Lesson video

Hello there.

My name is Mr. Tilstone.

It's really nice to meet you and it's really nice to be working with you today on this lesson, which is all about unit conversions.

So if you're ready, I'm ready.

Let's begin.

The outcome of today's lesson is I can use my knowledge of 1,000 to explain common measure conversions.

And I'm sure you've had some recent experience with the number 1,000.

Today we're going to look at it in the context of measures.

We've got lots of keywords.

Are you ready? My turn, millimetre, your turn.

My turn, metre, your turn.

My turn, kilometre, your turn.

My turn, gramme, your turn.

My turn, kilogramme, your turn.

My turn, millilitre, your turn.

My turn, litre, your turn.

Lots of words there.

Some of them you might have heard, some of them you might not.

If you have a look next to the words in brackets, you can see what we call abbreviations.

So sometimes in this lesson, instead of seeing the word millimetre, for example, you'll see the letters mm, and that's short for millimetre, and I will read it as millimetre.

So what do the words mean? Well, a millimetre or mm is a metric measure of distance used for small lengths.

The basic unit of length or distance in the metric system is metre, that's m.

A kilometre, km, is a metric measure of distance equal to 1,000 metres.

A gramme, g, is a measure of mass.

1,000 grammes are equivalent to one kilogramme or kg.

A millilitre, ml, is a measure of capacity.

1,000 millilitres are equivalent to one litre, and that's L.

Our lesson today is going to be split into two parts.

The first will be length and the second mass and capacity.

So for now, let's focus on length.

In this lesson, you're going to meet Andeep and Jun Have you met them before? They're here today to give us a helping hand with our maths.

Now Andeep has a good idea of how big a metre is.

Do you? have you got a picture in your mind of what a metre is, roughly how big is it? Could you make it with your arms, for example, or your hands? There are metre sticks in his classroom.

Are there metre sticks in your classroom? Maybe they look a bit like this.

Maybe they look different.

But have you seen a metre stick before? Most classrooms have got them.

He knows that he's a bit taller than one metre.

So that's a good sort of point of reference for him.

He's a bit bigger than a metre, a bit taller.

Now, Jun has a good idea of how big a millimetre is.

It's very tiny.

He sees them on his ruler every day.

Have you got a ruler in front of you now? Have a look at it.

Can you find the millimetres on it? He knows they are a tiny standard unit of length, very small indeed.

There are 1,000 ones in 1,000.

I bet you knew that already.

I bet you've explored that quite recently.

By the same token, there are 1,000 millimetres in 1,000 millimetres.

Will that makes sense? So there are 1,000 millimetres in one metre because they are equivalent.

So one metre equals 1,000 millimetres.

I'm going to say that, and then we'll say it, and then you say it.

So my turn first.

One metre equals 1,000 millimetres.

Now let's say it together.

Ready? One metre equals 1,000 millimetres.

Now just you.

Off you go.

So that is a key unit conversion.

This is going to come up again and again and again, not just in this lesson, but future lessons.

So if you can, get that memorised.

Right, okay, over to you.

I want you to say it slowly, say it quickly, say it in a silly voice, shout it and whisper it.

Off you go.

The prefix milli means 1,000th.

So a millimetre is 1,000th of a metre.

Okay, let's do a check.

Use a metre stick.

So if you've got a metre stick in front of you, hopefully you have, you might have to share it.

That's fine.

Can you point to three things? One millimetre, point to that.

1,000 millimetres, point to that.

And then one metre, point to that.

Off you go.

How did you get on? Let's have a look.

Well, one millimetre is really, really, really, really tiny, a very small part of a metre stick.

Really tiny, right at the very beginning, almost like it's not there, but it's tiny.

Here's one millimetre.

Now one metre or 1,000 millimetres are the same thing.

So you should have been pointing to the same place.

And that's the other end of the metre stick.

Okay, let's have a look at a trundle wheel.

Have you got one of these? Hopefully, you've got one in front of you now.

A trundle wheel measures metres.

It's a very useful measuring tool for measuring longer distances.

As you push the trundle wheel along, it clicks.

So you can hear a little click.

And each click tells you that one metre has passed.

So you're pushing this wheel along and it clicks.

