Lesson · Grade 2 · Mathematics
Centimetres or Metres? Fingertips and Giant Steps
- Grade 2
- Mathematics
- 1 min 1 s
- British Columbia
- BC2-MA-17
A fingertip is about 1 centimetre wide and a giant step is about 1 metre long, so we use centimetres for small things and metres for big things. Eight fingertips are counted one at a time along a crayon (about 8 cm), then three giant steps across a rug (about 3 m), and the video ends on the recap "Small: centimetres. Big: metres."
Concept: Centimetres and metres
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In one sentence
The question this lesson answers
Should we measure in centimetres or in metres?
One centimetre is about as wide as your fingertip.
Transcript
What the lesson says
Should we measure in centimetres or in metres?
One centimetre is about as wide as your fingertip.
One metre is about one giant step.
This crayon is small, so we use centimetres.
Let's count fingertips along the crayon.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
Eight fingertips, so about eight centimetres long.
This rug is big, so we use metres.
Let's count giant steps across the rug.
One step, two steps, three steps.
Three giant steps, so about three metres long.
Centimetres fit small things. Metres fit big things.
Curriculum
Where this fits
- British Columbia, Grade 2
Mathematics, Geometry and measurement: direct linear measurement, introducing standard metric unitsBC2-MA-17
Previous: Measuring Length in CentimetresNext: Sorting Shapes by Two Rules
The outcomes and strands follow the British Columbia curriculum.
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