Math Update: Measurement

Today we had a great afternoon exploring some big ideas in measurement! We determined that J. H-M. has the longest feet in the class followed closely by H.G. and J.G. S.Y. has the shortest feet in the class.

During our problem solving challenge we realized some really important things about measurement. I encourage students to discuss these big ides with their families at home!

There are standard and non standard units.  A standard unit is used across Canada so if you went into a store and asked for a piece of fabric that is 60 cm long the person working there would understand. Some standard units that we talked about today were the centimeter (cm), millimeter (mm), and meter (m).  We learned that the width of our pinky finger is about 1 cm! So we can use that as a bench mark for making estimates. 

We learned that non-standard units can be used to measure things around our classroom and at home. These units can be used if we need to compare measurements. Snap cubes, paperclips, scissors, and Popsicle sticks are all non- standard units.

When we compared the length of our feet we noticed that we all needed to be measuring in the same unit! 

We learned about using the ruler and noticed that you need to start at 0. We also noticed that the rulers in our classroom have centimeters and millimeters. 

********************************HOMEWORK************************************

Tomorrow I will be sending home a page about measuring and comparing lengths at home. It is intended to be used as an extension of our learning in class. I encourage students to work through the activities with an adult. 

For Grade Twos: The homework activities are about measuring using non-standard units. In Grade Two, students are learning how to measure with non-standard and standard units. As a challenge, Grade Two students can complete the same activities using non-standard units, and then measure again using a standard unit (cm). If you do not have a ruler with cm at home please write a note in your child's agenda and I will send home a ruler to borrow for the activity.