Meters, liters and grams are all tied to the same physical reference: a water cube that measures 1 centimeter on each side. We want your students to appreciate this elegant simplicity. So we have developed a parallel measuring system based on sugar cubes. (Purchase cube shapes, not bricks, equivalent to 1 teaspoon.) Your students will use them to develop a concrete understanding of length, area, volume and mass. Ten lessons later they will substitute the idea of water cubes and slip painlessly into metrics. Meters, liters and grams all become old friends as your students make rulers, calibrate measuring cups and improvise gram balances.