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Is it Bigger than a Bread Box?

Hi All,

Here's another good activity for the beginning of the school year. Very easily differentiated, you can learn a lot about your students as you watch them work and it gives them a chance to get out of their seats, to get active and move around the room with a purpose. Win-win-win.

The activity is called "Is it Longer Than...?" A good way to begin work on length measurement is with simple comparisons. Remember when a clue in guessing games was, "Is it bigger than a bread box?" Well, that's not going to work too well today, but there are alternatives to the bread box comparison.

*Begin by holding up a common classroom object like an eraser. Ask, "Is your pencil longer than this eraser?" Have students make some predictions about the pencil they have selected, deciding if it is longer, shorter, or the same length as the eraser. Then try a few from volunteers to find out. The results can be surprising. We've all seen some amazingly tiny pencils in our days in the classroom, right?


*After a couple of examples like this, provide students with a copy of the chart at this link. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1I7uzoNpBWAFKW55ahDF9TTgQW-gXjb2_/view?usp=sharing

Have students choose an object to be the standard against which they will measure and write what it is in the blank box at the top of the page. Common choices include; pencil, eraser, book, wrist watch, crayon, bracelet, marker, ruler, chalk, board eraser, paper clip, etc.

 *Challenge students to find some things in their desks and in the classroom that are longer than their standard object and some things that are shorter than their standard object. Students can work on their own or in pairs.

 *Allow students to roam the room comparing objects and using their charts to record results ("Yes" column for things that are longer; "No" column for things that are not longer, meaning same length or shorter)

 *Have students share some results from their charts with the rest of the class. To reinforce this learning, having students do the same activity at home is a great piece of homework.

 To differentiate for more experienced students, consider having students use a tool like a ruler to measure each object and record the measurement next to the name of the object. Measurement could be done with a ruler, tape measure, or yard stick and could be in standard or metric units.

 Another option is to let students choose their own non-standard  unit of measure, for example, paper clips or crayons.

Lots of options, but always active, interesting, and simple to do.

 All the best this year! Stay safe, good people. :)
Bob

PS - This is another oldie from my book, Best-Ever Activities for Grades 2-3 Measurement (Scholastic, 2002)

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