Mathematics 5 curriculum guide 2015 I table of contents acknowledgements

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MATHEMATICS 5 CURRICULUM GUIDE 2015
Specific Outcomes
MEASUREMENT
Suggestions for Teaching and Learning
Students will be expected to:
Shape and Space (Measurement)
5SS4 Demonstrate an 
understanding of capacity by: 
• describing the relationship 
between mL and L
• selecting and justifying referents 
for mL or L units
• estimating capacity using 
referents for mL and L
• measuring and recording 
capacity (mL or L)
[C, CN, ME, PS, R, V]
Capacity units are generally used for measuring liquids or the containers 
that hold those liquids (mL, L, etc). Students have not had previous 
experience with volume or capacity. The Système International 
recognizes the abbreviations of ml and mL to both be acceptable for 
millilitre. This guide will use mL for the sake of consistency. This is 
also the form used in the authorized textbook.
Investigation of capacity should begin with non-standard units.
Give students containers of different sizes and shapes and ask them 
to order these from largest to smallest capacity. Have them provide 
examples from real life contexts that represent these quantities (e.g., 250 
mL contains a little less than the average pop can). The investigation 
should next move to use of standard measures. Begin with litres because 
they are a familiar part of everyday life (milk, ice-cream, etc.). Using a 
variety of litre containers can help students see that the shape of one litre 
containers can vary but the capacity remains the same. Useful video 
resources may include 
Volume and Capacity Introduction 
by Turtlediary 
and 
Metric Measurement: Capacity.
Start the latter video at about 1:00 
to get past the American statement that “we commonly use cups and 
gallons” and get right into the metric section. This has some good 
illustrations of vessels and consideration of which measure to use: L or 
mL.