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Measures
Objectives
To know that weight can be measured in kg (kilograms) and g (grams).
Resources
Abacus Workbook 3 | 📄 How to make a Spring Scale | For the spring scale: a large plastic pot such as a fruit carton, rubber band, 45cm string, nail or thumbtack or hole punch (to make holes in pot), paper clip, scissors, lolly stick, tape | Three objects for your student to weigh, e.g. bag of cotton wool, a roll of kitchen paper, a small bag of pasta | Weights (see What to get Ready) | Wooden building bricks | Kitchen scales | Food tins of different weights with labels removed
Vocabulary
kilogram | kg | gram | g | weights | scales | heavy | heavier | heaviest | light | lighter | lightest
Today's Lesson
What to Get Ready
Your student will need weights for today’s lesson. They will need a few 100g weights and a 1kg weight. If you do not have a 100g weight, you could find items of food which weigh 100g, for example, a large lime, a small lemon or 100ml of water. For the 1kg weight, you could use a bag of sugar or flour.
Read through ‘📄 How to make a Spring Scale’ resource which shows you how to make a spring scale.
You will need to make three spring scales for today’s lesson.
Remove the labels from the food tins.
Introduction
Ask your student to hold the three items they will be weighing. Discuss with them how we could check which one is lightest or heaviest.
Discuss that this is all about comparing two items at a time using spring scales. How will we know which is heaviest?
Say, ‘We could also find how many wooden bricks weigh the same as each item.’
Ask your student to use the spring scales to compare the objects’ weights against each other by placing each object in a spring scale.
Ask, ‘How can you tell which object is the heaviest?’ Answer: It is the lowest down.
Ask, ‘Were you surprised by the results? Why or why not? Can you order the objects from heaviest to lightest using what we can see?’
Empty the spring scales.
Next, show your student a 100g weight. Ask your student to describe how heavy it feels: does it feel light, heavy, or quite heavy? Ask them to compare its weight to something familiar.
Then show your student the 1kg weight. Discuss how heavy it feels.
Talk about how ten 100g weights would weigh the same as the 1kg weight.
Encourage your student to familiarise themselves more with weights for a few minutes by asking them to explore and handle them, along with other household objects to compare.
Ask questions such as:
- Can you find something that weighs about 100g? 200g? 500g?
- What weighs the same as your shoe? If you know the weight of your shoe, how much do two of your shoes weigh?
- Can you weigh some items and order them according to their weights?
Main Activity
Give your student the food tins. Number the tins to identify them.
Ask your student to use the spring scales to weigh the tins to the nearest 100g. They should place the tin on one scale and 100g weights on the other scale next to it until they reach the same level.
Ask them to record their results in the table on the 📄 Weighing tins worksheet. Then ask your student to write two sentences about the results.
Workbook
To help your student recap upon previous learning from this course, please ask them to complete the activities on page 44 of Abacus Workbook 3.