A sorting worksheet on units of mass and liquid volume for 3rd grade, matched to Common Core 3.MD.2. Three photo anchors open the page: a paperclip for grams, a dictionary for kilograms, and a water pitcher for liters. Students then sort a 12-item word bank from postage stamp to large family dog into a three-column chart, circle the best unit for four situations, and solve two one-step problems: 4 kg + 5 kg of picked apples and 18 L − 11 L of fruit punch.
3.MD.2
“Measure and estimate liquid volumes and masses of objects using standard units of grams (g), kilograms (kg), and liters (l).⁶ Add, subtract, multiply, or divide to solve one-step word problems involving masses or volumes that are given in the same units, e.g., by using drawings (such as a beaker with a measurement scale) to represent the problem.⁷”
The estimation half lives in Parts 1 and 2 (choosing g, kg, or L for 16 real objects), and the same-unit arithmetic lives in Part 3 with 4 + 5 kg and 18 − 11 L.
Twelve word-bank items (paperclip, adult bicycle, lemonade in a pitcher, plastic button, heavy backpack, water in a fish tank, single grape, large pumpkin, milk in a family jug, postage stamp, large family dog, soup in a cooking pot) get written under Grams, Kilograms, or Liters, four per column.
Students circle g, kg, or L for four items: a math textbook's mass, apple juice in a sports bottle, a single birthday candle, and the water for a garden watering can.
Marcus picks 4 kilograms of apples in the morning and 5 in the afternoon; a class cooler starts with 18 liters of punch and loses 11 at lunch. Both answers must carry their unit.
Benchmark lesson
Start from the three anchor photos: one paperclip is about a gram, one textbook about a kilogram, one pitcher about a liter. Every sort decision on the page routes back to those three.
Argument pairs
The heavy backpack and the large pumpkin cause the best disagreements in Part 1. Have partners justify their column out loud before committing in pencil.
Unit-label habit
Mark Part 3 answers wrong without a unit, and say so in advance. The instruction line on the sheet already requires it, so the worksheet backs you up.
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