Unit Conversions

1. Convert customary measurements from a larger unit written as a fraction or mixed number to a smaller unit. 

• In general, metric measurements that aren’t whole numbers are usually expressed as decimals rather than fractions. Thus, only customary units are used in today’s lesson. But, you could give students a few examples with metric units, e.g.,

$${3{1\over2}}$$ m = ________ cm

$${2{3\over10}}$$ L = ________ mL

$${7{6\over100}}$$ kg = ________ mg, etc.

• Tons and miles are not included in today’s lesson, since their conversion rates are so large and thus would involve more complicated computations or fractions with denominators that are beyond the scope of 4.NF. You could, however, choose to include some examples with these units, such as $${5{1\over2}}$$ miles = ________ feet, but make sure the examples you use are relatively simple and especially not beyond the scope of the computations they have encountered in Grade 4 (e.g., having students compute how many feet are in $$13\frac{3}{4}$$ miles, which would involve the computation $$13\times5,280$$, beyond the 4-digit by 1-digit multiplication called for in 4.NBT.5). 
• The work of Lesson 10 and 11 connects the work of measurement conversion (4.MD.1, 4.MD.2) to their work with fraction and decimal fraction operations (4.NF).

• Problem Set

• Problem Set Answer Key