Measurement Madness and a FREEBIE

Measurement has always been a math unit I teach at the end of the year.  I have to admit.... it's not a favorite of mine.  I have really been focusing this past year on revamping some of the units that I don't enjoy teaching.  I wanted to design them so that I would look forward to teaching these units and MOST importantly that my students would benefit greatly from the new activities and ideas that would be presented to them. This week we have been working on measurement including standard and metric measurement.  Here are a few things my kiddos were working on with measurement this week.

  Shown above is one of the anchor charts that is posted in my classroom as a reference for standard and metric measurement.

I heart foldables!  So I just had to incorporate one to use with measurement.  After talking about and investigating the units of standard measurement, my students had to write the units of standard measurement on the foldable.  I asked them to write them in order of smallest unit of measure to the largest.   Then students worked in groups to brainstorm items that would be measured using those standard units of measurement.  As we talked about and investigated the metric units of measurement, my students did the exact same activity as well.  The students kept this foldable in their math folders ,and it was a great resource for them to refer to throughout the week when we discussed units of measurement.
Here's a picture.

To make this foldable, use 4 sheets of paper.  Then stagger each one about an inch from the bottom of each sheet of paper.  Fold over about 1/4 of the way so that you have 8 flaps.  Then I stapled  the top of this foldable.

My students also participated in measurement stations this week.  I had 7 stations including the classroom computer.  This was a fabulous way for students to do some investigative work with measurement. I had four students in each group, and they were able to finish in about 7 minutes at each station. The stations were:
1. How far does your plane fly?    Students had to measure the distance their paper airplane had traveled.
2. Can you classify the length of these items?  This was simply a game with 3 mats and game cards.  The mats were meters, kilometers, and centimeters. The game cards listed items.  Students had to decide which unit of measurement would be used to determine the length of the item.
3. Coverting standard measurement  board game.  This was a board game with cards listing items in inches, feet, or yards.  Students were asked to make a conversion from feet to yards or inches to feet, and so forth on each card.  If students converted the measurement correctly, they were to move the number of spaces indicated at the bottom of each card.
4. Classroom measurement scavenger hunt.  Students had to find items in the classroom that would be measured using inches or feet.  They had to write the item down and also measure it to determine its length.
5. How far can you long jump?   Students had to do a long jump and measure the length of their jump in feet, yards, and inches.
6. How much hot air do you have?  Students were to blow a pattern block across the top of the table.  Then they had to measure the distance their pattern block traveled using inches and centimeters.
7. I also utilized the computers.  Two measurement games that I found online to use with this station were:  http://www.funbrain.com/measure/     and http://www.zoodles.com/free-online-kids-games/measurement

Here's a peek at my students in action during their Measurement Madness Stations.

Just getting ready to begin... students needed their clipboard, pencil, and ruler.

This is a pic from the "How much hot air do you have?" station.

This is a picture from the "How far does your plane fly?" station.

 Just measuring his long jump.....

The long jump in "action".

Students are measuring the Ipad while at the  Classroom measurement scavenger hunt.

Even with the paper airplanes flying through the air, and students jumping as far as they could... these stations went so well.  I equipped my students with a list of rules they had follow in order to be able to complete the stations.   I enjoyed seeing them in action measuring the flights of their paper airplanes, their long jumps, and etc.  It gave them such a great opportunity to put what they have learned this week into action.  As I monitored all the stations, I was so pleased to find that the students were all on task and doing a fabulous job.

If you are working on measurement, please feel free to use these ideas in your classroom.  I have the Measuring Madness Math Stations available on TPT and TN for $2.50 if you prefer to grab the already made unit.  Here's a peek.

Click on the picture to see this at my TPT store.

I couldn't begin the weekend without leaving a FREEBIE from this packet.  It's the Converting Standard Measurement board game.  Click on the picture to download this part of the unit for free.

I would love to hear about some of the activities you use in your classroom to teach measurement.