Measurement Teaching Resources
Is your maths class ready to dive into length measurement, measuring objects and more measurement practice? Say hello to printable units of measurement worksheets, games and digital activities created by teachers for teachers!
This collection of teaching resources was created by our expert maths teachers to help students meet Australian Curriculum standards. Each printable and digital download has undergone a rigorous review by the teachers on the Teach Starter team to ensure they’re student-ready — so you can cut down on lesson planning time!
New to teaching this part of the maths curriculum? Our teacher team knows what it’s like to suddenly teach a brand-new year level, so we’ve put together a quick guide to teaching measurement!
What Are the 4 steps of Teaching and Learning Measurement?
Students have to learn a long list of measurement concepts during their time in primary school, including:
- length
- liquid volume
- elapsed time
- mass (weight)
- area
- volume of three-dimensional figures
The good news for teachers: Most measurement concepts have very real-world applications for students. That means there's a whole world of ways to get students excited about reading a ruler or tape measure or weighing heavy objects on a scale.
But before you can get there, let's start with the basic steps to work through when you're teaching students how to measure ... well ... anything!
- Direct Comparison — One of the earliest steps of learning measurement is learning the attributes that are being measured. For example, students need to learn what length is if they're ever going to measure it. That's where direct comparison (and step 2, indirect comparison), come in. If you put 2 objects side by side, students can directly compare which is longer and which is shorter and start to understand how to measure an object.
- Indirect Comparison — What happens when you can't directly compare two objects? You can add a third as a reference point for indirect comparison, thereby increasing student understanding of the attribute being measured.
- Measuring With Non-Standard Units or Informal Units — Just as students need to understand the attribute of measuring, they also need to understand the concept of the units we use to measure such as metres or litres. Using non-standard units is the first step to teaching the concept of units, offering students the chance to work with different objects, counting how many of these 'units' it takes to make up another. This is the fundamental base of measurement.
- Measuring With Standard Units — In the final step of teaching measurement, students move on to using the formal units of measurement and learn to use measurement instruments.
Why Is Teaching Measurement Important?
There are concrete uses for learning measurement that will surely spring to mind — from using a tape measure to measure a space in a home to weighing ingredients when baking to determining the capacity of a juice glass before pouring in the liquid. These are all means for quantifying our environment.
But the benefits of teaching students about measuring lines with a ruler or figuring out mass measurements from largest to smallest go well beyond the obvious. Learning to measure helps students develop spatial and number skills.
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Capacity Investigation - Filling the Fish Tank
A 60 minute lesson in which students will apply their knowledge and understanding of capacity to a real-world situation.
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Introduction to Capacity
A 60 minute lesson in which students will be introduced to and explore the concept of capacity.
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Revision of Volume
A 60 minute lesson in which students will revise and consolidate the concept of volume.
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Volume Investigation - The Land of Cubes
A 60 minute lesson in which students will apply knowledge and understanding of volume to a real-world context.
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Measuring Volume
A 60 minute lesson in which students will measure volumes of 3D objects using informal units.
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Revision of Area
A 60 minute lesson in which students will revise and consolidate the concept of area.
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Area Investigation - Big, Loud Feet!
A 60 minute lesson in which students will apply knowledge and understanding of area to a real-world context.
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Measuring Area of Shapes
A 60 minute lesson in which students will measure the area of plane shapes using informal square units.
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Measuring Area
A 60 minute lesson in which students will explore the concept of area and how it can be measured using informal square units.
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Assessment - Measuring Mass with Informal Units
A 30 minute assessment in which students will demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of mass.
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Revision of Mass
A 60 minute lesson in which students will revise and consolidate the concept of mass.
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Mass Investigation - How Heavy Are the Objects in Your Classroom?
A 60 minute lesson in which students will apply knowledge and understanding of mass to a real-world context.
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Comparing and Ordering Mass
A 60 minute lesson in which students will develop the concept of mass by comparing and ordering the masses of objects.
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Using Balance Scales
A 60 minute lesson in which students will create a set of balance scales for measuring and comparing the masses of objects.
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Introduction to Mass
A 60 minute lesson in which students will explore the concept of mass by comparing and ordering objects.
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It's About Time!
An assessment task in which students will cut and paste familiar events under the headings, Morning, Afternoon and Evening.
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How Long is This Going to Take?
A 30-minute lesson in which students will estimate the time needed to complete a set of given tasks.
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Times of Day
A 30-minute lesson in which students will know and identify the days of the week and link specific events to when they occur – morning, afternoon, and evening.
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Informal Times of Day
A 30-minute lesson in which students will know and identify the days of the week and link events to specific informal times of the day, i.e., morning, afternoon, and evening.
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One More Time Around the World
A 60 minute lesson in which students will apply knowledge and understanding of time zones around the world to complete a classroom time zones display.
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Time After Time
A 60 minute lesson in which students will understand am and pm notation and calculate elapsed time.
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The Sands of Time
A 60 minute lesson in which students will apply their knowledge and understanding of time to a real-world context.
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Telling the Time Assessment - Year 1 and Year 2
A 60 minute assessment designed to assess student learning.
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A Moment in Time
A 60 minute lesson in which students will explore units of time and how to convert between them.
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Reading an Analogue Clock
A 60 minute lesson in which students will understand and recognise the features of the analogue clock.
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Do You Have the Time?
A 60 minute lesson in which students will refine and consolidate their knowledge of time conversions.
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Telling the Time to the Half Hour (Analogue Clock)
A 60 minute lesson in which students will tell the time on an analogue clock to the half hour.
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Skip Counting by 5s
A 60 minute lesson in which students will skip count in 5s when telling the time.
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Reading a Digital Clock
A 60 minute lesson in which students will understand and recognise the features of the digital clock; and differentiate between digital and analogue clocks.
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Developing Timetables
A 60 minute lesson in which students will develop a timetable of daily activities.
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Reading and Constructing Timelines
A 60 minute lesson in which students will read, interpret and construct timelines.
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Applications of Time Assessment - Year 5 and Year 6
- Measurement Worksheets
- Measurement Games
- Measurement Posters
- Measurement Templates
- Measurement Teaching Presentations
- Measurement Projects
- Measurement for Preschool/Kindergarten
- Measurement for Foundation Year
- Measurement for Year 1
- Measurement for Year 2
- Measurement for Year 3
- Measurement for Year 4
- Measurement for Year 5
- Measurement for Year 6
- Measurement for Year 7