Measurement & Math
As we work through our measurement chapter, students are learning to be more precise by watching out for gaps and not overlapping. These are skills that will sharpen with time and exposure. Allowing students to work together to tackle how they will measure and what they will measure with, also provides invaluable skills.
When students are given the opportunity to work together on tasks, they are forced to use mathematical language and reasoning skills to explain their thinking with their partner/group.
In the pictures below students were placed in groups to measure different paths. They had to agree as a group which tool they would use (paper clips, tiles, straws, string or paint stirrers). As they traveled from path to path, their measurements became more precise because they collaborated and discussed their strategies for measuring. The lesson to be learned here is that with time, collaboration and the teacher stepping to the side, students can figure out everything we want them to. Know what the key ideas allow the learning to happen!
