Introducing Measurement by Teacher Superstore

Ready-Ed Publications

For Early Learners r o e t s Bo r e p ok u S

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Introducing Measurement: © ReadyEdPubl i cat i ons Activities for the •f orr evi ew pur posesonl y•

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Early Years

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Written by Anne Bell. Illustrated by Rod Jefferson. © Ready-Ed Publications - 2001 Published by Ready-Ed Publications, P.O. Box 276, Greenwood ,WA, 6024 Email: info@readyed.com.au Website: www.readyed.com.au COPYRIGHT NOTICE Permission is granted for the purchaser to photocopy sufficient copies for non-commercial educational purposes. However this permission is not transferable and applies only to the purchasing individual or institution.

ISBN 1 86397 165 3

Introducing Measurement -Activities for the Early Years

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It is all too easy to assume that children will immerse themselves in free play activities that will lead to mathematical discoveries and investigations. While it is certainly true that young children learn a great deal from play situations, most students, in their formative years, can further their own discoveries when exposed to planned mathematical activities and specific and associated language. This book contains thirty activities that deal with the mathematical strand of measurement. The activity sheets are clear and simple and use animals, characters and situations that are relevant and appeal to the interests of young children. The activity sheets are designed so that they can be used as standalone activities, and at the same time meet requirements as set down in curriculum documents . Each activity sheet is also supported by valuable whole class lead-up activities where the specific language of mathematics can be explored in a hands-on situation. The mat activities are fun and easy to organise with a minimum of preparation. Follow-up, support and extension ideas for related songs, poems and class displays are suggested to further develop ideas with young children.

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This book is designed to make mathematical activities fun, enjoyable and purposeful for both students and staff.

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Have fun with measurement!

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Contents Page Title

Curriculum Referencea

Page

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4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 30 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63

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Teachers’ Notes - Use your s to measure Use your s to measure Problems involving measures (length) Teachers’ Notes - How long is each snake? How long is each snake? Problems involving measures (length) Teachers’ Notes - Fingerprint fillers Fingerprint fillers Problems involving measures (area) Teachers’ Notes - Which house is mine? Which house is mine? Problems involving measures (area) Teachers’ Notes - Days of the week Days of the week Problems involving measures (time) Teacher’s Notes - Tip the load, Tightrope balancing, Unicycle balancing Tip the load Problems involving measures (mass) Tightrope balancing 1 - 5 Problems involving measures (mass) Unicycle balancing 6 - 10 Problems involving measures (mass) Postman Pete Problems involving measures (mass) Teachers’ Notes - Hands in my family Hands in my family Problems involving measures (area) Teachers’ Notes - Use your feet to measure Use your feet to measure Problems involving measures (length) Teachers’ Notes - The three bears go on holidays The three bears go on holidays Problems involving measures (time) The three bears go on holidays Problems involving measures (time) Teachers’ Notes - The winner is..., The great ocean yacht race, The animals’ picnic race day The winner is... Problems involving measures (time) The great ocean yacht race Problems involving measures (time) The animals’ picnic race day Problems involving measures (time) Teachers’ Notes - How long is it? How long is it? Problems involving measures (length) Teachers’ Notes - Fill them up Fill them up Problems involving measures (capacity) Teachers’ Notes - Down on the farm Down on the farm Problems involving measures (area) Teachers’ Notes - Measuring around Measuring around Problems involving measures (length) Teachers’ Notes - Hands, hands, hands Hands, hands, hands Problems involving measures (area) Teachers’ Notes - As tall as a house As tall as a house Problems involving measures (length) Teachers’ Notes - Socks on the line Socks on the line Problems involving measures (length) Socks on the line Problems involving measures (length) Teachers’ Notes - Which shoe is who? Which shoe is who? Problems involving measures (area) Which shoe is who? Problems involving measures (area) Teachers’ Notes - What comes first? 3 parts & 4 parts What comes first? Problems involving measures (time) What comes first? Problems involving measures (time) What comes first? Problems involving measures (time) What comes first? Problems involving measures (time) Teachers’ Notes - My first ruler My first ruler Problems involving measures (length) Which is the smallest? Problems involving measures (area) Which is the biggest? Problems involving measures (area) The long and the short of it Problems involving measures (length) Youngest to oldest family members Problems involving measures (length) Youngest to oldest family members Problems involving measures (length) Fishing For Fun Problems involving measures (length) Fishing For Fun Problems involving measures (length)

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Teachers’ Notes Use your

s to measure

Whole class lead-up activity

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Talk about how, in the olden days, horses were measured in hands and that they are still referred to in this measurement. Find some other things in your classroom, e.g. bookstand, chair, light switch, and use students’ hands to measure how high or tall these objects are.

