Planning Guide
Name: Melinda Spence Date: March 28, 2012
Measurement
Grade Level: 4
Time: 9:30 am
Lesson Topic: Capacity &
th
Lesson Type: Introduction
Group Size: Whole
Class
What Taught
How Evaluated
How Taught
(Concept/Process)
(Demonstrate Learning)
(Instructional Strategy)
State Core
Assessment: The student Expectations for behavior: Today we are going
will demonstrate learning by to be doing multiple activities. I am going to
Standard # (Math)
completing a capacity
Standard 4, Objective 1 worksheet to demonstrate their need everyone’s participation, and especially
everyone’s attention. We will be moving around
knowledge.
4: Students will describe
the room, from the front to the back a lot, so
relationships among units of
please pay attention carefully to what we are
measure, use appropriate
doing. I will be giving a lot of directions as we
measurement tools, and use
go through our lesson so make sure you are
formulas to find area
Pre-Assessment:
listening carefully. Please make sure you stay in
measurements.
N/A
Obj. 1: Describe
your seat, unless I tell you otherwise. If you
relationships among units of
have comments or questions, please raise your
measure for length, capacity,
hand, and not shout out answers or comments.
and weight, and determine
measurements of angles
using appropriate tools.
b. Describe the relative size
among customary units of
capacity (i.e., cup, pint,
quart, gallon).
c. Estimate and measure
capacity using cups, pints,
quarts, and gallons
Formative:
Observing group work, and
partner work. Students will
answer example questions in
their journal.
Concept/process
statement (Objective):
The student will learn
relationships among units of
measurement, and be able to
estimate appropriate units for
various objects. They will be
able to convert from one unit to
another.
This is important
because people use
measurement every
day. This could be in
cooking, estimating
capacity of objects in
your home (bathtub,
Post-Assessment:
Students will fill out a
worksheet to demonstrate
their knowledge of capacity
and measurement.
Anticipatory Set: (Working at white board in
back of room)
Students will be divided into two teams (down
the center of the room). I will ask for a
volunteer from each team to come up to the
front of the class. These two students will be
going against each other. I will ask the students
a question. The two students at the front will be
the ones who have to answer. But, the rest of the
class will need to complete the problem because
if the one of these students’ needs help, they can
ask a teammate. But, the teammate needs to
have the answer. Once a team answers the
question correctly, they will put a piece to the
“Gallon Man” up on the board. Those two
students will go sit down, and two new
volunteers will come up. We will repeat this
until all the questions are answered, and our
Gallon Man is all put together. The following
are the questions I would ask:
1. How many cups are in a gallon?
 32 divided by 8. Add 6. Subtract 2.
Divide by 4. Multiply by 2.

sink, swimming pool),
or knowing how much
a gas tank can hold.
Answer = 16; 16 cups are in a
gallon
2.
How many quarts are in a gallon?
 10 times 2. Subtract 8. Add 4. Divide
by 4.
 Answer = 4; 4 quarts in a gallon
3.
How many pints are in a gallon?
 I have 2 pizzas. Each pizza is cut
into 6 slices. I gave my mom 2
slices, and my dad 2 slices. How
many slices do I have left?
 Hint: 2 times 5. Subtract 2. Subtract
2.
 Answer = 8; 8 pints in a gallon
How many pints are in a quart?
 I have 30 strawberries. I have 15
friends and want to give each friend
an equal amount of strawberries.
How many strawberries does each
friend get?
 Answer = 2; 2 pints in a quart
5.
How many cups are in a pint?
 12 plus 6. Divide by 9. Multiply by
3. Subtract 4.
 Answer = 2; 2 cups in a pint
6.
How many cups are in a quart?
 I have 16 pieces of candy. I divide
my candy into two equal piles. I give
one entire pile away to my sister. I
take four pieces from the other pile I
have left and give them away to a
friend. How many pieces of candy
do I have left?
 Hint: 16 divided by 2. Subtract 4.
 Answer = 4; 4 cups in a quart
Once we have put gallon man together by
answering these questions, we will discuss the
questions and how these units of measurement
4.
relate to each other. Write these comparisons on
the board.
Objective: At the end of this lesson, you will be
able to estimate capacity of objects using these
units of measurement, and tell what unit of
measurement would be best to measure certain
objects.
Instruction:
We are talking about capacity. So what is
capacity? It is the maximum amount that a
container can hold.
Modeling:
When I say that 2 cups equals 1 pint, what does
that mean? (Allow for answers and discussion)
It means, that if I take two cups of water, I can
pour this same amount into a container that
holds 1 pint and the water will fill the
container.
Check for Understanding:
If I say that 4 quarts equals 1 gallon, what does
that mean?
-- It means that if I take four quarts filled with a
substance, such as water, I can pour this same
amount into a container that holds 1 gallon and
the water will fill the container.
Instruction:
Why is knowing capacity and relationships
among these units important?
When we want to measure the capacity of
something or want to know how much a certain
container will hold, we need to know about
these units and be able to determine which unit
is going to best help us measure.
Modeling:
For example, raise your hand if you like to go
swimming. Let’s say your parents decide to buy
one of those blow-up kiddy pools for your
backyard. If you wanted to measure its capacity,
what do you think you would measure it in?
Would you measure it in cups? How about
gallons? Yes- gallons would be best.
Instruction:
Show pictures and objects that represent units of
measurement. (Gallon, quart, pint, cup, fluid
ounce, tablespoon, teaspoon). Using these
containers that are marked as a standard
measurement, we can find the capacity of
different objects. We would count how many
times we fill up a container and find the
capacity of another container.
There are three more units of measurement that
the gallon man did not tell us about, that I am
briefly going to explain to you. We can also
measure with fluid ounces, tablespoons, or
teaspoons. There are 3 teaspoons in 1
tablespoon. There are two tablespoons in 1 fluid
ounce. And there are 8 fluid ounces in 1 cup.
Sometimes we need to convert our units of
measurement. This means that if we are using
cups to measure with, we might to need know
how much the same amount would be if we
were using pints, or fluid ounces.
For example: If I had 16 fluid ounces, how
many cups would I have? Right- I would have 2
cups. Why? How did we figure that out? 8 fluid
ounces is equal to 1 cup. So another 8 fluid
ounces, or 16 fl oz would be equal to two cups.
Model:
Let’s practice a few.
1 pint = _____ cups (2)
2 cups = _______ ounces (16)
2 gallons = ________ quarts (8)

