Skill companion: Measuring and Recording (Year 3)

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Skill companion · Year 3 Science Inquiryseegongsik /au

Measuring and Recording: a skill companion

A small set of reusable sheets that grow one inquiry skill: following the same steps every time you measure, reading a ruler, a thermometer or a measuring jug the right way, and writing every reading down with its unit. Print the scaffolds once and slot them into the science lessons you are already teaching.

AC9S3I03

follow procedures to make and record observations, including making formal measurements using familiar scaled instruments and using digital tools as appropriate

What a skill companion is

Inquiry skills are not a topic of their own. They grow inside the science units a class teaches all year, such as Living and Non-living Things, Soils, Rocks and Minerals, Heat and Temperature, and Solids, Liquids and Changing State. So this pack is not a full term of lessons. It is three reusable scaffolds, a map of where they fit, and a short stand-alone lesson for teaching the skill on its own first.

Start here: five minutes

Read the pairing map on the next page: it shows what to measure, and with what, in each Year 3 topic.
Print the measuring log, one per child, whenever a lesson measures something.
Print the scale sheet once per child, to practise reading the three instruments before the first real measurement.
Cut out the record cards once. They are reused all year, and the blank cards fit any topic.
Run the one-page mini-lesson first if you want to teach the skill before folding it into a topic.

No science background needed

This pack is written for the busy generalist teacher. A scaled instrument is one with a line of marked numbers: a ruler, a thermometer, a measuring jug, kitchen scales. It leans on Year 3 maths, which measures with familiar metric units and instruments with labelled markings (AC9M3M02). The answer sheet gives every reading on the scale sheet, the record-card key, a model log and a quick three-level guide.

On the board

This pack is the printable half of a free interactive unit. On screen, children switch between “Table”, “Bar chart” and “Line graph” in “Read the scale: record a bean plant week by week” and “Record temperatures: a digital tool helps you log readings”, click the reading that breaks the climb in “Spot the reading to measure again”, and sort records with “Careful” and “Not careful” in “Decide which records were measured carefully”. Each scaffold in this pack turns one of those moves into something children do on paper.

seegongsik.com/au/y3/inquiry/AC9S3I03

Aligned to the Australian Curriculum V9 (AC9S3I03). This pack is original material from seegongsik, independently produced and not endorsed by ACARA. Curriculum content descriptors are (c) ACARA, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Free to print and use in class.

Where the skill fitsPairing map

Slot the skill into your science lessons

The same skill of measuring and recording fits into every science unit. This map shows something children can measure in each Year 3 topic, the instrument and unit that fit, and which scaffold to reach for. You do not run these as extra lessons; you fold them into the science you teach.

When you teach	What to measure	Instrument and unit	Scaffold to slot in
Living and Non-living Things (AC9S3U01)	The height of a bean plant, once a week	A ruler, in centimetres (cm)	Measuring log
Soils, Rocks and Minerals (AC9S3U02)	The water that drains through each soil in 5 minutes	A measuring jug, in millilitres (mL)	Measuring log
Heat and Temperature (AC9S3U03)	How warm a cup of warm tap water is, every 5 minutes as it cools	A thermometer, in degrees Celsius (°C); a digital thermometer works too	Scale sheet first, then the measuring log
Solids, Liquids and Changing State (AC9S3U04)	How long an ice cube takes to melt	A timer, in minutes; a tablet stopwatch is a digital tool	Measuring log
Any science topic	Anything children can count or measure	The instrument that fits, with its unit	Record cards first, then the measuring log

The three moves, and the picture that backs each one

When you want a worked example on the board, open the interactive unit and use the picture that matches the move children are working on.

Read a scale and record each reading, by hand or with a digital tool: “Read the scale: record a bean plant week by week” and “Record temperatures: a digital tool helps you log readings”.
Spot a reading that does not fit, and measure it again: “Spot the reading to measure again”.
Judge which records can be trusted: “Decide which records were measured carefully”.

How the scaffolds build the skill

The measuring log carries the procedure: the same four steps printed at the top every time, and a row for each reading with its instrument and unit. The scale sheet practises the hardest step on paper first, reading between the labelled marks and starting a ruler at 0. The record cards sharpen the judgement behind both: telling a record anyone could check from one that was guessed, tipped, or written without a unit.

