Measurement: An Interactive Lesson

I'm posting this over on CTR today and I couldn't wait to share this fun lesson with all of you!

To introduce measurement in my 2nd grade classroom, I usually use the book, "How Big is a Foot?" by Rolf Myller. The kids always get a kick out of the story, so this year I decided to take my introduction one step further. We pretty much acted out the concept in the book, but before I read them the story.

Materials Needed:
Multiple sizes of shoes (Barbie shoe, baby shoe, toddler shoe, 2nd grader shoe, woman's shoe, and a large man's shoe)
Butcher/Bulletin Board Paper
Markers
Pencils

I put students into 6 groups (or however many shoes you have, I had 6 shoes). I told the students that I needed them to make me a bed today that was 6 feet long and 3 feet wide. They kind of looked at me funny, but I told them I just needed them to draw me a bed that was 6 feet by 3 feet. I tried not to give them too much information to start, but I told them that I'd give them a foot to use to help them measure out the bed.

Once the students were all in their groups around the room with their butcher paper, pencils, and markers. I started walking around and handing out shoes to each group and telling them that was their "foot" that they needed to use to measure their bed with. Not every group paid attention to the other groups, but they were more interested in the shoe that I had given them. They all worked diligently on creating their 6 foot by 4 foot beds. Some needed assistance with measuring it 6 feet long and then 4 feet wide. Since it was all an introduction, they hadn't experienced much with measuring in the past. It was a good pre-assessment for me just to see if they knew how to line up nonstandard units and measure with them. It helped me know where we should get started.

 After they finished drafting their beds with a pencil, they started going over them with markers and some of them added more decorations, They really enjoyed themselves. When everyone was done, I had each group stand up and share the "foot" that they used, then the finished bed. We talked about which bed was the biggest, the one that used the biggest "foot" and which was smallest, the one that used the smallest "foot."

Next, we read Rolf Myller's book, "How Big is a Foot?", which has a king asking to have a bed (which hadn't been invented yet) for the queen for her birthday. When asked how big to make it, he used his own foot to measure out 6 foot by 3 foot, but this became a problem when the person building the bed had much smaller feet than the king.

After the story, we talked about our own beds that we created and why we can't just use whatever "foot" we can find, but we should have a STANDARD unit of measurement. Then, I introduced the unit of measurement: one foot and showed the students that it was equal to 12 inches.

The kids had a blast and I did, too!

April is Almost Here!

Well it's March 23rd and it's snowing in Indiana...who knew? I don't know why I am surprised and why I thought it was okay to wear Toms without socks today. I just decided not believe it could REALLY snow today.... then it did.  I looked at my Time Hop today and two years ago I was saying the same thing. So quickly I forget how the weather is here. The good news is that my Spring Break is next week.  I have a lot of plans for things to do at home! {School/TPT and clean house related!}

I have been slightly MIA from my blog after my strong start to 2015. I had a break when I was out of town for my mom's surgery, then I never got caught up. I was behind at school, behind at home, behind on everything...so I'm ready for Spring Break to catch up!

I have definitely been doing things in my classroom...just not blogging about it! Plus, I went to the big Spring Teacher Blogger Meetup in French Lick. I'll be blogging about that this weekend! Over 100 bloggers this year!

I just wanted to touch base and let you (and myself) know that I will be back to blogging soon! I did catch up on a few of my monthly products that I know some of you are waiting for! If you didn't see it already on my Facebook and TPT page, here they are!

Math Monday: February Math Products

I have two new February math products! My first product is to help my students with their mClass math assessments. I have been making these monthly since October and many people have purchased them and said, "I don't know what mClass assessments are, but my kids sure love these packets." Ha, that always makes me laugh! As long as they work, they work! :)

Here are a few sample pages include in the packet:

I have also just recently finished a set of February Problem Solving Tasks. I have taken some pictures as examples of how I use these in my classroom!

Math Monday: The Cheapest Math Manipulative

I have a ton of math manipulatives to use in my classroom. Some have come with the math series, some have been inherited, some were purchased out of my own pocket. I truly think they are one of the most important aspects of teaching math skills. But, I have to say that my FAVORITE manipulative is my cheapest, easiest one!

At least 8 years ago, I bought a couple of boxes of elbow macaroni! At first I just had it in a big bin and would scoop out a scoop for each child to use for counters. Now, I have invested in small Ziplock containers to store them in, so I just pass out one container per kid. 

The possibilities are endless for this cheap, cheap purchase of macaroni! You can use it for adding and subtracting, making groups, multiplications, division...the list goes on. I have even used them for playing BINGO. Also, they can be used at all grade levels.

If you are just beginning your teaching career and don't know where to begin when it comes to purchasing and collecting materials for your classroom, this would be an easy start!

If this post inspired you today, please share it with your teaching friends! Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest are a great help to me! Thank you in advance!