Level: Year 2 and Year 3
Author: Anna Bock
Description:
This activity allows students to learn about measuring by measuring.
To measure something students need to work through the following steps:
- Identify the attribute that is to be measured, (in this task it could be the length, perimeter, which is also a measurement of length, or area).
- Select the unit of measure (in this task start with informal units before moving to formal units of measure).
- Compare the object to the unit (this could be by covering, matching or some other way depending on the attribute being measured).
- Find the number of units (this can be done by counting, using instruments and eventually using formulas). Students need to name and number the unit for a measurement to have happened.
The use of informal units is an important step in order to develop understandings of what it looks like when measuring the attributes of length, perimeter and area.
Measure My Island (Activity)
Materials: Beans, pasta, counters, blocks, paper clips, icy pole sticks, string, ruler, pencils & paper
Objectives:
- To measure in a variety of ways.
- To compare the measurements of each island.
Instructions:
- Read Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak (You can access the text online here)
- Discuss Max travelling to an island
- Draw an outline of an island
- Think about what and how you can measure this island
- Measure the island in any way you like
- Record what was measured by naming the unit and the number of the measurement
- Draw another island
- Think about what and how you can measure this island
- Measure the island in any way you like
- Record what was measured by naming the unit and the number of the measurement
- What did you notice when you measured the two islands?
For any questions or queries please contact: choosemaths@amsi.org.au
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