That means you've got a metre.

Push it along, it clicks again.

That means another meter's gone.

So it's how people measure metres.

The pupils of class four at Oak Academy are learning about kilometres.

They've been told that there are 1,000 metres in a kilometre.

So that's another key fact.

That's another one that I'd like you to try and memorise.

They're going for a walk with a trundle wheel to get a feel for how far this is.

And hopefully you are going to get the chance to do the same thing.

Let's see them walk first.

Every click is one metre, and they're going to count every click, stopping at 1,000.

This is going to take them a long time.

They take a break after 100 clicks to see where they are.

They've walked 100 metres and are just leaving the school field.

So in the case of Oak Academy, the school, 100 metres will take you to the end of the school field really.

When they've walked 200 metres, they've gone past the school car park.

When they've walked 250 metres, they're at the large oak tree that gave the school its name.

When they've walked 300 metres, they are on Elm Tree Road, and that's where Andeep lives.

So hopefully they've walked past his house, maybe give his mom a little wave as they've gone by.

When they've walked 400 metres, they're in the park near the entrance.

So they're getting quite a long way from school now.

When they've walked 500 metres, they're still in the park.

When they've walked 600 metres, they're still in the park, but this time near the exit.

So that park's pretty big.

When they've walked 700 metres, they are at the local mosque.

So again, they've come quite a long way.

They've done 700 clicks by this point of that trundle wheel.

When they've walked 750 metres, they are near the village hall, getting further and further away from school.

When they've walked 900 metres, they're on Beach Avenue, and that's where Jun lives.

And when they walk 1,000 metres, they're at the local library.

So they have walked 1,000 metres.

They've done 1,000 clicks of the trundle wheel.

The prefix kilo means 1,000.

So if you see kilo at the start of a word, it means 1,000.

So one kilometre equals 1,000 metres.

There are 1,000 ones in 1,000.

There are 1,000 metres in 1,000 metres, and there are 1,000 metres in one kilometre.

So that's our key unit conversion that we need to commit to our memories, 1,000 metres in one kilometre.

You might want to write it down.

But let's test out before you do that.

Which of the following is true? One kilometre equals 10 metres, true or false? One kilometre equals 100 metres.

Is that right? One metre equals 1,000 kilometres, and one kilometre equals 1,000 metres.

Only one of those is correct.

Can you spot which one it is? Pause the video.

Well, if you've been successful so far, you'll know that one kilometre equals 1,000 metres.

So well done if you knew that.

It's time for some tasks and time, I hope, for a little bit of fun if you're able to do this.

So imagine you're walking from the entrance of your school for one kilometre.

So just like the kids from Oak Academy did, they did a one-kilometer walk.

Imagine you were doing the same thing.

Predict what landmarks or streets you would see along the way.

So if you walked 100 metres, so imagine walking 100 metre sticks, that far, what do you think you'd see? What about 250 metres? What about 500 metres? What about 750 metres? And then what about 1,000 metres, which is one kilometre? What streets would you see? What buildings perhaps would you see? What sort of landmarks would you see if you were to walk that far? So essentially what's one kilometre away from your school and what are the bits in between? And then number two, how long do you predict it would take to walk one kilometres? Hmm.

So if you are walking for exactly one kilometre, that's 1,000 metres, how long do you think it would take? Just an estimate, please.

Then number three, the fun one, using a trundle wheel measure out one kilometre.

It's going to take quite some time.

Choose different points to stop off along the way, such as 100 metres and 250 metres, just like the Oak kids, noting what you see.

You may wish to do this in pairs or small groups and swap over the person doing the counting after every hundred metres 'cause it might get a little bit tiresome if you keep counting all that way.

If you keep swapping, it makes it more fun.

Now, this is really important.

Remember you must not leave the school grounds unless it's been organised by a teacher.

So your teacher should be with you to do this.

And if you're working from home, make sure your parent is with you, okay? Have great fun with that, and I'll see you soon for some feedback.

Welcome back.

Did you enjoy your walk? So you walked 1,000 metres, if you had the chance to do it, you walked one kilometre.

So some feedback.

Now, it depends on your location, what you saw.

So this is just an example.

