This past week in math the second graders have been exploring measurement. It has been a fun progression with lots of hands on discovery. We began on Tuesday. We started with a basic discussion on measurement to see what we, as a group, already knew. We discussed how feet had been a long time unit of measurement, so it was decided we would have a few volunteers measure the length of the classroom with their feet. We made estimates and found actual numbers. Through this, the second graders made the discovery that using all different feet didn't work very well. We talked about a foot as a standard unit of measure. Each second grader got a "teacher foot" that was 12 inches long to use as a standard unit of measure to estimate and discover the lengths of various items in the classroom. On Wednesday we read the story Jim and the Beanstalk, a variation of Jack and the Beanstalk, with a the focus being on measurement. This led to a discussion on measuring longer and larger items. The second graders were then given the task to create a giant foot to use as a standard unit of measure. They worked together to cut a foot out of a 3 foot long piece of paper (which was the same length as a yard!). Then they worked in teams to estimate and measure items in the classroom. On Thursday we discussed the need to have a tool of measurement that was more flexible. Students used string to measure the circumference of their heads. They then used tiles to estimate and measure their strings. Then the students used their strings to help estimate the length of longer objects in the classroom. Then they used tiles to find the actual length in tiles. On Friday the second graders created their own “inchworm” ruler. They had to measure various items in the classroom that were less than a foot, exactly a foot, and more than a foot in length.
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