Activity page

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Read through the instructions and simple sentences with the class, using an A3 enlargement of the activity page.

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Make painted hand prints of the class. Let the students draw around the teacher’s body shape onto a large piece of paper. Make a display using cut out hand prints to show how many hands it takes to match the teacher’s height. Students can then collage onto the teacher’s shape for clothes and features.

Use painted hand prints to stick onto the wall next to light switch, door frame, book corner to show different heights. Make display sentences explaining why the hands are there. E.g.

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Mrs Bell is as tall as 24 of our hands.

18 17 16 15

The door handle is 7 hands high.

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4 3 2 1

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Use your

s to measure

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The table is ............................

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I am ........................................

s high.

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tdoor The. e handle is .................

s tall.

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Our teacher is ........................

s high. o

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My name is ............................................. . Ready-Ed Publications

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Teachers’ Notes How long is each snake?

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Whole class lead-up activity

Use chalk or string to make snake shapes on the floor. Vary the lengths. Ask the children to identify the snakes and how they are different. What words would they use to describe them? i.e. long, short etc. “Would you use the word tall? Why not?”

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Some questions you could ask are:

“If you had to tell someone at home how long the snakes were, how would you do it?” (Show with arms, compare to leg length etc.)

“If you had to make a snake sleeping bag, how would you know how long to make it?”

Use blocks (all the same size) to measure the length. Try to guess the length first, then test the ideas, i.e. “This snake is 2 blocks longer than that snake.”

Activity page

Read the simple instructional sentence together with the class. Children can work individually with small construction blocks to measure the length of each snake. Explain the use of boxes for writing their answer in once they have counted their blocks.

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Make snakes by filling stockings with scrunched up newspaper. Decorate with dribbled paint. Make a display cage of long snakes and short snakes. Order snakes in length from shortest to longest. Use large display signs to reinforce the terms ‘long’, ‘short’, ‘longest’ and ‘shortest’.

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How long is each snake? How long? r o e t s Bo r e p ok blocks u S

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Use blocks to measure each snake.

blocks

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blocks

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blocks

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Teachers’ Notes Fingerprint fillers Whole class lead-up activity

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Use masking tape to mark out large closed shapes on the floor. Talk about comparing sizes and ask children to suggest things that are bigger or smaller than the shapes you have made. Discuss things that might be easily covered by a shape this size and things that could cover the shape. Use the word AREA wherever possible to describe the inside space. Ask questions like: “Can you fit a child into the shape or a number of children inside?” Each time ask children to guess or make estimates before testing their ideas. Use classroom items such as books, wooden blocks or papers to fill the area of the shapes.

Activity page

Read through the simple instructions with the class using an A3 enlargement of the activity page. Explain that the ‘question mark box’ is for making guesses before the students start printing. Once the students have completed the filling of a shape ask them to count the number it took to fill the area and to write their answer in the ‘tick box’. Talk about comparing how close their guesses were to the tested answer. You may prefer to use collage paper shapes to fill the areas. The end of a pencil dipped in a paint-moistened sponge makes a great print. You may think of your own more suitable ‘filler’.

© ReadyEdPubl i cat i ons Use large • sheets of r newspaper to findw out the area ofp things in your classroom, e.g. the door, f o r e v i e p u r o s e s o n l y • table tops, the mat area etc. Large wooden blocks are great for printing. When the prints have

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dried let the children cut them out to see how many it takes to cover the door or window. Make a display board explaining what the class has done and discovered.

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Fingerprint fillers

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How many fingerprints does it take to fill the shapes? Try to guess the number first, then check your answers.

