Measurement Games

We have started a measurement and geometry unit in math.    

Last week, students got to spend two days rotating through 10 different measurement stations. Here's a peek at some of them...

There was a map on the SmartBoard of the various measurement stations.

After estimating how far she could throw a cotton ball, Shaunna measures to see.

At the cup capacity station, you had to estimate how many teaspoons or Tablespoons would fit into a cup. We realized that it was important to fill each spoon all the way, or we got different results.

  

At the Bean Balance station, you had to predict how many cubes it would take to lift 1/4 cup of beans. We realized that we had different ideas about how high to fill the measuring cup, so our answers had a big range.

Ansly and Kasandra figure out the perimeter and area of the desktop in paper clips.

After estimating, Brenden and Peyton measure how far they could throw a straw. They then converted from feet to inches.

At the "Pick Your Perimeter" station, partners made 3 different rectangles,  trying to make the one with the largest perimeter, using 24 tiles. Students found out that the largest rectangle was 24 x 1, so it had a perimeter of 50. The smallest rectangle was 6 x 4, with a perimeter of 20. All of the rectangles had an area of 24.

Students got very different results at the "Bowl O' Cubes" station, where they first estimated how many cubes could fit in the bowl, and then tried it out. We realized that some students had better luck heaping cubes in the bowl without any falling, so that accounted for the differences.

So...what did we learn?

Along with getting a chance to practice estimating skills, and use of measurement tools, we learned how important it is to be clear and precise when you are measuring. You also need to be sure that everyone follows the same procedures, or you will get very different results!