Measurement FUN!!

This is the non-standard method for
measuring in "feet" up the wall.  

The Measurement Stations were a hands on exploration at the end of our month long measurement unit.  Each station was designed to encourage the kids to explore and practice their skills in different areas of measurement.  There were four stations; weight/balance, length, time, and volume.  The day I was planning to run the stations our team had an "emergency" meeting during the prep time prior to math class, wouldn't you know.  If you're anything like me, you were counting on that time to get everything ready to go.  Well I ended up with 15 minutes for the entire set up...and believe it or not I was able to do it.  So it goes without saying, the set up was super easy.

Data collection on the
Measuring Stations Recording Sheet

I fudged on a few of the materials - since I forgot to get rice I used dirt instead!  I'm not even kidding, there is ALWAYS dirt around my classroom (I don't call the blog DIGGING INTO LEARNING for nothin'.)  I also couldn't find enough protector sheets, soooo I used portfolios to protect the direction sheets.

Look how this child is getting down to the right
level to see how much dirt is in the liter container
and only a tad bit is spilled on the table!!!

Each station had some interesting elements, but I figured the elapsed time station may not be all that exciting.  Boy was I wrong, for one part of the station the group timed themselves and for the other part they had to beat a minute timer.  The kiddos REALLY had fun with the time element and there was "just a bit" of noise and excitement.

We discovered in the this station that it's
tricky to stack blocks when you're being timed.

The length station could be done in either standard or metric.  It also had little measurements as well as bigger things to measure.  The kids definitely liked big measuring the best and were QUITE creative with how they got their bodies across the room.

Measuring across the classroom ...
they may have found an easier route
but I doubt it would have been as
much fun.

The volume station had many desirable elements; water, dirt and building!  I believe it helped to solidify the concepts of volume using solids and liquids as well.

Part of the volume station involved
using cubes to build to a certain
volume.

All in all the stations were a big hit.  My kids had a great experience, worked as teams and measured more in one day than in the entire unit!!  One child even said it was the BEST math class ever.  I've put together the stations for my store on Teacher's Pay Teachers if you're interested in more specific details.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Measurement-Stations-CORE-Aligned-693975