Scaffold 1 · Measuring logOne per child

My measuring log

NameClassDate

Every time I measure

Choose the instrument: a ruler for length, a thermometer for temperature, a measuring jug for liquid.
Set it up: start a ruler at the 0 mark, stand a jug on a flat bench, let a thermometer settle.
Read it level with your eyes, straight on.
Write the number and its unit straight away.

My readings

When	What I measured	Instrument	Reading	Unit	Again?

In the Again? column, write the reading you got when you measured a second time.

A reading that did not fit

Which one, and what happened when I measured it again?

If we used a digital tool

The tool, and what it showed:

Teacher note: a digital thermometer or a tablet stopwatch shows the number for you, but children still write the unit and still read it the same way each time. Ask for a second reading of anything that looks odd before anyone rubs it out.

Scaffold 2 · Read the scaleOne per child

Read the scale

NameClassDate

Read each instrument the careful way, then write the reading with its unit.

1. How long is the pencil? ______ cm

2. How long is the crayon? ______ cm Careful: it does not start at 0.

3. What temperature does it show? ______ °C

4. How much water is in the jug? ______ mL

Which instrument, which unit?

Word bank: ruler, thermometer, measuring jug, kitchen scales · cm, °C, mL, g

What to measure	Instrument	Unit
How long a leaf is
How warm the water in a bath is
How much juice is in a bottle
How heavy an apple is

Scaffold 3 · Record cards (cut out)Reuse all year

Can we trust this record?

Cut out the cards. Sort them into two piles: careful records anyone could check, and records that cannot be trusted. Look for the number, the unit, and the way it was read.

The leaf was 9 cm long, measured from the 0 mark of the ruler.

The plant was about this tall.

I held the thermometer by its bulb while I read it.

The water was 200.

The water reached the 250 mL line, read with my eyes level with the line.

The bean plant was 15 cm tall. We measured it twice and got 15 cm both times.

The ice cube took 14 minutes to melt, read from the timer.

We measured the leaf from the end of the ruler, not from the 0 mark.

I read the jug from above, looking down at the water.

The digital thermometer showed 19 °C, so we wrote 19 °C in the table.

The jug was tipped to one side, but we wrote the number anyway.

At 9 am the room was 21 °C, and at 11 am it was 24 °C.

Write a record of your own:

Teacher note: the two piles are “careful” and “not careful”. The answer sheet lists which is which, and why. Blank cards let children write a record from their own measuring, then swap it with another table to sort.

Mini-lesson · Teacher planAbout 30 minutes

Read it, record it

Use this stand-alone lesson to teach the skill on its own, before you fold it into a science topic. It runs the three scaffolds in this pack in one short block, so children meet the whole skill in one go and then reuse the sheets all year.

We are learning to

follow the same steps every time we measure,
read a ruler, a thermometer and a measuring jug the right way,
record every reading with its unit.

Success criteria

I can read a scale and write the reading with its unit.
I can say why a record without a unit cannot be trusted.

You need

the record cards (scaffold 3), one set per table, cut out ahead or by fast finishers,
the measuring log and the scale sheet (scaffolds 1 and 2), one each per child,
for each table: a ruler, a thermometer, a measuring jug and a cup of tap water,
the free interactive unit on your board, if you have one (optional).

Lesson flow (about 30 minutes)

5 min	Which instrument? Hold up a ruler, a thermometer and a measuring jug. Children name what each one measures and its unit. Ask: “Why can we not use a ruler to find out how warm the water is?”
10 min	Read the scale Children read the four instruments on the scale sheet and fill the table. Model the first one on the board (see the box). Ask: “The crayon does not start at 0. How long is it really?”
10 min	Measure and log Tables follow the four steps on the log to measure the water in the cup, its temperature and the length of a pencil, each one twice. Ask: “Your two readings are different. What could you check?”
5 min	Careful or not? Tables sort the record cards into the two piles. Ask: “This record says 200. Two hundred what?”

Running it shorter? Do the scale sheet on its own, and do the measuring log in your next science lesson that measures something real.