Go over examples as a class.
Check for Understanding:
Now try some on your own.
3 ounces = _______ tablespoons (6)
8 pints = ________ quarts (4)
What if we were given a container that did not
immediately tell us its capacity? Let’s say, for
example, you were going to buy a fish, and you
needed to fill up a bowl large enough to hold the
fish. How much would your fish tank hold? You
would need to estimate on this container’s
capacity.
What does it mean to estimate? Right- it’s when
you make an educated guess about what it could
be, based on what you already know.
We are going to read a book where a kid has
this similar problem. He is buying a fish, and
has to make estimations about the capacity of
his fish tank.
 Read book: Room for Ripley by
Stuart J. Murphy
 After the boy pours 1 cup into the
fish bowl, stop reading. Have the
students make predictions about the
capacity of this fish bowl. How
much will it hold? You can put your
predictions in the number of cups,
pints, quarts, or gallons you think it
will hold.
 Continue reading the book.
 When finished reading, go back and
compare the students’ predictions
with the actual
measurement/capacity.
Guided Practice:
Now we are going to make estimations of our
own.
(Go to the PowerPoint where you will be
making predictions)
There are four objects: a cereal bowl, a vase, a
plastic cup, and a bucket. I want you to estimate
how much water each of these four objects will
hold. Write your estimations down in your
notebook. I also want you to write down what
unit of measurement you would use to find out
what the capacity of each object was. When you
have finished writing down your estimations,
turn to your partner and compare with their
estimations. Are the similar? Different?

I will have volunteers tell me their
estimations and I will write them on
the board. Then we will check their
estimations by finding out how much
water each container will hold.
Now I will fill each of these containers to see
how much each of them holds. What unit of
measurement should I use to find the capacity of
the cereal bowl? Right- cups.
What unit of measurement should I use to find
the capacity of the vase? Right- pints.
What unit of measurement should I use to find
the capacity of the plastic cup? Right- I could
use cups or fluid ounces.
What unit of measurement should I use to find
the capacity of the bucket? Right- gallon.
-- As I go through each of these objects, we will
go back and visit our estimations and see how
close we came to them.
We are going to continue estimating. This time,
however, we are going to estimate what unit of
measurement we would use if we wanted to find
the capacity of certain objects.
(This will be done on the PowerPoint). I want
each of you to write down your answers in your
notebook. When you have finished, compare
with a partner. Then we will go over them
together.
(See PP slides for assignment).
Independent Practice:
Now each of you will receive a paper with
similar questions and problems like the ones we
have been working. You need to fill this one out
independently. This worksheet will be graded,
so show me what you know and how much you
have learned.
Assessment:
The assessment will be the worksheets that the
students complete. I will pick them up and
grade them. I will be able to see what they
understood, and if anything needs to re-taught
or if ideas need to be cleared up.
Materials:
Room for Ripley by
Stuart J. Murphy; PP
slides; containers:
cereal bowl, vase,
plastic cup, bucket;
Gallon Man
Learner
Fast Finisher (if needed):
Accommodations: - Comparing estimations with neighbors
Working in groups and
as partners; lots of
visuals; objects
labeled; some students
only need to complete
half sheet of
assessment