The Metric System
Ms. Slack
6th Grade
Physical Science
Base Units
• One of the main units of measurement in
the Metric System
• Metric System has 3 Base Units
• Can you name them?
METER
• A meter measures distance
LITER
• A liter measures liquid volume
GRAM
• A gram measures the mass of an object
“Meters and Liters and
Grams, Oh, My!!”
What Units would I use?
To find the mass?
To find the length?
What Units would I use?
To find the volume?
Prefixes
• Think about English class…
• What is a prefix?
Metric Prefixes
• Letters that come before the word that
show us something is larger or smaller
than a:
– Meter
– Liter
– Gram
Metric Prefixes
Kilo- Hecto- Deka- Units deci- centi- milli-
Metric Prefixes
• When we use these prefixes we know that
something is larger than a meter, liter or gram:
Kilo-
1000 times larger
Hecto-
100 times larger
Deka-
10 times larger
Metric Prefixes
• When we use these prefixes we know that
something is smaller than a meter, liter
or gram:
deci-
10 times smaller
centi-
100 times smaller
milli-
1000 times smaller
Metric Prefixes
Kilo- Hecto-
Deka-
Units
deci-
centi-
milli-
How can I remember this?
Kangaroos Hop Down Under doing crazy moves
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Kangaroos
Hop
Down
Under
doing
crazy
moves
(Kilo-)
(Hecto-)
(Deka-)
(Units—meters, liters, grams)
(deci-)
(centi-)
(milli-)
Converting
K
H
D
U
d
c
m
1. Which direction do you have to move?
2. How many hops?
3. Move your decimal that many hops
Lets give it a try…
try…
K
H
D
U
d
c
m
1 . 2 5 3 Kg = __________ g
1. Which direction do you have to move?
2. How many hops?
3. Move your decimal that many hops
Lets give it a try…
try…
K
H
D
U
d
c
m
3 5 7 . 0 mL = __________ L
1.
Which direction do you have to move?
2.
How many hops?
3.
Move your decimal that many hops
Lets give it a try…
try…
1. Which direction do you have to move?
2. How many hops?
3. Move your decimal that many hops