washing up bowl, the sink, a watering can and a bin.

For the containers that are about the same as one litre, he found a large bottle of water, a bottle of squash, a bottle of paint, a jug, and a flask.

In the last column, these are the things that he found that would have a capacity less than one litre, a yoghourt pot, a cup, his water bottle, and a bottle of washing up liquid.

Well done for thinking carefully about the capacity of a litre and then finding different objects and containers that could have a capacity greater than one litre, less than one litre or about the same.

Good job.

Now it's time for the second part of our lesson.

Now, you are going to be thinking about measuring capacity and volume.

Jacob says, "We know that there are at least two different units of measure for capacity and volume, we know about millilitres and litres." But Sofia is wondering, "Why do we need more than one unit of measure for capacity and volume? Why can't we just always use millilitres?" Let's have a think.

Look back again at how much liquid is in one millilitre and one litre.

These amounts of liquid have a volume of about one millilitre, a drip from a tap, a raindrop, or a drop of food colouring.

These amounts of liquid each have a volume of about one litre.

We can see that a millilitre is a much smaller amount of liquid, and a litre is a much bigger amount.

We can see that a millilitre is a much smaller volume of liquid than a litre is.

That means that maybe there are different units of measure so that you can choose the most helpful unit for the thing that you want to measure.

Litres could be really helpful when you want to measure a greater capacity such as a paddling pool or a bucket.

It would be possible to measure these greater capacities in millilitres, but it could be a lot more difficult and not as efficient as measuring in litres.

Sofia thinks that means if she wanted to measure something smaller, she would choose millilitres, but if she wanted to measure something bigger, she would probably choose litres.

Well done, Sofia, that sounds very sensible, good thinking.

Let's see if you can choose whether it might be sensible to choose litres.

Do you think this is true or false? If you wanted to measure the capacity of a teacup, it is sensible to choose to measure in litres.

Is this true or false, and can you explain why? Pause the video and have a go.

Okay, let's have a look.

If you wanted to measure the capacity of a teacup, it is not sensible to choose to measure in litres.

So this was not true, this was false.

Here's the reason.

One litre is about the same capacity as a large carton of juice.

The capacity of a teacup is likely to be smaller than this, so it would be more helpful to measure the capacity of a teacup in millilitres rather than in litres.

Well done if you spotted that.

Now Jacob and Sofia are going to play a game.

Jacob is going to show Sofia two measurements and she has to say which one she thinks is correct.

Sofia is going to use what we've learned so far to help her.

She knows that one litre is about the same volume as a large carton of juice, and one millilitre is about the same volume as a raindrop.

Let's have a look at this game.

Jacob says to Sofia, "Do you think the capacity of a yoghourt pot is about 50 litres or 50 millilitres?" Oh, Sofia's going to have a think.

You can have a think too.

Would a yoghourt pot have a capacity of 50 litres or 50 millilitres? Sofia says, "I choose 50 millilitres.

50 litres is far too much liquid to fit in a yoghourt pot." And Jacob says, "You are correct, well done." Here's Jacob's next question, "Do you think the volume of milk in the bottle that I've just bought from the shop is about two litres or two millilitres?" Let's have a think.

Sofia's thinking too.

If Jacob has just bought a bottle of milk from the shop, would the volume of milk in the bottle be about two litres or about two millilitres? Sofia says, "I pick two litres.

Two millilitres would not be very much milk at all." You wouldn't want to go to the shop and buy a bottle that only had a tiny bit of milk in the bottom.

And Jacob says, "Correct again, you really understand litres and millilitres now, good job." Let's check if you really understand litres and millilitres now.

How would you complete this sentence? A fish tank could have a capacity of, hmm, 60 millilitres or 60 litres.

Pause the video and have a think.

Well done if you said 60 litres.

Good job.

A fish tank has a larger capacity, so we would want to choose litres, not millilitres.

Remember that the capacity of a large carton of juice is about the same as one litre.

A fish tank would need to hold more liquid than this, so the fish tank could have a capacity of 60 litres.

60 millilitres is about the same as 60 raindrops.

