Many Measurement Tools

Explicit Instruction/Teacher modeling

• Put students in small groups (4–5 students) and pass out a copy of the Vocabulary Cards to each small group.
• Read through the student-friendly definitions one by one, asking student volunteers to help you read the definitions.
• Instruct the students to come up with visuals for each vocabulary word with their small groups and draw them in the blank space above each definition.
• Provide students with access to tablets or computers in each small group so they can look up real photographs of each vocabulary word and use them to draw their illustrations.
• Assign each small group 1–2 vocabulary words, and have each group come up to the front of the class to project their illustration on the whiteboard. Provide each group with a minute to explain why they drew the illustration they chose and how it relates to the vocabulary cards.
• Continue this process until all of the vocabulary cards are shared.

Guided Practice

• Allow students to stay in their small groups and gain their attention.
• Create a table with three columns on the whiteboard. From left to right, write the following headers "Measurement Tools", "Units", and "Objects". Record the following measurement tools in the first column: meter stick, yardstick, ruler.
• Get out the meter stick, rope cut to one meter long, yardstick, and ruler. Ask students to think about what's similar and different about these four measurement tools.
• Hold up the meter stick and elaborate that the meter stick is 39.37 inches, or one meter long. Record this information in the middle column titled "Units" on your table. Explain that meters are used to measure long/wide objects. Ask students to think of examples of objects that can be measured with a meter stick and record them under "Objects" on the table.
• Hold up the yardstick next to the meter stick. Explain to the students that one yard is equal to 36 inches, a little less than a meter. Record this information in the "Units" section. Ask the students to think-pair-share what objects might be measured with a yardstick and record them under "Objects" on the table.
• Show students the ruler. Explain to the students that the ruler is equal to one foot and the ruler is made up of 12 inches. Record this information on the table. Ask students to think-pair-share what objects might be measured with a ruler. Write their ideas in the corresponding column on the table.
• Explain to the students that today they will be working with meter sticks and ropes cut to the length of one meter. Hold up both measurement tools.
• Model measuring the whiteboard using the meter long rope and then the meter stick. Reinforce that when measuring objects, we should try not to overlap the measurement tool or leave large gaps.

Group work time

• Put students in partnerships and give one partner a meter stick and the other a rope.
• Explain to the students that they will be measuring the length of the classroom using their given measurement tools.
• Write down the following sentence frame on the whiteboard:
  • The classroom is ____ meters long. I know this because ____.
• Read the sentence frame aloud and ask students to copy it in their math journals. Explain to the students that they should finish the sentence frame once they have their final measurements.
• Instruct students to get started and rotate around the classroom as students are measuring. Provide students with guidance and feedback, as necessary.