Measurement

For the past two weeks in Room 12, students have been exploring measurement. We have had the pleasure of inviting Mrs. Gordon (our school’s Math Learning Lead) into our classroom a few times to help us investigate and deepen our understanding length. We began by discussing the different metric units. After some prompting, students were able to identify that the basic unit of length in the metric system is the metre. From there we went on to discuss terms such as: millimetre (mm), centimetre (cm) and decimetre (dm). We learned that there are one hundred centimetres in one metre, and one thousand millimetres in one metre!

Next students were challenged to find two items in the school that were about 10 m in length, 10 cm in length and 100 mm in length. Students had a great time searching for items around the school that were similar in length. We also spent time measuring our Run & Scream Sticks using standard units of measurement. Earlier in the year, we had measured our sticks using non-standard forms of measurement, so it was interesting to compare the two. We then went outside to play a game of Run & Scream. When students ran out of breath, they sat down and dropped their sticks. Students used the metre wheel to measure how far they were able to run in metres.

Students were also invited to solve two measurement Dot-to-Dot puzzles from MathPickles. Students worked independently on these tasks and were keen to solve them. Next week, we will come together as a whole class to discuss their strategies and identify any missteps before solving them collaboratively.

Students are in the process of solving two problems (one that is mild and the other one spicy). Please have a look at the problems below, and feel free to ask your child about them over the weekend. We will come back to our problems and solve them next week!

Learning Outcome: Students determine length using standard units.

• Justify the choice of millimetres, centimetres, or metres to measure various lengths.
• Measure lengths of straight lines and curves, with millimetres, centimetres, or metres.
• Metric units are named using prefixes that indicate the relationship to the basic unit, including: milli: one thousand millimetres in one metre, centi: one hundred centimetres in one metre and deci: ten decimetres in one metre.
• Identify referents for a centimetre and a metre.
• Estimate length by comparing to a benchmark.