Remembering Units of Measure

From first grade all the way into high school math, these basics are taught, but not always remembered. To help your students with this fundamental, you may try everything from spoken and written reminders to three-dimensional examples. Here are some suggestions that may make your job a little easier.

Great Queens Pick Clean Okra
I had a lot of students (I was teaching remedial high school math) have trouble remembering the order. I made up the line and we added the number at the end. The kids were able to remember that 4 + 2 + 2 = 8 and they kept the division or multiplication straight by knowing which way they were moving. -Sharon

We just learned about this in my first grade class. The way I teach it is by a visual I make up. First draw a giant “G” in black. Then draw four “Q’s” inside that shape, in red. Then draw two “P’s” in green, inside the “Q”. Last, draw two “C’s” inside the “P’s”. This shows visual learners that there are four Quarts in a Gallon, two Pints in a Quart, two Cups in a Pint……four cups in a quart…..16 cups in a gallon…..8 pints in a gallon, etc. This visual may take a little while to prepare, however, it is well worth the effort! -DJ, Florida

I have used a Mr. Gallon that I made during my student teaching 34 years ago. He has two arms and two legs, each marked “quart”. Gallon is on his stomach. Two fingers (toes) on each extremity is written with “pint”. In this way, the students can see that four quarts equal one gallon or 8 pints, or that 2 pints equals one quart, etc. It has worked great for 34 years! -Judi

This is how I taught my 2nd graders…it isn’t really a trick, but it worked pretty well for them. I have them learn the measures in order as follows:
2 cups= 1 pint
2 pints= 1 quart
4 quarts= 1 gallon
Then I reminded them that each one has a 2 except for gallons which has a 4 (4 quarts=1 gallon). That seemed to help my kids. -Cassie