Content Area: Math

 

Index: 4.2D Grade 2 CPI 4

 

Standard: 4.2 - Geometry and Measurement

 

Strand: D - Units of Measurement

 

Cumulative Progress Indicator: 4 -  The student will estimate measures.

 

Grade: 2

 

Sample Activities:

 

·        Students estimate how many of their shoes will fit in a giant's footprint (left conveniently on the classroom blackboard!) and write their estimates. They trace around their shoes and cut out the tracings. After the teacher has pasted a few shoes onto the giant's footprint, the students revise their estimate. They then check the accuracy of their estimates by pasting as many shoes as will fit into the footprint.

 

·        Students estimate the weight of various objects in beans and then use a balance scale to check the accuracy of their measurements.

 

·        Students have small pieces of yarn of slightly different lengths ranging from 2 to 6 inches. Each student first estimates the number of his or her pieces it would take to match a much longer piece - about 30 inches long - and then actually counts how many. Then they use their individual pieces to measure other objects in the room. Each child is responsible for estimating the lengths in terms of his or her own yarn, but they can use evidence from other children's measuring to help make their own estimates.

 

·        Students regularly estimate in situations involving classroom routines. For example, at snack time, they may guess how many cups can be filled by each can of juice or how many crackers each student will get if all of the crackers in the box are given out.

 

·        Kindergartners always have fun deciding which color is best represented in a group of multi-colored objects. Good examples of such an activity would be choosing the color that shows up most often (or least often) in bags of M&M's, in handfuls of small squares of colored paper, or in a jar full of marbles. After everyone has committed to a guess, the children can sort the objects and count each color. They can then make bar graphs to show the distribution of the different colors.

 

·        Students use Tana Hoban's photographs in Is It Larger? Is It Smaller? as a starting point for investigating and comparing quantities and measures in their classroom. For example, on one page, three vases are shown filled with three different kinds of flowers. The reader must decide which objects to compare, such as the vases, before ordering them - from tallest to shortest and/or by volume.