Measurement: Length, Volume, and Surface Area

4 Steps of the Measurement Process:Choose which property you are measuring- length, area, volume, surface area, weight, temperature, etc.Choose the appropriate unit of measurement for this propertyUse a measurement device to compare the object with the unitExpress the measurement in the number of units usedCheck out the video below to learn more about how and why we measure!

In the U.S., we need to know both the U.S. Customary/English/Standard system and the Metric system, which is used by much of the world as well as the scientific community. Check out the subtopics to see the units of measurement used in each system for length, area, volume, capacity, and weight. There is also a link to a unit conversion tool, though you can also use the Google conversion tool.

The system of measurement traditionally used in the United States which includes inches, feet, and miles. Check out this Introduction to US Standard Units website for more information and/or watch the video below!

The metric system is a base 10 system used by the majority of the world and the scientific community. Check out the U.S. Metric Association's chart of commonly used metric system units and their symbols.

Check out this short song about converting between Fahrenheit and Celsius!

Check out this interactive thermometer to help you understand what different temperatures in Fahrenheit and Celsius feel like.

In Fahrenheit freezing is 32 degrees, while in Celsius freezing is 0 degrees. Learn more about Celsius and Fahrenheit and practice converting between the two here.

Perimeter: The distance around a 2-dimensional shape.Circumference: The perimeter of a circle.

Surface Area: The total area (The number of square units required to cover a region or surface inside of a border) of the surface of a 3-dimensional object.

Listen to this class sing a song about finding the surface area of a 3-dimensional object!

Practice finding the surface area of 3-dimensional objects at ixl.com.

Volume: The amount of space a 3-dimensional object occupies.

Khan Academy PracticeVolume of Cubes and Rectangular Prisms Practice

Area: The number of square units required to cover a region or surface inside of a border

Listen to a song about all of the different area formulas here!.Also check out this good image with the area formulasyou will need to know!Check out ixl.com to practice math problems using area formulas. Go to your grade level and look under Geometric Measurement.

Congruence: To have the same size and shapeCongruence Property of Area: If two regions are congruent then their areas are equal.Addition Property of Area: If a region is cut into parts that do not overlap, then the area of the whole region will be equal to the sum total of the areas of all the parts.

What is a tangram?A geometric puzzle originating in ancient China and consisting of a square cut into 7 pieces; five triangles, one square, and one parallelogram, which can be arranged into various shapes.Why do we use tangrams in measurement?Using the small isosceles right triangle as one tangram area unit of measurement, we can practice finding the area of different shapes.The Tangram Channel website has more about the history of tangrams, how to make your own tangram, and many printable tangram activities.

Pythagorean Theorem: If a right triangle has legs a and b and hypotenuse c, then a2 + b2= c2

Read more about how we use the Pythagorean Theorem such as in architecture and navigation here.