The answer is

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?n My guess isc © ReadyE dP ubl i at i o s ? ?y ?• ? ? •f orr evi ew pur posesonl

? ? ?

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The answer is ? ? ? ?

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The answer is

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Teachers’ Notes Which house is mine? Whole class lead-up activity

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You will need glue and scissors.

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Using wooden blocks on the floor ask the children to find out who are the tallest and shortest children in the class. Have these children lie down on the floor while others build the shape of a house around each student. Compare the differences between the two houses. Split the class into smaller groups. Can they make a house that will fit two children or more? Ask them to make comments about the different houses made by each group. Using obvious items, (e.g. the smallest and the tallest child, the teacher or parent and dolls etc.) ask a small group of students to make a house to fit one of the selected people or items. The rest of the class covers their eyes. The class is then asked to look and try to guess for whom the house has been made. Test the children’s answers by trying to fit some of the selected people or dolls in the houses.

Photocopy an activity sheet enlarged to A3 size for explanation purposes. Before reading the instructions together, ask the children if they can guess what it is they have to do. Suggest that no gluing is done until all people have been cut out. Can some people fit into other houses?

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Reference: Guinness Book of Records

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be specially made to fit these people. Ask the children to paint or draw very tall or very short people. Make a class house mural for tall people and one for short people.

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Which house is mine?

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Cut out the people and put them in the correct house.

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My name. is .............................................

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Teachers’ Notes Days of the week Whole class lead-up activity

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As a group talk about the number of days that the students come to class. What are the names of these days? Are there days when they don’t come to school? What are these days called? Write the names on a large sheet of paper or on the board.

Ask questions like:

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Concentrating on the initial letter sounds, see if the students can help you to read the names of each day. “Are there any days that start with the same letter? How can you tell them apart?”

Ask the class if they can think of activities that they do on certain days. If you do cooking on a Friday, draw a picture of cooking next to the word “Friday”. Try to think of other activities that link to certain days. Write another set of days of the week on a separate piece of paper. Cut the week into single days. Spread the days in a mixed up order in the middle of the children. Ask students if they can find “...the day we do cooking - it starts with ‘F’”. Try other days and associated activities. Using the original days of the week list as a guide, ask the children to help put the days of the week in order.

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The days of the week game.

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Make an enlarged A3 copy of the activity sheet. Read the instructions with the students. Ask them what they notice about the list of days at the bottom of the sheet. Can they help to fix the order? Your original days of the week chart should be clearly visible as a guide for students. Remind students to check their answers with the chart before they glue. Some students might like to draw the activities next to the correct days if they finish early.

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Make cards of the days of the week so that there are enough for every child to have one single day each, i.e. for a class of 21, 3 of each day. The children sit in a circle. One child is selected as the “Days of the week wizard”. The wizard holds all of the cards. The seated students cover their eyes and sing... “Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday too.” - Sing to the tune of children’s song: “Hungry, hungry, I am hungry”.

You may choose to start with Sunday rather than Monday. The wizard drops one card behind each student. When completed the wizard yells “Stop”. The students pick up the card from behind their backs and read them - some may need help. The wizard then says “There are seven days in a week and my favourite is ............. !” The seated students that have the ‘favourite’ day on their cards all stand and run in a clockwise direction and back to their spot. The first one seated is the new wizard. To collect cards - ask each ‘day’ separately to push their cards to the middle - this will help to reinforce the ‘reading’ of the names. The wizard collects all the cards once they have been pushed to the middle and the game starts again. Page 12

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Days of the week

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Cut out the days of the week and put them in order. Draw an activity that you do on certain days next to the correct day. Day Things I do today

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Tuesday

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Monday

Saturday

Thursday

Wednesday

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My name is ..........................

