This unit is based around a series of activities in which students explore aspects of measurement. This is explored through making predictions and using non standard units to answer a 'how many' question.
This unit develops understanding of non-standard units as students learn that some form of unit needs to be used to answer a question such as "how much longer is your pencil than mine?". Non-standard units are ordinary objects which are used because they are known to students and are readily available, for example, paces for length, books for area and cups for volume. Experience measuring with these introduces students to the potential for quantifying a measured outcome, for example, the desk is 4 hand spans across. Therefore, students should be provided with many opportunities to measure using these kinds of non-standard units. Many of the principles associated with measurement are introduced through the use of non-standard units:
Students need to realise that non-standard units tend to be personal and are not the most suitable for communication. For example, one student's hands will be smaller than another's, so measuring using hand span is not always useful or accurate.
The learning opportunities in this unit can be differentiated by providing or removing support to students and by varying the task requirements. Ways to differentiate include:
The activities in this unit can be adapted to make them more interesting and meaningful for students by adapting them to reflect familiar contexts. For example, rather than measure an arbitrary distance, measure how many steps it is from the door of the classroom to the playground. Perhaps you could think of a potential link to students' cultural backgrounds (e.g. how many steps does it take to walk across the wharenui at our local marae) or a link to learning from other curriculum areas (e.g. how many steps would a moa have to take to cross the classroom?).
Te reo Māori kupu such as ine (measure) and tatau (count) could be introduced in this unit and used throughout other mathematical learning.
In this session the class is introduced to a game where they have to guess how many spoons of rice it will take to fill a cup. They play a game, first as a class, then in pairs to find out how many spoonfuls of rice will fit in a cup. You could sand or water if you feel the use of food is not appropriate. Note that rice can easily be repurposed as a material for making items such as rhythm shakers, juggling balls, and stress balls. Initially, choose cups/spoons/containers that will allow the container or cup to be filled with approximately 30 spoons of rice. This number (and therefore, the size of the measurement utensils) can be varied to change the difficulty of the measurement tasks.
In Sessions 2-4 students move around five stations playing variations on the game played in Session 1.
In this activity students predict how many cups (small measuring cup) of rice will fit into a bowl.
In this activity students predict how many bowls of water will fit into a bucket. This activity will need to be carried out either outside or over a sink area. Alternatively, a sandpit could be used.
In this activity students predict how many ladybird steps (steps taken with the heel of the foot touching the toe of the previous foot) it takes to travel a given distance. You will need to teach students how to take ladybird steps, and practise the action as a class. Set up a start and finish line approximately 30 foot lengths apart.
In this activity students predict how many giant steps (steps taken as long as possible) it takes to go the length of a tennis court (or other suitable distance). You will need to teach students how to take giant steps, and practice the action as a class.
In this activity students are given a piece of paper or card (around ¼ of an A4 sheet) and asked to predict how many thumbprints it will take to cover it. They could use either an inkpad or trays of paint to produce the thumbprints. A demonstration should be given so that students understand that they should put their thumbprints side by side in a grid rather than trying to cover every spot of white on the page!
In this session we discuss the games and activities that have been explored over the last four days and play a new game as a class.
As an extension you may wish to allow students to suggest their own ‘how many’ games that they could play. Pairs of students could, with supervision, write the instructions for a game using those they have played over the last sessions as a model. Then pairs could swap games with another pair and play each other’s games. Ensure that students make games which have a reasonable answer (within the range 10 – 50 or so).
Family and whānau,
This week in maths we are playing measuring games. You could play at home by using dice or cut up pieces of paper with the numbers 1-6 and put them in an envelope or ice cream container to draw out. Using a cup and a bowl, have your child predict how many cups of water it will take to fill the bowl. Have your child then roll the die or select a card, add that many cups of water to the bowl, then roll the die again and count on from the first number. Repeat this till the bowl is full and have your child check to see if their prediction was close.
Your child will enjoy showing you how to play.
Printed from https://nzmaths.co.nz/resource/counting-measurement at 2:56am on the 20th April 2024