We are reviewing measurement the next two weeks for Dallin's math lesson block, and I am so excited about the hands-on activities I've planned to set the stage for things before we dig too far into the book work.
Today we re-introduced linear measurement. I had quite a few activities planned, but we only had time for two of them. First, I gave him a ruler and a yardstick and told him to find four different things in our house whose lengths, combined, would add up to 241 inches. This took a good part of the morning, but at one point he said to me, "This is fun school!" It was quite a challenge, but he got some good practice because he had to measure quite a few things to find the ones that would work. He also got some great practice in estimation, which we'll be focusing on tomorrow, because once he was down to the last things that needed to be measured, which had to be exact to bring him to 241 inches, he was able to estimate which objects would be "about" that length.
We also are going to be working on making graphs. So I had him dump out his treasured rock collection, count out any 15 rocks he desired, and then we measured each one and recorded it's length. We then made a graph showing how many rocks were under 1" long, between 1" and 2", between 2" and 3", etc. Again, he got TONS of measuring practice, and we had some great data to graph. He loved this activity too!
Tomorrow we are going to review weight and volume and spend a good deal of time with estimation. After we practice estimating some things, like lengths of string, how much water in a pan would be 2 cups, etc. we are going to bake. We are going to bake the same muffin recipe twice: the first time, we will estimate the amounts called for in the recipe. The second time, we will use exact measurements. It will be fun practice, but also a good, practical lesson on why we don't estimate when we're baking.
Wednesday I'm using an idea from Donna Simmons' Christopherus curriculum as we review measuring money. I'm going to get several take-out menus, and we're going to play "restaurant". Dallin will be the waiter, and he'll have to add up or orders. Then, I'll be the waitress and he'll order, but before he does, he'll have to estimate how much his order will come to, and we'll see how close he is to being right.
Thursday we're going to talk about other forms of measurement such as temperature and speed. We'll use some thermometers to check body temperature, outside temperature, etc. But what I'm really excited about is measuring speed and collecting graphing data. I'm going to collect all the balls I can find around our house, of all shapes and sizes. Then we'll use a stop-watch to time how fast each ball can roll from one end of the family room to the other. We'll write down the times for each one, and then make a graph to compare them.
Math doesn't have to be boring!
Today we re-introduced linear measurement. I had quite a few activities planned, but we only had time for two of them. First, I gave him a ruler and a yardstick and told him to find four different things in our house whose lengths, combined, would add up to 241 inches. This took a good part of the morning, but at one point he said to me, "This is fun school!" It was quite a challenge, but he got some good practice because he had to measure quite a few things to find the ones that would work. He also got some great practice in estimation, which we'll be focusing on tomorrow, because once he was down to the last things that needed to be measured, which had to be exact to bring him to 241 inches, he was able to estimate which objects would be "about" that length.
We also are going to be working on making graphs. So I had him dump out his treasured rock collection, count out any 15 rocks he desired, and then we measured each one and recorded it's length. We then made a graph showing how many rocks were under 1" long, between 1" and 2", between 2" and 3", etc. Again, he got TONS of measuring practice, and we had some great data to graph. He loved this activity too!
Tomorrow we are going to review weight and volume and spend a good deal of time with estimation. After we practice estimating some things, like lengths of string, how much water in a pan would be 2 cups, etc. we are going to bake. We are going to bake the same muffin recipe twice: the first time, we will estimate the amounts called for in the recipe. The second time, we will use exact measurements. It will be fun practice, but also a good, practical lesson on why we don't estimate when we're baking.
Wednesday I'm using an idea from Donna Simmons' Christopherus curriculum as we review measuring money. I'm going to get several take-out menus, and we're going to play "restaurant". Dallin will be the waiter, and he'll have to add up or orders. Then, I'll be the waitress and he'll order, but before he does, he'll have to estimate how much his order will come to, and we'll see how close he is to being right.
Thursday we're going to talk about other forms of measurement such as temperature and speed. We'll use some thermometers to check body temperature, outside temperature, etc. But what I'm really excited about is measuring speed and collecting graphing data. I'm going to collect all the balls I can find around our house, of all shapes and sizes. Then we'll use a stop-watch to time how fast each ball can roll from one end of the family room to the other. We'll write down the times for each one, and then make a graph to compare them.
Math doesn't have to be boring!
Comments