10th October Metric Day

On 10/10, National Metric Day recognises the metric system, its history, and its benefits.

Metric uses decimals as a method of measuring mass, distance, and volume. The metric system is a system of measurement used in most countries of the world except the United States and a few other countries. Though Simon Stevin, a Flemish mathematician, first suggested such a system in his 1586 publication De Thiende (The Tenth), centuries passed before the metric system became an accepted form of measurement. The metric system was introduced by France in 1799 and it’s an original, decimal-based (based on powers of 10) measurement format based on metres and kilograms. Base units in the metric system include kilograms, metres, and litres. The metric system also uses the Kelvin scale (or the Celsius scale) to measure the temperature. The decimal-based prefixes in the metric system include milli, centi, deci, and kilo. 

In Britain and the USA they still use Imperial System miles for measurements, despite happily adapting to kilos for weight. For this reason some information books in the school library have measurements that Australian children do not recognise. I try to make sure books have metric measurements (System Internationale) or both. 

In the Maths curriculum for students who are under eight years old there is lots of reasons to stress the number 10 and multiples of it, so we do have books in the library which provide provocation and  discussion.

Counting for very young children starts with games with fingers and toes and that is why nursery rhymes such as 1,2,3,4,5, once I caught a fish alive, this little piggy went to market, there were ten in the bed and the little one said, and Mem Fox's Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes are so much fun.

Here's some books that are in the library which will help explore the number ten and the metric system:

• Ten Apples Up on Top  by Dr Seuss

• Ants at the Picnic: Counting by Tens  by Michael Dahl

• Toasty Toes: Counting by Tens  by Michael Dahl

• Ten Fat Sausages  by Michelle Robinson

• Little Miss Muffet Counts to Ten by Emma Chichester Clark

• Two Ways to Count to Ten by Ruby Dee

• Ten Red Apples  by Pat Hutchins

• Ten Cars and a Million Stars  by Teresa Heapy

• From Zero to Ten: the Story of Numbers by Vivian French    

• Number Rhymes: Tens and Teens by Hannah Shaw

• One Hundred Angry Ants by Elinor Pinzes

• How Long is a Whale?  by Alison Limentani

• How Far Can a Kangaroo Jump? by Alison Limentani

• How Much Does a Ladybird Weigh? by Alison Limentani

Here's some that are specifically about the metric system:

• The Metric System  by David A Adler and Edward Miller

• The Metric System by Paul Challen 

• Luke's Flying Start  by Michelle Parsons and Cesar