So you may have walked around one kilometre from school before, perhaps maybe you went to the swimming pool with school, or the local church, or library, or something like that.

Maybe you saw this kind of thing on the way.

These are made up.

After 100 metres, maybe you saw Oakerton Road.

250 metres, maybe the high school is there that maybe your older brother or sister goes to.

500 metres, maybe that's where the bus station is.

750 metres, maybe that's where the high street is with all the shops.

And after 1,000 metres, so one kilometre, maybe that's where the library is.

And number two, how long do you predict it would take to walk one kilometre? Well, of course it will vary.

It depends on how quickly you walk, how long your legs are, anything like that.

Lots of variance there, but it should take you between quarter of an hour, so 15 minutes, and half an hour, so 30 minutes.

So something like that, particularly if you're not using a trundle wheel to do it, if you're just walking.

And then number three, you may have created a table as you went along to record what you saw.

I like tables.

That would be a good idea.

For example, at 100 metres, you might have seen the school playground.

At 500 metres, you might have seen the bus station.

And at one kilometre or 1,000 metres, you might have seen the library, but of course you might have noticed some points in between those two.

It all depends on your context, but hopefully you had fun.

The main point of that was to understand just how far one kilometre is.

It's 1,000 metres.

Right, let's move on to mass and capacity.

Litres are a measure of capacity.

I bet you've heard of litres before, haven't you? If I go into my fridge now, there'll be some fizzy drink, and it's a two-liter bottle.

So you know you've heard of litres, that's a common word.

Jun has a good idea of how much one litre is.

He see lots of soft drink bottles too with a capacity of one litre.

In his classroom, there are measuring cylinders of different sizes or with a capacity of one litre.

So they're all around you.

I bet somewhere in your classroom you've got something that measures one litre or that's got a capacity of one litre.

Jun has heard of millilitres, but he's not sure how much a millilitre is.

He knows litres.

He can get a feel for litres, but he's not sure about millilitres.

Do you think you are in the same position? Shall we explore it? So the prefixed milli means thousandth.

And when you're in Upper Key Stage 2, you're gonna have lots of experience of that.

A millilitre is 1,000th of a litre and it's a tiny amount.

So just like a millimetre is a very tiny unit of measurement, a millilitre is a very, very tiny unit of capacity.

Jun squeezes a single drop of juice onto his hand, just like that.

And if you get the chance, you do that too.

If you've got something that you could squeeze some juice or water onto your hand, please do that because that means, in your hand, you've got approximately one millilitre.

So it is tiny.

1,000 of those drops are equivalent, approximately, to one litre.

So if you put 1,000 of them together, just like you've just put 1,000 metres together to make a kilometre, 1,000 millilitres would make one litre.

Now is Jun exploring what one millilitre looks like in a one litre measure cylinder.

So again we're using that abbreviation L, instead of saying the word litre, but I'm going to read that as one litre.

So there we go.

Drop is going down.

There we go.

You can hardly see it, can you? Because it's tiny.

It's just a drop.

There it is.

Can you see? You might just squint a little bit, but can you see it? There it is.

That's one millilitre.

So it's very, very tiny when compared to one litre.

Jun would have to squeeze 1,000 drops of juice to fill the container, or approximately that many.

There are 1,000 ones in 1,000.

We've said that a few times already today.

There are 1,000 millilitres in 1,000 millilitres of course.

And there are 1,000 millilitres in one litre, and this is another key fact that I want you to remember, commit to memory, maybe write it down.

Maybe your teacher could write it down on the working wall.

It's a key fact.

One litre equals 1,000 millilitres.

Jun has a good idea of how heavy one kilogramme feels.

Have you heard of kilogrammes before? Bags of sugar typically have a mass of one kilogramme.

So if you can hold some sugar in your hands, you're holding one kilogramme.

That's the mass.

So there's a sugar, one kilogramme.

He's also held a one kilogramme mass in his hands in science and math lessons.

Just like that.

Have you got anything like that in your classroom or your school? Have you ever held anything like that? That's a one kilogramme mass, and they're equal.

You can balance those out on these scales.

So these two objects have exactly the same mass.

They are both one kilogramme in mass.

He's not so sure about what one gramme feels like or its relationship to one kilogramme.

