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Mathematics
GRADE 5

TOPIC: LENGTH
CONCEPTS & SKILLS TO BE ACHIEVED:
At the end of the lesson learners should be able to:
 Estimate and practically measure 2D shapes and 3D objects using
measuring instruments.
 Record, compare and order lengths of shapes and objects in mm, cm, m
and km.
 Solve problems in context involving length.
 Convert between any of the following units: mm, cm, m, km limited to
whole numbers and common fractions

DBE workbooks, Sasol Inzalo book, textbooks, Suncep IP

Resources
Workbook 4.1 Length
Pen, pencil, ruler, measuring tape, trundle wheel, metre
stick…
DAY 1
Length is the measurement from one end to the other end or the distance from one end
to the other. (Source: Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English).

When measuring length you are required to use different measuring units such:
Millimetres (mm) ; centimetres (cm) ; metres (m) and kilometres (km).

Activity 1
Estimate and measure
1. Look at the line below and estimate the length of the line and afterwards, measure
the line using your ruler.
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2. Estimate and measure using a ruler, metre stick or tape measure:

What you should measure… Estimated Actual

measurement measurement
a) The length of a standard ruler
b) The height of your desk
c) Your own height (how tall you are)
d) The breadth of your classroom
e) The classroom’s door

3. Estimate the unit the following will be measured in:

a) The length of your pencil: mm ; cm ; m ; km
b) The length of your pencil’s nib: mm ; cm ; m ; km
c) The distance from your house to the school: mm ; cm ; m ; km
d) Your Mathematics textbooks length: mm ; cm ; m ; km
e) The distance from Cape Town to Gqeberha: mm ; cm ; m ; km
f) The height from the floor of your classroom to the ceiling: mm ; cm ; m ; km
g) The width of your classroom: mm ; cm ; m ; km

Activity 2
Draw lines measuring the following lengths:
a) 5cm b) 12 cm c) 150 mm d) 200 mm
e) 15 mm f) 35 mm g) 7 cm h) 18 cm

HOMEWORK
Activity 3
1. Name one thing you could measure using the following measuring tools:
a) A tape measure b) a standard ruler
c) a metre stick d) a trundle wheel

2. What unit of measurement (mm ; cm ; m ; km) will you use to measure the following:
a) The distance around an athletics track.
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b) The length of a car.
c) The length of your shoe.
d) The distance from South Africa to America.
e) The width of the head of a drawing pin.

3. What estimate is best for the following:

a) The height of a mug: 12 mm ; 12cm ; 12 m
b) The height of the ceiling: 3 cm ; 3 m ; 3 km
c) Distance from Cape Town to Worcester: 112 cm ; 112 m ; 112 km
d) The length of a paperclip: 3 mm ; 3 cm ; 3 m
e) The height of an adult female: 163 mm ; 163 cm ; 163 m

DAY 2
Record, compare and order lengths
Activity 1
Measure the lengths of the following with your ruler:

Activity 2
Below is a map of a zoo showing the distance between some animals. Use the map to
answer the questions that follow:
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Questions:
1. Which two animals are closest together?
2. How far is the elephant from the rhinoceros?
3. How far is the lion from the leopard?
4. How many animals are there altogether?
5. Which two animals have the furthest distance from each other?
6. List the animals from closest to furthest with their distances apart. The first one has
been done for you.
Lion and Leopard – 352 m
7. Peter walks from the buffalo enclosure to the rhinoceros enclosure and then to the
leopard enclosure. How far did Peter walk?
Activity 3
Study the pictures below and answer the questions:

1. Look at the pictures above (girl, pencils, paint, board, pencil bag, school bag) and
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arrange them from smallest to biggest.
2. Measure the lengths of each image in millimetres:
Girl:
Pencil bag:
School bag:
Board:
Paint:
Pencils:
3. Arrange the lengths in question 2 in descending order.
4. What object was the shortest?
5. What object was the longest?

HOMEWORK
Activity 4
1. What are the measurements of the objects below. Please note that the ruler is not
on scale.

Day 3
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Solve problems in context involving length
It is possible to convert between units of measurement. You will need to divide or multiply
by powers of 10 when converting between these units. Here is an example:

10 mm = 1 cm 100 cm = 1 m 1 000 m = 1 km

Activity 1
Solve the following problems:
1. Lucinda has to travel 1 461 km from Pretoria to Cape Town. On the first day she
travels 461 km, on the second day she travels 629 km and she reaches Cape Town
on the third day. How many kilometres did she travel on the third day?

2. Carl has a lemon tree in his backyard. The height of the tree is 629 mm. How many
millimetres must it still grow to reach 1 metre?

3. Jenny’s mom bought a roll of ribbon measuring 9 m. If she cuts a piece of ribbon
measuring 736 cm, then how much ribbon will be left?

