Student Work #5

Today, my MT introduced the topic of measurement. She began by asking the class what types of things/objects they have measured, or think would be important to measure. Next, she displayed how to measure a book with a ruler and explained that the length of a ruler is considered a foot. Following, the students traced their feet, cut them out and compared them to the ruler. Then, they were asked to find something in the room that was the same length as their foot, then something that was smaller and finally something that was larger. The purpose of this task is for students to realize that things can be measured in many different ways, to practice measuring items correctly and compare the sizes of objects.

Students may approach this task by starting their measurements at the heel end of their 'foot' or at the toe-end. They may also cut out two 'feet' and use both of them to measure larger objects. Although not instructed to do so, the children may use a ruler to compare the precise length of their feet compared to other objects.

I anticipated students would struggle measuring items by either not evening out the edges of the paper and the object, or by simply placing their 'foot' next to - rather than on to - the objects. I also anticipated that students would have a difficult time differentiating the difference between items being 'smaller' or 'larger' than their foot due to lack of vocabulary. However, I knew that many students already had experience measuring objects, so I knew that many of them would be able to succeed in completing this task.

This student in particular excelled in this task.  He started off getting a little frustrated because when he traced his shoe on the paper, it did not perfectly outline the shape. However, once he was finished cutting it out, he made markings along the side along with numbers. This displays to me that he is well aware that when we measure things, we use numbers to evaluate them. This also reveals that he has in fact at least seen a ruler, yardstick or some other measuring tool prior to today. In the photo above, he found a book that is the same length as his foot. When asked to find an object that was smaller than his foot, he grabbed scissors and counted (using his markings) how long they were. Finally, when asked to find something larger than his foot, he exclaimed 'the table!' and began to count how many of his feet would fit across the table (even though he was not necessarily instructed to do so).

Evidently, this student has more experience with measuring than most of his classmates. In order to challenge him, I may ask him to measure things around the room and write a numerical value for them (3 of his feet, 1.5 of his feet, etc.). I may also ask the student to use a ruler to create accurate markings on his paper foot. Finally, I may also ask him to create another tool to measure with, or if limited on supplies, ask him to use parts of his body to measure things (hands, arms, legs, entire body length, etc.).