Measurement Teaching Resources
Is your math class ready to dive into length measurement, measuring objects, and more measurement practice? Say hello to printable measurement worksheets, games, and digital activities created by teachers for elementary teachers!
This collection of teaching resources was created by our expert math teachers to help students meet Common Core and state-level 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 math curriculum? Our teacher team knows what it’s like to suddenly teach a brand-new grade level, so we’ve put together a quick guide to teaching measurement!
What Are the 4 steps of Teaching and Learning Measurement?
Elementary students have to learn a long list of measurement concepts during their stint in elementary 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 inches or pounds. 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 — Finally, 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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Converting Units of Length – Worksheet
Demonstrate an understanding of decimal representations while converting metric units of length with this worksheet.
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Metric Units of Measurement – Poster Pack
Use this set of metric conversion posters when learning about units of length, weight, and capacity.
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Telling Time Practice Sheets
Practice reading analog clocks with this set of differentiated worksheets.
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Finding the Perimeter of a Rectangle Poster
Teach students the formula for the perimeter of a rectangle with this colorful classroom poster for your math bulletin board.
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Perimeter Worksheet
Use these perimeter worksheets in your math lessons when teaching your students how to apply various formulae to calculate the perimeter of shapes.
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Blank Digital and Analog Clock - Worksheet
A worksheet to practice telling time.
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Financial Mathematics Math Investigation - Let's Play Mini Golf!
A mathematics investigation about financial mathematics and measurement, embedded in a real-world context.
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Roll and Write - Telling Time Dice Game
Practice telling time and have fun learning how to tell time with a Roll and Write Telling Time Dice Game!
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Order Up! Elapsed Time Puzzles
Practice determining elapsed time with a printable pack of nine ‘Order Up! Elapsed Time Cut and Paste Puzzle Strips.
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Color By Code Worksheet- Telling Time to 5 Minutes
Practice telling time to the nearest five minutes with a fun Color By Code worksheet.
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Perimeter Escape Room – The Mysterious Missing Cupcakes
Have your supersleuth students solve this perimeter escape room to find out who stole the missing cupcakes!
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Creating Line Plots With Measurements – Differentiated Worksheets
Guide students to measure items to the nearest inch or ¼ inch, create a line plot and answer questions with this set of differentiated worksheets for 2nd and 3rd-grade students.
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5th Grade Math Review – Test Prep Packet
Encourage your students to work through 8 pages of 5th-grade math problems while charting their progress to measure their success.
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Riddle Me! Converting Units of Length – Worksheet
Use ratio reasoning and measurement conversion skills to complete a set of 3 riddle worksheets.
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Measuring to the Nearest 1/2 and 1/4 Inch Task Cards
Measure items to the nearest ½ and ¼ inch with this set of 20 task cards.
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Three Little Pigs Area Worksheet
A worksheet to practice finding area using square units.
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Introduction to Area Instructional Slide Deck
Introduce the concept of measuring the area of regular shapes with this 22-slide instructional slide deck.
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Informal Units Rulers
A set of rulers that use different sized, informal units to measure length.
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Time Dominoes - Five Minute Intervals
Practice telling time to the nearest 5 minutes by matching 32 analog and digital clock dominoes.
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Problem Solving Worksheet - Measurement
A problem solving worksheet involving measurement.
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Time to 5 Minutes - Digital Learning Activity
Review how to tell time to the nearest five minutes with an independent Telling Time Digital Learning Activity.
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Days of the Week Spelling Worksheets
Use these Days of the Week Spelling worksheets to help your students practice reading, writing, and spelling the Days of the week.
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Figuring Elapsed Time - Interactive Game
Determine the elapsed time between events and have fun with an interactive Elapsed Time game.
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Time by the Minute - 3rd Grade Math Interactive
Practice telling time by the minute with an interactive Time-telling digital learning activity.
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Area of a Parallelogram – Differentiated Math Mazes
Determine the area of different parallelograms with a set of differentiated math mazes.
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Elapsed Time Worksheet
Determine how much time has passed with this collection of elapsed time word problems.
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4th and 5th Grade Concepts of Time Assessment
Assess your students' knowledge of elapsed time, reading schedules, and reading timelines with a Concepts of Time Test.
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Days of the Week Activity Mat
Review the order and spelling of the days in a week with a printable Days of the Week Activity Mat!
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Elapsed Time - Math Maze Worksheets
Find start times, end times, and time elapsed to find your way through our printable Elapsed Time Math maze worksheets.
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Converting Units of Time Match-Up Game
Convert time units, including seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, and months by completing a match-up activity.
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Elapsed Time Interactive Word Problems Game
Practice solving elapsed time word problems with an interactive quiz game for 3rd and 4th graders.
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Time to the Minute - Color by Code Worksheet
Review how to tell time to the minute with a fun Color By Code 3rd Grade math worksheet.
- Measurement Worksheets
- Measurement Games
- Measurement Posters
- Measurement Templates
- Measurement Projects
- Measurement for Pre-K
- Measurement for Kindergarten
- Measurement for 1st Grade
- Measurement for 2nd Grade
- Measurement for 3rd Grade
- Measurement for 4th Grade
- Measurement for 5th Grade
- Measurement for 6th Grade