Summer School and Measurement
Are you involved with math summer school? If so then you know the importance of providing students with engaging activities that will help them EXPERIENCE the mathematics. Have you thought about setting up a measurement area in your room so that students can touch, feel, measure? If you students are like most of the students in the United States of America, measurement, especially in application, is a weak skill.
Remember to first know your State expectations. Teach and provide experiences for those skills which the State has determined to be appropriate for your grade level. There isn’t anything wrong with going beyond expectations IF your students know what they are supposed to know for your level. And by the way, non-standard measurement is an essential part of learning measurement; so if your primary expectations are “non-standard,” please provide non-standard measuring experiences.
Select the strands of measurement appropriate to your level which will be your focus. Not all strands are covered in every grade level, but the major strands of measurement for elementary and middle school students are: Length, including perimeter and circumference; Area; Capacity/Volume; Weight/Mass; Time; Temperature. If you are on a 5-week program, you will probably want to provide practice in only 1 or 2 strands of measurement. It would be much better for your students to leave you knowing 2 strands really well, than to try to rush all strands and learn none. And regardless of the strands you select, remember that students need to ESTIMATE before they measure, then measure to verify the estimation.
Set up your estimation/measurement area with real “stuff” to measure and all of the appropriate measuring tools for the strand. Food is a wonderful “thing” to measure. There is something very motivating about finding the area in square centimeters of a cracker you are about to devour; or finding the capacity of a small 2oz cup in scoops of M&Ms. And what is the weight of your favorite type of apple as compared to other apples? Your area will be limited only by the imagination! Measurement, like geometry, is everywhere in our daily experiences. I’ve included several blackline masters for record sheets for various grade levels.
Estimation and measurement are skills that your students will use for the rest of their lives. Help them develop estimation skills and accurate measurement techniques. By the way, check out our website and the Daily Measurement Labs. We’ll ship within 3 business days of receiving the order.
Hoping that you enjoy a well-deserved summer,
See you next month!
Ms Fritzie!
