Measurement Part 2
This week my students have been working hard on the second part of measurement. Above is the anchor chart I created that we referenced all week.
To start the week off, we started with Weight. After discussing our prior knowledge on it, we weighed ourself and talked about where our weight number came from... gravity. We talked about ounces and pounds and each of them got to hold an ounce bag full of popcorn kernals and a pound bag of popcorn kernels. We determined which was more and which was less and that ounces come before pounds. I made the connection that when counting in units we count ten units out and trade them in for a long/rod (10) and that we do the same with ounces and pounds by counting 16 ounces and turning them into 1 pound. Next, we explored food scales, the one I brought from home and the ones we see at the grocery store. We talked about their importance when working with recipes. To connect it to their everyday lift, I pulled out a snack version of applesauce and showed them where on the label they could find its weight. I repeated this with cleaning items, chapstick and drinks. Last each student recieved their own scale and was able to determine in ounces and pounds the weight of differen classroom objects.
Day 2 consisted of a short review of where weight comes from (gravity) and ounces in a pound (16). We moved on to mass and how we are not trying to determin its weight but how much stuff was used to make the item. Students learned about balance beams, gram cubes and then explored once again with items found in the classroom. I used the items from the day before (applesauce, etc) to show them that our food packaging often tells us the mass of it. I feel like the kids really understood the difference between mass and weight.
Day 3 consisted of Volume. We talked about the anchor chart... what we could see, and what was hidden in the picture. We talked about how to build it and how to count it on the paper. Once students built it, they compared it with the answer they got when they counted it on the chart. Lastly, students worked on a worksheet consisting of different block quantities, first shading and counting it. Followed by building it and checking their answer.
Day 4 wrapped up our lesson. We focused on capacity. Items in our lives that have the capacity written on it and why they thought it was important to have this printed on the packaging. Following our discussion, students explored, each getting their own large tuoperware container filled with water, different measuring cups and graduated cylinders. We ended the lesson by creating a visual of different units used to measure capacity.