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Teacher’s Notes Tip the load Tightrope balancing Unicycle balancing Whole class lead-up activity

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Par cel PPostman ostman PPete’s ete’s Pr oblem Parcel Problem

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Talk about what the word ‘balancing’ means. When is it important for people to balance? Collect the children’s ideas and either write them on a large piece of paper or the board, or use picture cues. Talk about the importance of having the same weight on either side when balancing. Draw a chalk line on the mat. Ask a child to hold two books in one hand and one book in the other and walk along the line with arms evenly outstretched. Discuss what happens and how the child angles his/her arms. How did it feel? Use other objects and try it on a low balance beam outside. Using a set of balance scales, place five blocks on one side and three in the other. Ask the students why it does not balance and how they could fix it. Enlarge the Postman Pete picture to A3 size. Cut out the Postman Pete and use a split pin to anchor him centrally to a sheet of card. Using the split pin allows you to tilt the bike in accordance to the loads (see Pg 18). Explain to the children that Postman Pete has a problem. The postmaster has loaded his bike unevenly and he can’t balance. Can the children help to balance the loads? The picture can alternatively be placed on the floor, and classroom objects used to make uneven loads on either side of the bike. The picture can also be placed on a magnetic board with magnet shapes used as the loads.

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The activity sheet ‘Tip the load’ deals with identifying heavy loads and light loads and placing them on the corresponding side of the seesaw, e.g. elephant on low side, mouse on high side. The activity sheets ‘Tightrope balancing’ and ‘Unicycle balancing’ deal with loads numbering 1-5 and 6-10 respectively. Students are required to count the full load and add to the incorrect load to balance it.

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Tip the load

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Cut out the animals and put them on the seesaw. Which animal will go at which end?

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My name. is ...........................................................

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Tightrope balancing 1 - 5

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Help the tightrope walkers to balance their loads. You may need to add some weights to their piles.

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Unicycle balancing 6 - 10

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Help the unicyclists to balance their loads. You may need to add some weights to their piles.

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Postman Pete

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Teachers’ Notes Hands in my family Whole class lead-up activity

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Activity page

You will need A3 copies of the activity sheet, pencils and hands.

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Young children love this activity because it involves their first ‘homework’. Using an enlarged copy of the activity page explain the activity to the students. The students take A3 copies of the activity sheet home and collect a hand outline drawing of each person in their family. The sheet is fairly self-explanatory but you may wish to send a small note home to parents. If students have a particularly large family you might send home two sheets, or suggest that they place a small hand inside a large hand when drawing. When the sheets return to school (allow a few days for this to happen) they make great discussion pieces. Children will take great pride in showing their peers how big their dad’s hand might be or how small the baby’s hand looks on paper.

When the sheets return to class the children can paint the inside of the hands. Don’t forget to colour the biggest hand red and the smallest hand blue.

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The sheets make a wonderful display for the wall on parent night and open days.

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Write the person’s name in their hand. Colour the biggest hand red. Colour the smallest hand blue.

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Teachers’ Notes Use your

to measure

Whole class lead-up activity

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Activity page

You will need pencils and your feet.

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Talk about how in some countries they use the term ‘foot’ to measure things to find out their length. Ask a child to lie down on the floor. Use a block to mark where his/her head starts and a block to mark where his/her feet end. The child now moves out of the way and uses his/her feet to measure the length between the two blocks. How many feet long is he/she? Ensure students place heel to toe when measuring. Now try the length of the teacher. Will it be longer or shorter? Try other things in the class, e.g. across the mat, across the room, etc. Talk about what happens when a student measures something with his/her feet and then the teacher measures the same thing with his/her feet. Try this and discuss the difference.

Read through the instructions and simple sentences with the class using an A3 enlargement of the activity page.

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© ReadyEdPubl i cat i ons Use painted• footf prints to stick onto the wall, down ther hallway, across theo door frame and the o r r e v i e w p u p o s e s n l y • home corner to show different lengths. Make display sentences explaining why the feet are there.

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Make painted foot prints of the class. Make a display using cut out foot prints to show how many feet it takes to stretch from one side of the room to the other. Display the foot prints across the wall.

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Use your

to measure

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The broom is ..........................

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The sandpit is ........................

long.

©classroom ReadyE Publ i cat i o ns Our is d .................... high.

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Teachers’ Notes The three bears go on holidays Whole class lead-up activity

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Read ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’.

Activity page

You will need scissors and glue.

