Measurement

  Alice's size has been changing constantly in the novel, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.  To have a reference for her changes, we set about to find out what size we were.  This was the first of many measuring activities we will be doing over the next several weeks.  

In this project, the children became familiar with how to use a measuring tape, how to distinguish between the inches and centimeter side of the tape, and how to record their findings.

A few discoveries:
Sometimes, inventive methods needed to be used to determine the results, such as asking a friend or using a mirror.  One child realized  that you could not get an accurate measure of your foot with your shoe on, so off came the shoes. Another child discovered that both her feet were not the same size.

For those of you who were able to stay around on the first day of school for our "Morning Meeting", you heard Joanna speak to the fact that each individual is on their own journey.  Each person comes to school, with different experiences, talents, and finds their own path of learning.  This activity is an example of how this plays out in the classroom.  Each child came in with their own experiences and knowledge about measuring.   At the end of the activity, each expanded on what they knew before.  For example, one child used this type of measuring tape for the first time and had to learn how to hold the tape at the one inch, wrapped it around to the body part to measure, and then read the number that matched up to the beginning of the tape.  Another child was curious to learn a new way of writing the fraction 3/4.  He asked, "I know when you say 2 1/2, you can write it 2.5 but how would you write 12 and 3/4?".  Each child explored, learned, and discovered.