Are you the same? Have you got a good idea about kilogrammes but maybe not so much about one gramme? Let's have a look.

Let's have an explore.

Objects with a mass of approximately one gramme feel extremely light, really, really light, And we're gonna look at some examples.

You can really feel one kilogramme in your hands, but you can't really feel one gramme.

It's so light.

So one piece of dried pasta.

So if you've got that in your kitchen at home tonight, or maybe you've got some in your classroom, hold one piece of dried past.

That's about one gramme.

One raisin.

Again, if you've got some raisins at home, pick one up.

That's one gramme.

It barely feels like you're picking anything up at all.

It's light.

A small paperclip.

You might have some in your classroom.

Your teacher might have some paperclips.

That's one gramme.

A pin that's got a mass of a gramme.

These are tiny things that appear to have no mass at all, but it's only very, very small amount.

And a bank note.

So if you are lucky enough to have a 10-pound note at home somewhere, maybe in your piggy bank, hold it.

That's one gramme.

And you might have some of these in your classroom.

A small base 10 block.

So one of the little tiny ones, they're very, very light.

That's got a mass of approximately one gramme.

So if we had 1,000 paperclips, that will be about the same mass as a one kilogramme mass.

So there are 1,000 ones in 1,000.

There are 1,000 grammes in 1,000 grammes, and there are 1,000 grammes in one kilogramme.

Remember it, commit it to memory, write it down, do what you gotta do 'cause that's going to come up again and again and again and again.

You're gonna need that information.

Let's do a check.

If you've got one, hold a single raisin in one hand.

And if it's not a raisin, one of the other things I've mentioned like pasta for example, and a bag of sugar in the other.

Which one has an approximate mass of one gramme and which one has an approximate mass of one kilogramme? Can you describe the relationship between the two masses? How many ways can you think to describe their link? All right, pause the video and explore.

Hopefully you got the chance to do that.

If not right now, hopefully later, maybe when you get home.

The raisin has an approximate mass of one gramme and the bag of sugar has an approximate mass of one kilogramme.

1,000 of the raisins would've approximately the same mass as a bag of sugar.

So you need a lot of raisins.

The raisins have a very, very low mass.

It's time for some practise.

So one kilogramme equals how many grammes? One litre equals how many millilitres? And then add the following items to the table.

Can you think of any other examples to add? You might be able to do a little explore around your classroom, see if you can find some other examples, or you might be able to just think of some.

You might be able to remember some.

Have a chat with the people on your table.

What else can you think of? So what's got approximately a mass of one gramme and what's got approximately a massive one kilogramme? Pause the video and off you go.

time for some feedback.

Let's have a look.

One kilogramme equals 1,000 grammes, our key fact, remember it.

One litre equals 1,000 millilitres.

Another key fact, remember it.

Get that committed to your memory, please.

And then the following items added to the table, the things with an approximate mass of one gramme are chocolate bean, five-pound note, and pen lid.

And hopefully you've got some examples of your own.

And the ones with an approximate mass of one kilogramme, bag of sugar, pineapple, small laptop.

And again, hopefully you had some of your own examples.

If you've got some, share them with your class.

We've come to the end of the lesson.

I've had so much fun in today's lesson.

I hope you have too.

I hope you got the chance to have that one-kilometer walk.

The prefix milli means thousandth and the prefix kilo means thousand.

So they both relate to thousand parts.

One millimetre is a small measure of length.

1,000 millimetres equals one metre.

One metre is a small measure of length when compared to one kilometre.

And hopefully you've proved that today.

You remember them I'm sure.

1,000 metres equals one kilometre.

Remember it, commit it to memory.

One millilitre is a small measure of capacity, approximately the same as a drop of liquid.

1,000 millilitres equals one litre.

Remember it, get that in your memory.

And one gramme is a small measure of mass, approximately the same as a piece of dried pasta.

So 1,000 grammes equals one kilogramme.

Remember it, write it down.

As I said before, these facts are going to come up again and again and again over the coming lessons.

So the sooner you can remember them, the better.

It's been so much fun.

Hopefully I'll get to see you again soon in the future for some more maths.

But until then, take care, enjoy the rest of your day, and goodbye.