Metric Me!

Become a body ruler! Measure ears, arms, legs, or feet to gain a familiarity with metric lengths. Chart your findings in a colorful sketch.

• 1.

  How would you measure things without a system such as inches or millimeters? What if you used your arm to calculate length? What would happen as you grew?

• 2.

  <STRONG>Measure!</STRONG> Measure at least three body parts such as your ear height, finger length, or foot width. With Crayola® Erasable Colored Pencils, record your findings in millimeters (and inches if you are just learning the metric system) on a chart.

• 3.

  <STRONG> Add color!</STRONG> On large paper, outline your body. Measure colorful paper body parts in the sizes you measured. Cut them out with Crayola Scissors. Label the length of each piece. With a Crayola Glue Stick, attach them in place on your outline. Decorate a colorful border with Crayola Markers.

Benefits

• Students measure and chart length of several body parts using the metric system.
• Students represent their findings visually on a poster with life-size paper body parts.

Adaptations

• For added fun, come up with another standard of measure such as the length of a marker. Convert your measurements into "markers" and write these on your outline, too.
• Celebrate National Metric Week. It falls on the 10th day of the 10th month. Why is that the date?
• Older students explore how the meter has been redefined in terms of the speed of light. What was used before that could be measured? Find out more about Gabriel Mouton from France, who originated the metric system in 1670.
• Did you know that the United States is one of three countries in the world that uses a non-metric system of weights and measurements? It is the only industrialized country of the three. Think of ways that this could be a disadvantage.
• Assessment: Verify that student measurements (and conversions if used) are accurate.