That wouldn't be enough water for the fish to swim around in.

Now, Jacob and Sofia know when they need to choose to measure in millilitres or in litres, but Sofia wants to know how can we actually measure capacity or volume? Let's have a look.

When you want to measure the capacity or volume of something, you could use a measuring jug, beaker, or cylinder like these.

Sofia is wondering, "What's the same and what's different?" Hmm, I wonder what you can spot.

Sofia and Jacob are thinking carefully about this too.

Let's have a look and see what they've noticed.

Jacob can see that all the equipment for measuring capacity or volume has a scale that you can read.

That means there are numbers on the side so that you can read the scale and see how much liquid there is.

Jacob has also noticed that some of these scales measure in millilitres, but others measure in litres.

I wonder if you notice that too.

Jacob also spotted that the scales go up in different amounts.

Some of these scales count in ones, but some of them go up in twos and some of them go up in tens.

Look carefully at the numbers on the scales and you'll see that they are counting up in different amounts.

Jacob could use this jug to find the volume of different amounts of liquid.

He's going to pour his liquid into the jug, and he can see that at the moment the volume of this liquid is one litre.

Now he's going to pour more liquid into the jug, and now the volume of liquid is two litres.

He's going to pour more liquid into the jug, and now the volume of liquid is three litres.

Now, Jacob is going to use some different measuring equipment, he's going to use a measuring beaker this time.

Jacob has noticed that this scale measures in millilitres and it goes up in tens.

He's going to pour his liquid in and he can see that the volume of liquid in this beaker is 70 millilitres.

Sofia wants to know the capacity of her yoghourt pot, and Jacob says, "Your pot doesn't have a scale on it, so we can't find its capacity." Jacob is right that it doesn't have a scale on it, but I'm not sure he's right that we wouldn't be able to find its capacity.

I think Sofia might have an idea that could help them to find the capacity.

What do you think Sofia's going to do? Let's have a look.

Sofia can fill her yoghourt pot with water and then pour the water into the measuring beaker, and that shows her the capacity of the yoghourt pot is 80 millilitres.

Let's check that you can read the scale on this beaker.

What is the volume of liquid in this beaker? Is it 25 litres, 50 millilitres, or 25 millilitres? Pause the video and have a think.

Let's have a look.

The volume of liquid in this beaker is 25 millilitres.

Well done if you said that.

Now it's time for you to practise thinking about how we can measure capacity and volume.

First, you are going to read each sentence and tick the most sensible choice.

For example, the first one says, the volume of ketchup in my pot is, hmm, would it be 24 litres or 24 millilitres? Tick the one that you think is the most sensible choice for each sentence.

Next, you're going to look carefully at these beakers and write the volume of liquid that you can see in each beaker.

On question three, you need to look at these buckets, read the scales carefully and see if you can write the volume of liquid in each bucket.

Make sure you look really carefully at the scale and remember to write your unit of measure.

You are going to pause the video and have a go at that now, off you go.

Okay, let's see how you got on.

The volume of ketchup in my pot is 24 millilitres.

The capacity of a kitchen sink is 15 litres.

The volume of medicine on a spoon is five millilitres.

The capacity of my paddling pool is 95 litres.

Well done if you've got those correct.

What is the volume of liquid in each beaker? A is 60 millilitres, B is 20 millilitres, and C is 90 millilitres.

Well done if you've written those correctly.

Did you remember that you don't have to write the word millilitres, you can write ml for short.

Finally, let's have a look at number three, the volume of liquid in each bucket.

A is five litres, B is also five litres, and C is nine litres.

Well done if you got those correct.

Good job.

Now that you're at the end of the lesson, you know that capacity is the amount of liquid that a container can hold when it is full, and volume is the amount of space that something takes up.

So in this case, when we're thinking about liquid volume is the amount of liquid.

Capacity and volume can both be measured in litres and millilitres.

When you want to measure capacity or volume, you need to read the scale carefully.

Well done for thinking so carefully about capacity and volume today.

You've done an excellent job.

I hope that I'm going to see you again soon for some more maths learning.

Bye everybody.