Although Measurement is a fun unit to teach, the planning has been crazy! My district is very specific with their Curriculum and what you are to teach. We usually use the Envision curriculum for Math, but this time my district wanted us to use the Investigations program instead and only use 2 lessons of Envision. That wasn't a problem as Investigations is more hands-on and offers more chances for higher level thinking, though it does require a great deal more prep work. The real problem was that my district required 17 days of instruction and a gave a list of exactly what lessons we were to teach between the two programs, while only giving us 13 days to accomplish this. Hmmm!!! So, as good teachers do, we adjusted! I combined some lessons, traded some lessons from the Investigations for some found on Teachers Pay Teachers. Amy Lemons and Jennifer Hollingsworth have created some great measurement units perfect for inch, foot, and yard, as well as centimeters/meters. (Jennifer will be posting hers soon!)
decisions, decisions....
My second graders have really enjoyed measurement so far. We started with non-standard measurement the usual ways: cubes and paper clips. They measured various items, including my tape dispenser. It was all fun and games until they decided to tape their papers to the floor to keep them secure while they measured and wrote down their answers. Good idea in theory, but harder to clean up! But it was nice to see them take charge of their own learning.
My students have also enjoyed the lesson on measuring jumps. They went into the hallway and had to make 3 jumps- jump like a frog, like a rabbit, and like themselves. We used adding machine tape to measure the 3 jumps. Next week we will measure the strips with cubes and compare them. Should be fun!
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