4. Shiloh and Mia are sisters. They both enjoy riding their bicycles. They ride around in
their community. Shiloh rode a total distance of 5,4 km while Mia only rode 3 425 m.
How much further did Shiloh ride than Mia?

5. Luke wants to build a fence around his rectangular property. The one side
measures 10 000 cm and the other side measures 615 m. What is the total amount
of fencing he will need?

6. Ashley runs 1 km in 4 minutes. If he runs for an hour. How far would he run?

Activity 2
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Match the length in Column A with the correct converted measurement in Column B.
Column A Column B
1 3 000 mm 5m
2 2 000 m 50 m
3 500 cm 2 000 mm
4 300 000 cm 3m
5 5 000 cm 5 000 m
6 5 km 3 km
7 200 cm 2 km

HOMEWORK
Activity 3
1. Graham walks to school and back home in the afternoon. He walks 2 436 m to
school and back home (total distance per day). What distance would he walk
from Monday to Friday?

2. Gaynore has a new car. She can drive 18 km on 2 litres of petrol. How many
kilometres can she travel with 40 litres of petrol?

3. Lawrence goes to the athletics tracks and runs 8 laps around the track. The track is
400 m in length. What distance did Lawrence run altogether?

4. Carol collects paper clips and connects them to

make a string. Each paperclip is 30 mm long. How
many paperclips did she use if her string is now 90
cm long?

Day 4
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Converting between different units of measurement
It is important that we know how to convert between units of measurement but also that
1
we might get answers that have fractions in them. For example, 15 mm = 12 cm or 50 cm
1
=2m…

On many rulers you will find that each line on the millimetre side is actually equivalent to a
tenth of a centimetre. Look at the picture below:

Activity 1
Convert these units of measurement:
2
270 mm = □ cm 33 000 cm = □ m 5 m = □ cm 2 5 m = □ cm
1
7 m = □ mm 6 2 cm = □ mm 475 m = □ cm 9 300 m = □ km
7 1
124 000 m = □ km km = □ m km = □ m 10 000 mm = □ m
10 4

Activity 2
It is important that we understand the difference between units of measurement (mm,
cm, m, km). When we convert between units of measurement we should know which unit
of measurement is longer than the other. Let us compare and order lengths…

1. Write the following lengths in ascending order:

1
a) 5 4 km 5 340 m 5 km 400 m 5 900 m
2
b) 420 000 cm 4 10 km 4 210 m 7 800 cm
3
c) 35 m 350 000 cm km 300 mm
10
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2. Write the lengths from longest to shortest:
2
a) m 202 cm 200 m 2m
10
1
b) 499 m km 5 km 501 m
2
2 1
c) 205 m 25m 200 m km
4

3. Fill in less than (<), greater than (>) or equivalent to (=):

a) 57 cm □ 580 mm b) 2 501 m □ 2 km c) 45 cm □ 405 mm
d) 12 m □ 1 200 cm e) 420 mm □ 5 cm f) 1 m □ 100 000 mm

HOMEWORK
Activity 3
1. Count backwards in 100s: 1 295cm; 1 195cm; 1 095cm; _____ ; _____ ; _____ .
2. Count forwards in 25s: 225km; 250km; 275km; _____; _____; _____ .
3. Count forwards in 100s: 250m; 350m; 450m; _____; _____; _____ .
4. Count backwards in 50s: 1 000mm; _____; _____; _____; _____ .
5. Count backwards in 25s: 347m; _____; _____; _____; _____ .

Day 5
Calculations, rounding off and practical measuring…
Rounding off numbers makes it easier for us to estimate when we do calculations. It is
important to understand the concept of when to “round up” and when to “round down”.
The rules are different depending on what you are rounding off to. The main idea is that
you find the closest multiple of the number rounded off to.

Activity 1
Round off to the nearest mm, cm, m or km.
Example: Round off to the nearest 100 mm:
246 mm ≈ 200 mm or 376 mm ≈ 400 mm

a) 27 487 m b) 187 m c) 6 759 m

1. Round the following off to the nearest 10 m and 100 m:

 d) 945 m e) 85 721 m f) 95 m

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a) 98 567 cm b) 12 668 cm c) 12 098 cm

d) 1 286 cm e) 123 456 cm f) 975 cm

2. Round off to the nearest 1 000 cm:

3. Look at the table below and match the most suitable measuring instrument with
the measuring item:
a) measuring tape 1. The length and breadth of a rugby field
b) metre stick 2. The length and breadth of a page
c) ruler 3. The length and breadth of a room
d) a trundle wheel 4. The length of a person

Activity 2
1. Look at the ruler below and fill in the measurements from A-H. Your answers must be
written in millimetres and centimetres.

2. Which distances are represented by the arrows?

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3. Study the diagram below and then answer the questions:

3.1 Measure each of the sides of the diagram above using your ruler.
3.2 What is the total distance around the diagram above?
3.3 Convert your answer in 3.2 to centimetres.
3.4 What is the difference between the longest and the shortest sides of the diagram.
3.5 How many sides does this diagram have? What do we call a polygon with this
number of sides?