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Talk about the words the story used to explain different sizes. Fill a box with an adult, child and baby sized T-shirt, sock, jumper, shoe etc. Explain that all the bears’ clothes have been mixed up and you need the children’s help to sort it. Ask the children to first group the clothing into item piles (i.e. pile of socks, T-shirts etc). Can they help you to identify which item belongs to whom? You might like to have three suitcases of different sizes into which the children can sort.

Explain to the children that the three bears have decided to go on holidays and they need to pack their bags. Suggest to the children that they cut out all of the clothes and put them into item piles first before they glue them into the suitcases.

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Dramatisation of ‘The Three Bears’ using students and three sized items for sorting. Fill the home corner with sorted sets of three sized items.

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Make a large class collage mural of the three bears and assign different groups to make the different sized items in the story - bowls, chairs and beds.

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Can you help the three bears to pack their suitcases? Check your answers before you use glue.

My name is ............................

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T-shirts

socks

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The three bears T go on holidays ea

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scarves

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hats

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Teachers’ Notes The winner is ..., The great ocean yacht race and The animals’ picnic race day day.. Whole class lead-up activity

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Make your own simple set of 1st - 5th ribbons. With the children make a list of different types of races. Ask questions like: “If you were the number one person to cross the line you would be the winner. What position do we call the winner?”

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You will need pencils, scissors and glue.

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Talk about the other names for 2nd - 5th. Conduct your own classroom races using classroom pets, snails, paint blobs down the window (try to choose racing items that don’t move too fast so that it is easy to place 1st - 5th).

Read the instructions carefully with the students. The activity sheet The winner is... is ideal for the introductory lesson. When students have successfully completed this sheet they will be ready to attempt both The great ocean yacht race and The animals’ picnic race day.

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When students line up to come inside, ask individuals to find the 3rd person or the 2nd person etc.

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The winner is... Read the place written on the ribbon. Award the ribbon by circling the correct racer.

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4th

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My name is ....................................................... Ready-Ed Publications

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ew vi The great re ocean yacht race P © ReadyEdPubl i cat i ons •f orr evi ew pur posesonl y•

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Cut out the yachts and glue them onto the ocean in the correct order.

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Check your order before you glue.

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Cut out the animals. Which do you think will be the fastest? Which do you wwfrom fastest to slowest think will be the slowest? Arrange the animals in w order then glue them on the place boxes. Don’t forget to check before you glue.

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slowest

Name..................

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fastest

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Teachers’ Notes How long is it? Whole class lead-up activity Make an A3 sized copy of the activity page for children to look at while seated in a circle on the mat. Ask two children to roll out a strip of paper tape the length of the teacher’s arm. Talk about where the arm starts and finishes. Cut the tape the correct length and compare it with the length of a student’s arm. Now glue the tape under the picture of the arm on the activity page. Read the sentence with the children. Can they now help you to read the next sentence using the pictures as clues? Continue using the teacher’s leg, thumb, hand and hair as listed on the sheet.

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You will need paper tape or streamers, scissors and glue.

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Activity Page

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This is a good activity for children to learn to work in pairs as it requires a great deal of cooperation and communication between partners. Explain how one person will need to be the ‘model’ while the other measures, and then students swap roles. Remind students to write their names at the top of the sheet. Explain to students that they only need to glue the top section of the tape to the page.

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These sheets look wonderful as a wall display but they need a little space for the paper tape to hang below them. If you are placing these sheets into a keepsake scrapbook, it is a good idea to fold the tape up so it can easily be unfolded when looking at the length. Bar graphs of children’s height is a worthwhile follow-up activity.

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My leg

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is this long.

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is this long.

My arm

is this long.

? T e a .............................................. ch er My thumb My hand My hair © ReadyEdPubl i cat i ons •f orr evi ew pur posesonl y•

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How long is

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Teachers’ Notes Fill them up Whole class lead-up activity This is an activity best suited to a wet area or outside. The activity can be used with the whole class or small groups. The nature of this type of guided explorative play provides a wonderful opportunity for the introduction of mathematical terms such as ‘full’, ‘half’ and possibly ‘quarter’.

