Liquid Measurement

Third grade students estimate and measure liquid volumes (capacity) using customary units (cups, pints, quarts, gallons) and metric units (milliliters and liters). By the end of the year students should be able to visualize the size of each of these units. To develop this "measurement sense" students need lots of opportunities to fill containers, make observations, explore, compare and discuss the various units. The capacity video below shows some examples of the types of observations and discussions you might have with your child when filling containers at home or discussing the capacity of items in your refrigerator such as milk jugs or Gatorade bottles. Lastly, when exploring liquid measurement with your child, be sure to discuss which units are appropriate for measuring various things. For example, would you measure the amount of water needed to fill a swimming pool with cups or gallons? Would you measure the amount of medicine to give a child in milliliters or liters?