HOMEWORK
Activity 3 – Calculations
Calculate the following:
a) 46 900 m + 23 487 m b) 89 645 cm – 74 429 cm
c) 3 725 mm x 12 d) 3 005 km ÷ 5
e) 2 m + 467 cm f) 10 km – 7 324 m
g) 56 000 mm + 420 cm h) 1 km – 379 m
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Memorandum / Answer sheet
** Please take note that answers might vary depending
on printing settings or class-to-class differences.

Day 1
Activity 1
1. 87 mm
2. Answers will differ…
3. a. cm
b. mm
c. km (some learners might have metres
(teacher to use content expertise to determine)
d. cm
e. km
f. m
g. m

Activity 2
** Printing could have impact on line length. Teacher
to draw lines him/herself.

HOMEWORK – Activity 3
1. a-d (answers will vary)
2. a. m
b. m
c. cm
d. km
e. mm
3. a. 12cm
b. 3m
c. 112 km
d. 3cm
e. 163 cm

DAY 2
Activity 1
** Answers might be different due to print settings.
Spanner – 10cm
Key – 52mm
Match – 24mm
Pencil with eraser – 75mm
Pencil without eraser – 10 cm

Activity 2
CORRECTION: Lion to Leopard is 557m NOT mm
1. Lion and Leopard
2. 420 m
3. 352 m
4. 5
5. Elephant and Lion
6. Lion and Leopard 352m
Elephant and Rhino 420m
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Lion and Buffalo 423m
Leopard and Rhino 523m
Buffalo and Rhino 555m
Lion and Elephant 557m
7. 555m + 523m = 1 078m

Activity 3
1. Pencil bag; pencils; school bag; board; paint
2. **measurements may vary due to print settings.
Girl 43mm; Pencil bag 12mm; School bag 19mm;
Board 27mm; Paint 32mm; Pencils 22mm
3. 43mm; 32mm; 27mm; 22mm; 19mm; 12mm
4. Pencil bag
5. Girl

HOMEWORK – Activity 4
1. Match stick 4cm
Toothbrush 10cm
Pencil 13cm

DAY 3
Activity 1
** Please remember that there are different methods
to calculate the answers…
1. 1461 – (461 + 629) = 371 km
2. 1000 – 629 = 371 mm
3. 900 – 736 = 164 cm
4. 5400 – 3425 = 1975m
5. (100 x 2) + (615 x 2) = 1450m
6. 60 ÷ 4 = 15
15 x 1 = 15 km

Activity 2
1. 3m
2. 2km
3. 5m
4. 3km
5. 50m
6. 5000m
7. 2000mm

HOMEWORK – Activity 3
1. 2436 x 5 = 12 180 m
2. 40 ÷ 2 = 20
20 x 18 = 360 km
3. 400 x 8 = 3200m
4. 30mm = 3cm
90 ÷ 3 = 30 paperclips

DAY 4
Activity 1
27cm 330m 500cm 240cm
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7000mm 65mm 47500cm 9km300m
124km 700m 250m 10m

Activity 2
1
1. a) 54 km ; 5 340m; 5km 400m ; 5900m
2
b) 7800cm ; 420 000cm ; 4 10km ; 4210m
3
c) 300mm ; 35m ; km ; 350 000cm
10

2
2. A) 200m ; 202 cm ; 2m ; 10m
1
b) 5km ; 501m ; 2km ; 499m
1 2
c) km ; 205m ; 200m ; 2 m
4 5

3. a) <
b) >
c) >
d) =
e) >
f) <

HOMEWORK
Activity 3
1. 995; 895; 795
2. 300; 325; 350
3. 550; 650; 750
4. 950; 900; 850; 800
5. 322; 297; 272; 247

DAY 5
Activity 1
1. a) 27 490 ; 27 500
b) 190 ; 200
c) 6 760 ; 6 800
d) 950 ; 900
e) 85 720 ; 85 700
f) 100 ; 100

2. a) 99 000
b) 13 000
c) 12 000
d) 1 000
e) 123 000
f) 1 000

3. a) 4
b) 3
c) 2
d) 1

Activity 2
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1. A 3mm
B 5mm
C 8mm
D 12mm
E 14mm
F 19mm
G 25mm
H 27mm

2. 620km
1 480km

3. The answers will vary due to print settings…

3.1 Learners measure each of the 10 sides in
mm
3.2 Add all 10 sides together
3.3 Divide previous answer by 10
3.4 Subtract the shortest side from the longest
side
3.5 10 sides. Decagon

HOMEWORK – Activity 3
a) 70 387 m
b) 15 216 cm
c) 44 700 mm
d) 601 km
e) 667 cm
f) 2 676 m
g) 5 180 cm
h) 621 m