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Allow the children to have free play time with the water toys before starting. Ask the children to make guesses before they test their ideas and explain the word ‘estimate’. Young children love to learn new words and use ‘real’ words so it is worthwhile building them into the conversation, e.g. “What did we estimate it would take to fill this bucket?” “Did we estimate too much or not enough?” Encourage the students to explain what they are doing and what they have found, not only to you, but to their peers. You will need water, an egg cup, a cup, a jug, a bucket and a water source that the students can dip into, e.g. a water trolley.

When working with the group enlarge the activity page to A3. Read the instructions together with the students. You might like to use waterproof aprons. See if the students can read the question back to their peers with the help of the picture clues.

© ReadyEdPubl i cat i ons Follow -up and eextension xtension ideas ollow-up •off orr ev i ewforp ur p oses o nl y •time. A Leave plenty different sized containers students to experiment with during free play

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canvas paddle pool is perfect in summer and more students can be involved at one time. Add food colouring, detergent or glitter to the water for a different effect.

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Teachers’ Notes Down on the farm Whole class lead-up activity

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Use your favourite farm songs and poems to introduce this activity. Make a collection of plastic farm animals. Explain that at Old MacDonald’s farm someone forgot to close the gate and all the animals have become mixed. Ask the students to help sort them into groups. Are there different ways they can group them? E.g. by colour, number of legs, size etc. Experiment with different groupings. Finish by grouping them by animal type. Arrange the animals in ‘flocks and herds’, talk about different collective nouns. Arrange the flocks and herds so that some are very close together and others are spread out. Once the groups have been set up, explain that Old MacDonald has decided that this is how much space they need in their pen. Old MacDonald would like the children to re-fence his animal paddocks. Assign different groups of children to first guess or estimate how many blocks they will need to fit around the animals. Ask the children to now test their estimate and compare the answers. Use the terms ‘overestimate’ and ‘underestimate’ before explaining these terms to see if the children can guess what they mean. Introduce the word ‘perimeter’ and encourage the children to use it when explaining to their peers what they have done.

You will need craft matchsticks (no heads), glue and pencils.

Show the activity sheet to the class, identifying where child’s name should be written. Read the instructions together. Talk about the ‘duck’ pen that shows how the matchsticks fit around the birds and go on to explain the rest of the fencing. Remind students to count how many matchsticks they used in each pen and ask them to write their answer in the box underneath.

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This activity can be modified and used on a larger scale with zoo animals. Use large wooden blocks for printing by coating one side with paint and pressing onto paper. The children can then make their own animals and fence them using the printed shapes. Use large wall signs explaining how many blocks it took to fit around the outside. Use some of the mathematical terms discovered in the mat session,

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i.e. around, outside, edge, perimeter, estimate, overestimate, underestimate.

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Teac he Use matchsticks to make fences around the animals. Try rto guess how many

Down on the farm

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matchsticks you will need before you glue them around the different animals.

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Teachers’ Notes Measuring around Whole class lead-up activity

Ask:

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“Can the number of children around a shape ever change? How?”

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Play ‘Here we go round the mulberry bush’ or other favourite circle games as an introduction to this session. You will need your whole class to work together to gather this information. If the students have completed any of the other perimeter activities in this book, see if they can remember any of the mathematical words, e.g. around, outside, edge, perimeter, estimate. Use chalk to draw some large shapes, of varying sizes, on the ground. Ask the students to estimate how many children it will take to stand around the outside edge. Test their theories.

Talk about the differences between standing shoulder to shoulder and holding hands. How do the numbers change and why? Decide as a class which methods you are going to use (shoulder to shoulder or holding hands). You may find holding hands is better for measuring the larger play area.

Activity Page

You will need the whole class and pencils.

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Read the activity page together. Instead of giving each child a sheet you may prefer to have one large A3 sheet to which the class can refer. Complete the first two activities in the class. When it comes to measuring the sand pit see how well the children can organise themselves without direction from you. A few quite prominent leaders emerge in these situations and they are not always the ones you would expect. The last measurement task has been left blank. Your students might like to select their own item to measure.

