In the following web page you will find one lesson I use to start the school year. Also included are links to other lesson plans you may find useful.

Materials:  Meter stick, scale, graduated cylinders, pennies, fishing weights, paper clips, paper cup, paper, wrist watch, washers, gram weights, water, pencil, worksheet.

Lesson:  If these are the 7th graders that were 6th graders last year you can review the prefixes to the metric system and have them begin the measurement with the meter stick.  If they are the 6th grade you will need to explain the metric system, and the meaning of the prefixes.

Worksheet:   This worksheet was designed by the previous science teacher Joan C.

Mass
        Weight in the metric system is measure by grams or kilograms.  One - thousand grams are equal to one kilogram.  Twenty eight grams is equal to one ounce and 2.2 pounds are equal to one kilogram.
        You are to estimate how much the following things weigh.  After you make  your estimation then weigh the item on your balance and check your estimation.  For each item I want you to estimate first and then weigh the item.  By the end of this exercise, you should be getting better at making estimations using the metric system.
 
 

Item	Estimation (g)	Actual Weight (g)
pencil	g	g
paper clip	g	g
paper cup	g	g
folded piece of paper	g	g
wrist watch	g	g
metric ruler	g	g
fishing weight	g	g
washer	g	g

 

Length
    In the metric system, length is measured by meters.  A millimeter is 1/1000 of a meter.  In other words 1000 millimeters equal 1 meter.  A centimeter is 1/100 meters or 100 centimeters is equal to 1 meter.  A kilometer is 1000 meters.
    As you did for weights, first make an estimate then measure.
    Using centimeters:
 

Item	Estimation ( cm)	Actual Length (cm)
The height of a desk	cm	cm
The width of a desk	cm	cm
The length of your left leg	cm	cm
The length of you right arm	cm	cm
The distance between you tip of your nose and your chin	cm	cm

Using Meters:
 

Item	Estimation (M)	Actual Length (M)
The distance along the floor form the door to the windows.	m	m
The distance along the floor from one chalkboard to the other.	m	m
The length of one chalkboard.	m	m
The height of a chalk board.	m	m

Liquids
    In the metric system, liquids are measured in liters.  One liter is a little more than one quart.  In science class, we use ml which stands for millimeters.  1000 millimeters make 1 liter.
    Fill a paper cup with different amounts of water.  Do this six times.  Waring: unless you are using a glass graduated cylinder, your paper cup may hold more water than your graduated cylinder.  Each time you put water in your cup, make an estimate on how much water in ml there are, then pour your water into your graduated cylinder and measure the exact amount.
 

Trials	Estimated Amount (ml)	Actual Amount (ml)
Trial #1	ml	ml
Trial #2	ml	ml
Trial#3	ml	ml
Trial#4	ml	ml
Trial#5	ml	ml
Trial#6	ml	ml

 

      NASA Internet Educational Resources
      ScienceWeb Homepage
      Transformations Project Lesson Plan Categories
      Bill Nye the Science Guy's Nye Labs Online
      Science -Amy Webb's Link's for Teachers