Length, Weight and Capacity

This 'Length, Weight and Capacity' scheme of work for Year 5 is designed to make your class more familiar with using units of measurement relating to length, weight and capacity to solve a variety of problems. Children will hone their estimating, measuring and problem-solving skills, all through a variety of engaging activities and challenges, including comparing the lengths and weights of some wild animals and working out how much different amounts of magic potions will cost!

With lesson plans, engaging slides, differentiated activities and a variety of printable resources, these KS2 'Length, Weight and Capacity' provide everything you need for a whole week's Maths teaching.

Units of Measurement

The first lesson in this series recaps different units of measurement that can be used to measure length, weight and capacity. The slides ask children some questions relating to the relationship between units of measurement, such as how many millimetres there are in half a metre, before going on to look at how to convert measurements, using decimals where necessary. The main activities provide a variety of engaging activities to reinforce this, including a differentiated matching game.

Ordering Measurements

This lesson teaches your class how to compare and order measurements with up to two decimal places. The slides clearly demonstrate how to order numbers with decimals and gives your children opportunities to practise this as a class, before moving on to comparing and ordering measurements that are expressed in different units, such as centimetres and metres. The main activity then gives your class the chance to reinforce their understanding of which units of measurement express length, weight and capacity whilst ordering sets of measurements. There’s a fun game to compare measures too!

Animal Problems

This engaging lesson uses a variety of wild animals to challenge children to solve problems involving length and weight. Children will start by estimating the lengths and weights of some different animals, based on the weights of two given animals. They will then go on to solve word problems (using all four operations) to compare and calculate the lengths and weights of lions, dolphins, rhinos, giraffes and many more animals!

Estimating Capacity

Children will move on from length and weight in this lesson as they take a closer look at capacity. The slides challenge children to estimate the capacity of a variety of familiar containers, using known facts to help them. They can then move on to estimating the capacity of containers for themselves, measuring accurately to check how close their estimates were.

Potion Problems

A busy witch and wizard need some help working how much different magic potions cost in this final lesson! Your class will need to use their understanding of both capacity and money to help them work out how much different amounts of different potions will cost, as well as how much of each particular potion for different spells will cost. The slides go through some problems together, such as working out how much 50 ml of Batwing Brew would cost if 100 ml costs £3.15, before letting children loose with some potion work of their own!