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Trace around the perimeter of the children’s bodies. Use these shapes to make picture displays explaining the class activities. Encourage your students to bring their parents in at collection time and let the children explain what they have done. This is a good way to reinforce the language you have introduced as well as informing the parents of class activities and programs.

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Measuring around Use your classmates to measure around things.

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sandpit. people to fit around the play equipment.

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Teachers’ Notes Hands, hands, hands Whole class lead-up activity Use songs and poems related to hand and finger play as an introduction to this activity.

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Seat the children in a large circle on the mat. Ask one child to lie down in the middle of the mat and use chalk to draw around his/her shape. Ask another child to stand inside the shape and now to stand outside the shape. Talk about the area inside the shape. How much area does it use? Use wooden blocks to fill the area. Ask the children to make estimates before they fill the area. Count how many blocks it takes to fill the area. Try the same activity but this time explore how many blocks it will take to go around the edge, or the perimeter.

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You will need - A3 copies for each child. - small blocks to fit inside and around the child hand outline. - pencil. - alternatively use a paint-soaked sponge for printing with the blocks. Read the instructions together as a group. See if the students can spot or hear the two words that are different in each section, e.g. left/right and inside/outside. It is best if students work in a small group supervised by an adult for this activity. Remind the children to count how many blocks they have used and to write their answer in the square. Depending on the size of the blocks the numbers could be quite high. Children love to work with big numbers but may need some help in identifying and writing them.

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Make a large poster sized display of a child’s outline and fill it with blue block prints to indicate ‘area’ and red block prints to show the ‘perimeter’. Use display sentences explaining the process and terms used.

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E.g. “It took 62 blocks to fit around Tom’s body.”

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Red blocks show the perimeter.

Blue blocks show the area.

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ch er Draw around your right hand.

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Draw around your left hand. How many blocks fit around your hand? How many blocks fit inside your hand?

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Teachers’ Notes As tall as a house Whole class lead-up activity You will need a collection of cereal boxes sealed at one end to form solid blocks or light weight blocks that can be stacked next to the student.

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Ask a student to choose a doll from the home corner and to stand it up in the middle of the circle (they may need to hold it). Is the doll taller or shorter than the child? Who is the taller of the two?

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The teacher now joins the toy and child in the circle. Is the child the tallest now? Why not? Who is the tallest and who is the smallest?

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Use the boxes or blocks stacked next to the toy/child/teacher to measure height. Ask the children to make estimates before making the stacks. Compare the stacks of blocks or boxes. Count the number in each stack. You might like to try measuring three children of differing heights. Make a stack of blocks numbered from the bottom upward. Find objects in the class and place them next to the stack for measuring. This will link to the activity on the sheet. Encourage the use of mathematical terms such as: tall, taller, tallest, short, shorter, shortest, height, measurement, estimate.

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You will need coloured pencils. Read the instructions together with the children. Reinforce the concept of starting at the bottom of the stack and colouring/measuring in an upward direction. Try an example together on the mat before sending children off to complete their sheets. Remind the students to count the number of blocks they have coloured each time and to write that number in the box.

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ch ethat How tall is each object? Colour the blocks next to the picture so they are the same height. r Count how many blocks you have coloured and write the number in the box.

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Teachers’ Notes Socks on the line Whole class lead-up activity Read the story ‘Mrs. Mopple’s Washing Line’. Seat the children in a large circle on the mat. Put together a collection of socks of different lengths and patterns. Tell the children that all the washing was blown off the line by the wind and you need their help to put the pairs back together. Use students to help with the pairing. Can they group them differently, e.g. according to length, pattern, colour, etc?

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You will need scissors and glue. Tell the children that on the activity sheet there is a bigger problem. Mrs Mopple was asked to wash all of the football team’s socks and half of each pair has blown off the line. Here is a more difficult problem because all the socks are the same colour and pattern. How will we put them back together? Let the children explain to their peers about matching length. Continue to encourage the use of mathematical terms when explaining. Read the instructions together before sending children to complete the activity sheets.

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Put the box of socks in the home corner with a clothes line and pegs for students to match the pairs. “Mrs Mopple’s Washing Line”

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Puffin Books

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ch er Can you match the Cut out the socks on the other page. Look carefully at the lengths. socks up in the correct pairs? Check all of the socks before you glue them onto this page.

