Spud Measuring

Over Spring Break our spuds sprouted.

This week we busily hilled them each day.

This year instead of measuring the plants I set up some paper plants

for the children to use.

They laid the blocks along the stalk till they reached the leaves

then counted them.

They recorded their number on our clip boards.

On a shelf to the side were other materials the children could use.

 The measuring tape was a popular choice.

This boy used toy fish and then the measuring tape.

Wine corks were another choice.

This picture gives you an idea how much the plants grew this week.

Working Together

I like when an idea I have and an interest a child has comes together.

That's what happened on Monday.

I wanted to make a little easel to put in our sensory tub.

At the same this little guy arrived at school with his measuring tape.

He was ready to measure.

As he went to play I continued to look around my storage room

for something that would work.

I found a large piece of flex board in the perfect colour.

I asked the little guy if he wanted to help me.

We measured and marked the board then cut it together.

But when we put it in the tub it was too big

(I had measured it myself the first time)

But that was okay, it meant that we had to remeasure,

mark and cut again.

 It felt so good doing this activity with someone who was so interested.

Stay tuned to tomorrow to see what we did with it.

Scales

The families were invited to experiment with scales.

We asked them, "What happens when you put an animal on one side?"

How many do we need to put on the other side to make the scale balanced?

It took some calculation, some experimenting, some trial and error.

We learned that not all the animals weighed the same.

Even if they were the same size.

Comparing Sizes with Our Big Buddies

Last week we got together with our big buddies to share a StoryWalk

and share a math activity.

We met in the gym and the StoryWalk was set up around on the walls.

Some children started their time together by reading the story

while others began measuring each other.

The big buddies had prepared a big pile of pumpkins, all the same size.

Then they took turns laying on the floor while the other buddy

placed enough pumpkins beside the person to measure

them from heel to tip of head.

Then they counted them.

After measuring each other they recorded their

lengths and names on pumpkins.

Measuring Dinosaurs

             
Wanting to add more math to the program I set up this invitation to measure some of our dinosaurs.  It has lots of dinosaurs in the middle, among the greenery and four trays each holding different counting tools; corks, cubes, blocks and people.
   
I noticed the first day that some children had a difficult time seeing the beginning and the end of the dinosaur so I add a stick for the dino to stand on and that helped.
         
Some children measured the length of the dinosaurs while others measured
                                                the height.
       
Or they used one of the tools, like the people, and measured with them standing on top of each other or they laid them down from head to foot.  She didn't want to
                            stop so added more dinosaurs in the row.
               
To encourage measuring both length and height and to record the findings
                                    I created this data sheet.
              
                       The pure pleasure of building was evident.

Measuring Spuds–Day 2

This morning a new child measured our three designated potato plants to see if they grew overnight.  And if they did, how much?
     
              
                                      Plant #1 grew 3 cubes.

    
                                     Plant #2 only grew 2 1/2 cubes.

   
      
             
                               Plant #3 grew just two cubes. 

For a total of 6 cubes tall.

                       
This was an awesome and fun math activity.  Next time, so more children could take part, I would give them a plant of their own to measure and track.

Unfortunately we won’t be able to continue as today was our last day before Spring Break and I added the rest of the soil.