Customary
Measurement
Units
Length/Weight/Capacity
6th
Grade
Ways to measure
There are many times when we want to measure something.
We measure to find
Length
Weight
Capacity
Length
Measuring how long things are, how tall they are, or how far apart they might be
are all examples of length measurements.
Example: This fork is 8 inches long
These are the most common measurements:
•
Inches
•
Feet
•
Yards
•
Miles
Small units of length are called inches.
The last joint of your finger or thumb is about 1 inch (depending on how big
our fingers are!).
Lots of things are measured in inches from rainfall to paper length.
Measuring in inches gives us a way for everyone to understand the size of
omething.
When we have 12 inches together, it is known as a foot.
1 foot = 12 inches
When 3 feet are together, it is called a yard.
(This isn’t the same thing as a garden, though they are both
referred to as a "yard"!)
1 yard = 3 feet
The length of this guitar is about 1 yard.
When we put together 1,760 yards, we have a mile.
1 mile = 1,760 yards = 5,280 feet
Miles are long distances and are mostly used to measure
the distance between places which are far away from
each other.
To remember how many feet in a mile think:
Five tomato
Five two eight oh
5,280 feet in a mile
Final thoughts about measuring length:
1 foot = 12 inches
1 yard = 3 feet = 36 inches
1 mile = 1,760 yards = 5,280 feet = 63,360 inches
Capacity
These are the most common measurements:
Fluid Ounces
Cups
Pints
Quarts
Gallons
Fluid Ounces (fl oz) are small.
About how much fits in a small medicine cup.
"Fluid Ounce" is used for volume, while "Ounce" for weight, and they
are different.
Cups
A small glass holds about 8 fluid ounces,
which is also called 1 cup.
1 cup = 8 fluid ounces
Pints
A pint is equal to 2 cups (example: a large
glass of milk!)
1 pint = 2 cups = 16 fluid ounces
Quart
When measuring many cups of liquid all put together we
might want to use quarts.
A quart (qt) is the same thing as 4 cups or 2 pints.
1 quart = 2 pints = 4 cups = 32 fluid ounces
Gallon
If we still need more liquid we can switch to
using gallons.
A gallon (gal) is the same as 16 cups or 8
pints or 4 quarts. It is the largest liquid
measurement.
(Note that a quart is a quarter of a gallon!)
In Summary:
1 gallon = 4 quarts = 8 pints = 16 cups = 128 fluid ounces
Weight
Weight is how much matter is in an object.
These are the most common
measurements of mass:

Ounces

Pounds

Tons
The Ounce
The smallest unit of weight is ounces (oz).
One ounce weighs about the same as a slice of bread. It is very light.
The abbreviation for ounce is "oz“.
But be careful: "Ounce" and "Fluid Ounce" are different!
•
Ounce is Weight
•
Fluid Ounce is capacity
Here we talk about ounce as weight.
The Pound
When we have 16 ounces, it can also be called a pound (lb).
1 pound = 16 ounces
The abbreviation is "lb", because it came from the Latin word "libra".
A Soccer Ball weighs about 1 lb.
Typically we use pounds to measure our own weight.
An average adult male weighs 180 lb.
Pounds are used to measure lots of things from people to food to
animals.
The Ton
But if something is very heavy we use yet another label:
The Ton
1 ton = 2,000 pounds
That is really heavy! Trucks, ships and heavy equipment are
measured using tons instead of pounds.
An elephant has a mass of about 7 tons.
And this car is about 2 tons.
Final thoughts about measuring weight:
1 pound = 16 ounces
1 ton = 2,000 pounds = 32,000 ounces
Thanks!