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Teachers’ Notes Which shoe is who? Whole class lead-up activity

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Put together a collection of shoes of different types and sizes. Ask a child to find two matching shoes. Use the word ‘pair’ and explain what it means. Ask the children if they can think of other things that come in pairs. When a pair of shoes has been identified ask the children who they think might wear these shoes. How would they walk or move when wearing these shoes? E.g. work boots - clomping around, ballet shoes - tip toes, etc. After identifying each pair of shoes ask the children to move around the room as if they were the person wearing the shoes. You may like to incorporate music to match the movement. Prior to the lesson make paper cutouts of foot shapes that would match to the different shoes. Play a matching-up game of foot sizes to shoe sizes with the children.

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You will need scissors and glue. Show the activity sheet to the children and read the instructions together. Remind the children to cut out all of the shoes before they glue them into the shoe boxes.

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Fill the home corner with different sized shoes and shoe boxes. Turn the corner into a shoe shop.

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All the shoes have been taken out of their boxes and are all mixed up. Can you help the shoe shop man put the shoes back in the correct boxes? Check all your answers before you glue.

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other page.

ch Carefully cut out all of the shoes. Try to fit them into e the rshoe boxes on the

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Teachers’ Notes What comes first?

3 parts & 4 parts

Whole class lead-up activity

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You will need scissors, glue and coloured pencils.

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Both activity sheets deal with sequencing events. Start with the simple 3 part sequence sheet first. Read ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’. Talk about the different stages the caterpillar went through before it became a butterfly. Reread the story while the children dramatise the actions. Alternatively, have four groups of children and let each group act out their own section. Ask the children to verbally recall the stages. The same activities can be done to explore the sequences of the day from waking up to going to bed, as well as a chicken hatching.

Read the instructions with the group. Explain that the pictures on the cutting out page have been jumbled. Ask the children if they can help to fix the order of the stories and glue them onto the other page. Remind students to check their order before using glue.

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Literature: “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” - by Eric Carle. Make a large class mural of the stages of the butterfly cycle: Scrunch up balls of paper for the eggs. Make egg carton caterpillars. Wrap string or wool around sticks for the cocoons. Make squash paintings by folding paper in half with blobs of paint inside to make mirror image prints for butterfly wings.

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ch er Carefully cut out the boxes. Can you rearrange them in the correct order?

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Think about beginning, middle and end.

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ch Carefully cut out the boxes. Can you rearrange theme in rthe correct order?

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Glue the boxes in order. Check your answers before you glue them to the page.

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Teachers’ Notes My first ruler Whole class lead-up activity This is a good extension activity for more able students. The activity is also good for introducing rulers and standard measurement. Depending on the group of students you may decide to enlarge the sheet to A3 size and complete it together on the mat or with a small group of students. If you enlarge the page use a blackboard ruler to measure.

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Discuss with the students the need to have exact measurements for some things, e.g. cooking, sewing, making real buildings. Talk about what might happen if the bricklayer told the cement person to pour a line of cement as long as his/her arm instead of an exact number measurement. Discuss other problems that could arise from this method of measurement. Young children have difficulty understanding the need to start from zero when measuring. A star has been placed on the paper ruler and the measuring items. Remind the students to match up the stars.

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Cut out the ruler at the bottom of the page. Line up the star on the ruler with the star under each picture to measure the picture’s length in centimetres.

cms

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 910

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Which is the smallest?

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Look carefully at the pictures. Draw a circle around the smallest in each line.

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Which is the biggest?

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Look carefully at the pictures. Draw a circle around the biggest thing in each line.

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The long and the short of it Read the instructions carefully and draw the pictures to match.

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Draw 2 short Draw 3 short

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Draw 1 l o n g

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Draw. 1long t Draw 2e short

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Cut out the family members. Arrange them in order from youngest to oldest. Check your order before you glue them onto the paper.

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Fishing for fun

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Cut out the fish from the next page. Match them to the catcher’s hands. Check all of the fish before you glue them in place.

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Fishing for fun

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