On the board

For a worked example, open the unit and show “Read the scale: record a bean plant week by week”. Press “Table” to see the numbers read off the ruler, then “Bar chart” and “Line graph” to see the same readings as a shape. Then click the odd cup in “Spot the reading to measure again”.

seegongsik.com/au/y3/inquiry/AC9S3I03

Watch for these ideas

Starting a ruler measurement at the end of the ruler, or at 1, instead of at the 0 mark.
Reading a jug or a thermometer from above or below. Get level with the scale first.
Writing a number with no unit. The unit says whether 200 is millilitres, centimetres or degrees.

Make it easier, make it bigger

Easier: measure length only, with a ruler, counting along the centimetre marks together.
Bigger: log the temperature of a cup of warm tap water every 5 minutes, and describe the pattern in the readings.

Answers and look-fors

The next sheet has every reading on the scale sheet, the record-card key, a model log and a quick three-level guide.

Answers · For the teacherModel responses

Answers and look-fors

Read the scale

The pencil is 11 cm long.
The crayon is 7 cm long: it ends at 9 and starts at 2, and 9 − 2 = 7.
The thermometer shows 24 °C: 2 marks above the 20, and each mark is 2 degrees.
The jug holds 350 mL: one mark above the 300, and each mark is 50 mL.

What to measure	Instrument	Unit
How long a leaf is	ruler	cm
How warm the water in a bath is	thermometer	°C
How much juice is in a bottle	measuring jug	mL
How heavy an apple is	kitchen scales	g

Record cards: careful or not?

Record card	Careful?	Why
The leaf was 9 cm long, measured from the 0 mark of the ruler.	Yes	It starts at 0 and gives the number with its unit.
The plant was about this tall.	No	There is no number, so nobody can check it or compare it.
I held the thermometer by its bulb while I read it.	No	Warm fingers heat the bulb, so the reading shows your hand, not the water.
The water was 200.	No	There is no unit: 200 mL fills a cup, but 200 L would nearly fill a bath.
The water reached the 250 mL line, read with my eyes level with the line.	Yes	It is read level with the scale, and the unit is written down.
The bean plant was 15 cm tall. We measured it twice and got 15 cm both times.	Yes	Measuring twice and getting the same reading shows it can be trusted.
The ice cube took 14 minutes to melt, read from the timer.	Yes	A timer reading with its unit is a careful record of how long it took.
We measured the leaf from the end of the ruler, not from the 0 mark.	No	On most rulers the 0 mark is a little way in from the end, so the leaf looks longer than it is.
I read the jug from above, looking down at the water.	No	Looking from above makes the water line look higher or lower than it is. Get level with it.
The digital thermometer showed 19 °C, so we wrote 19 °C in the table.	Yes	A digital tool shows the number for you; writing it with its unit keeps the record careful.
The jug was tipped to one side, but we wrote the number anyway.	No	A tipped jug puts the water at the wrong line. Stand it flat, then read it.
At 9 am the room was 21 °C, and at 11 am it was 24 °C.	Yes	Each reading has its time and its unit, so the two can be compared.

The measuring log: what careful rows look like

Readings will differ from class to class, and that is fine. The point is the instrument, the number and the unit on every row, and a second reading to check it.

When	What I measured	Instrument	Reading	Unit	Again?
Week 2	Height of our bean plant	ruler	6	cm	6
5 minutes	Water through the sandy soil	measuring jug	150	mL	150
10:15 am	Warm water in the foam cup	thermometer	38	°C	38
Lunch	Time for the ice cube to melt	timer	14	minutes	15, a second cube

A quick three-level guide

Move	Working towards	At standard	Beyond
Follow the steps	needs reminding which instrument to use	chooses the right instrument and follows the four steps	measures twice and checks a reading that does not match
Read the scale	reads only the labelled marks	reads the marks between the labels, level with the eye	reads a ruler when the object does not start at 0
Record with units	writes numbers without units	writes every reading with its unit straight away	explains why a record without a unit cannot be compared

A child at standard follows the steps, reads between the labelled marks and writes every reading with its unit. The skill grows all year, so keep the log coming back in every science topic.