In this unit students work with teaspoons, tablespoons and fractions of a cup to make their own rainbow jelly, converting between units of volume as required.
This unit introduces students to units of volume smaller than a cup. The base units for these measurements are:
1 teaspoon = 5 mL
1 tablespoon = 15 mL
1 cup = 250 mL
1/2 cup = 125 mL
The learning opportunities in this unit can be differentiated by providing or removing support to students and varying the task requirements. Ways to support students include:
The context for this unit can be adapted to suit the interests and experiences of your students. For example:
Before starting this unit discuss with children what is meant by the terms volume and capacity and what measurement they will be using for volume. Capacity is a measure of how much the container can hold whereas the volume is the measure of the amount of space that a 3-dimensional object occupies. The measurement for volume in this unit is mL (millilitres). All copymasters will need to be carefully introduced so children will be confident when using them.
Rainbow jellies are individual cups of jelly, striped different colours like a rainbow.
How could we make the stripes of jelly wider?
How could we make the stripes of jelly thinner?
How could you make all the colours the same height?
The task of making the stripes even will be more complicated in containers where the sides are not parallel.
Over the next three sessions have each group of students complete plans for several different jellies, working with a different container each session.
Session 2: container with parallel sides
Session 3: container with sloping sides
Session 4: unusual shaped container, encourage students to bring a container from home for this purpose
During each session students can use water to fill containers to different levels as they plan designs for their jellies. They may choose stripes of the same depth, alternating thick and thin stripes, stripes that get progressively narrower. The plans they make need to specify the colours and volumes for each stripe alongside a sketch of the design.
Each different plan can be recorded on Copymaster 1.
As different plans are drawn up share these with the class and discuss the volumes of jelly used. Encourage conversion between teaspoons, tablespoons and cups.
How many tablespoons of red jelly have you used?
How many teaspoons would that be? How much of a cup?
Which colour have you used most of? Which colour have you used least of?
How much more red than yellow have you used?
Once planning is complete get the students to choose which of their plans they will make. Ask them to calculate how many packets of each colour jelly they will need if there are 8 people at the party. How many for 20 people?
Copymaster 2 can be used to guide and record these calculations.
Groups of students make their jellies. It would be simplest to mix the jelly required in bulk rather than have each group mix each colour individually. Note that the hot water needed could present a safety issue. To overcome this a small amount of boiling water could be used to dissolve the crystals first, then cold water added before students use the jelly.
Once all the groups have their jellies complete and they have set, get students to estimate the volume of each colour jelly used in the different designs. Their estimates can then be compared to the actual volumes used. Copymaster 3 can be used for this.
Family and whānau,
This week we are exploring volume by making Rainbow Jellies. Students are asked to bring teaspoons and tablespoons from home, both metric and household ones of different sizes. Please put your family name on any spoons you want returned.
It would be good practice for your child to help with cooking or any other tasks that require measuring, especially recipes that have teaspoons and tablespoons or millilitres in them as measures.
Printed from https://nzmaths.co.nz/resource/rainbow-jelly at 3:20pm on the 1st July 2024