Meters, Liters, and Grams

Lyrics

Chorus
Meters, liters, and grams
Now you don’t have to cram for your exam
On the metric system
(×2)

Verse I
Let me start with ways you can measure a distance, length, or height
Mad tall or super small, one of these will do you right
If you try walking a meter, it’s easy to complete
Because a meter’s just a little bit more than 3 feet
But if you’re walking a kilometer it’s gonna take a while
It’s 1000 meters, that’s over half a mile!
A centimeter’s dinky, the width of your pinky
100 of them go into a meter, you still with me?
There’s another kind of meter smaller than that
It’s not very fat, it’s called a millimeter in fact, and it’s tiny
1000 of them in a meter fit
That’s 10 in a centimeter, and that’s it!

Chorus

Verse II
Now we’re moving on to the liters, measuring liquids in containers
We’ve only got 2, it won’t take long to explain this
A liter, it’s half a big bottle of soda pop
And a milliliter, it’s just about 20 drops
There’s 1000 milliliters in a liter you know
So if you got both of those you’re good to go
Now we can move on to the grams, measuring weight
Kilograms, milligrams, yeah we’re keeping them straight
It’s pretty simple. A paper clip weighs about a gram
A big textbook is a kilogram, man, but
A milligram, that’s a little harder to slice
Because 10 milligrams is about a grain of rice
1000 milligrams, is a gram
1000 grams in a kilogram
Now we got grams and we also got liters
Put ‘em all together with the meters

↥ return to top

Description

This song teaches the metric system of measurement including the measurement conversion of centimeters to meters to kilometers, as well as liters to milileters and grams to kilograms. It also references everyday items such as a soda bottle, mile, rice, and a paperclip to increase understanding. The teaching materials at the bottom of the page including worksheets, activities, games, and lesson plans are resources for teachers and homeschool parents to generate teaching ideas for the song topic. Students will understand the metric system of measure and convert to larger or smaller units.

This math song is suitable to help teach converting fractions and decimals to elementary school students (4th grade, 5th grade and 6th grade), middle school, high school, home school, and college classes.

↥ return to top

Related Reading and Activities

Reading

ABCTeach
Math Chart: Metric Conversions (PDF)
This table features measurement conversions from U.S. to Metric, and Metric to U.S. Useful for classroom or individual study.
Grades 4-8

Convert-me.com
Conversion Tables
This website will help students with any conversions they need to make.
Grades 4-8

Math Is Fun
Measuring Metrically with Maggie
This website directs students through the basics of using the metric system. Colorful and easy to navigate, this is a great place for younger students or as an introductory lesson.
Grades 2-6

Lesson Plans & Activities

The Science Spot
Metric Mania
Wow! It doesn’t get any better than this for resources, links, games, puzzles, worksheets, charts and anything else you want or need to teach metrics. There are also some good exercises and a power point comparing metric to US standard measuring. Something for everyone on this site.
Grades 2-12

AtoZTeacherStuff
Metric Conversion
By taking actual measurements of various objects, students learn how to convert Metric into U.S.
Grades 3-8

Columbia Education Center
Metric Equivalents
Students will use a shortcut method to change one metric unit to another by using a diagram.
Grades 3-8

Discovery Education
A Metric World
This lesson plan teaches students how to convert metric measurements into the standard system, and challenges students to think about how measurements are used in our daily lives. A good activity that can be done as a class or in small groups.
Grades 6-8

Math Forum
Metric Conversions
This board game enables students to practice converting one unit of metric length to another unit of metric length and to interpret metric abbreviations. A good class activity.
Grades 5-8

Media

Sporcle.com
Measuring Game
This fun game tests students’ knowledge of both metric and standard systems. It is a timed quiz and great fun for a class, buddies or individuals to play. Good information, requiring some knowledge.
Grades 5-10

↥ return to top

State Standards

State standards listed here are representative of school standards across the United States.

California

3rd Grade
Measurement and Geometry: 1.1 - Choose appropriate tools units (metric and U.S.) and estimate and measure length, liquid volume, weight and mass of given objects.
Measurement and Geometry: 1.4 - Carry out simple unit conversions within a system of measurement (e.g., centimeters and meters, hours and minutes).

4th Grade
Measurement and Geometry: 1.1 - Measure area of rectangular shapes using appropriate units, ie: square centimeter (cm2), square meter (m 2), square kilometer (km 2), square inch (in 2), square yard (yd2), or square mile (mi 2).

5th Grade
Measurement and Geometry: 1.3 - Understand concept of volume and use the appropriate units in common measuring systems (i.e., cubic centimeter [cm 3], cubic meter [m3], cubic inch [in 3], cubic yard [yd3]) to compute the volume of rectangular solids.

7th Grade
Measurement and Geometry: 1.1 - Compare weights, capacities, geometric measures, times, and temperatures within and between measurement systems (e.g., miles per hour and feet per second, cubic inches to cubic centimeters).
Measurement and Geometry: 2.4 - Relate changes in measurement with change of scale to units used (e.g., square inches, cubic feet) and to conversions between units (1 square foot = 144 square inches or [1 ft2] = [144 in2], 1 cubic inch is approximately 16.38 cubic centimeters or [1in3] = [16.38cm3]

Florida

4th Grade
MA.4.G.3.3 - Select and use appropriate units, both customary and metric, strategies, and measuring tools to estimate and solve real-world area problems.
MA.7.G.4.4 - Compare, contrast, and convert units of measure between different measurement systems (US customary or metric (SI)), dimensions, and derived units to solve problems.
MA.8.G.5.1 - Compare, contrast, and convert units of measure between different measurement systems (US customary or metric (SI)) and dimensions including temperature, area, volume, and derived units to solve problems.

Illinois

9th & 10th Grades
6.D.4 - Solve problems involving recipes or mixtures, financial calculations and geometric similarity using ratios, proportions and percents.

Massachusetts

3rd & 4th Grades
4.M.1 - Demonstrate understanding of such attributes as length, area, weight and volume. Select appropriate type of unit for measuring each attribute.
4.M.2 - Carry out simple unit conversions within system of measurement, e.g., hours to minutes, cents to dollars, yards to feet or inches, etc.
4.M.5 - Identify and use appropriate metric and English units and tools (e.g., ruler, angle ruler, graduated cylinder, thermometer) to estimate, measure and solve problems involving length, area, volume, weight time, angle size and temperature.

5th & 6th Grades
6.M.3 - Solve problems involving proportional relationships and units of measurement, e.g., same system unit conversions and scale models, maps and speed.

7th & 8th Grades
8.M.1 - Select, convert (within the same system of measurement), and use appropriate units of measurement or scale.

New York

4th Grade
4.M.1 - Select tools and units (customary and metric) appropriate for the length measured.
4.M.4 - Select tools and units appropriate to the mass of the object being measured (grams and kilograms).
4.M.5 - Measure mass, using grams.
4.M.6 - Select tools and units appropriate to the capacity being measured (milliliters and liters).
4.M.7 - Measure capacity, using milliliters and liters.

5th Grade
5.M.3 - Measure to the nearest centimeter.
5.M.4 - Identify equivalent metric units of length.
5.M.5 - Convert measurement within a given system.

6th Grade
6.M.4 - Identify metric units of capacity (liter and milliliter).
6.M.5 - Identify equivalent metric units of capacity (milliliter to liter and liter to milliliter).

Texas

6th Grade
6.8.B - Select and use appropriate units, tools, or formulas to measure and solve problems involving length (including perimeter), area, time, temperature, volume and weight.
6.8.D - Convert measures within same measurement system (customary and metric) based on relationships between units.

↥ return to top