Rationale for Measurement Math Lessons

Context:

The three measurement lessons were created for Mrs. Howell's first grade classroom during my Block II internship at Mountain View Elementary School in Ashe County N.C.  The lessons were taught three consecutive days starting on April 11, 2006 and ending on April 13, 2006.  The first lesson focuses on non-standard units of measurement using candy bars to measure a desk, a chair, a piece of yarn, and a table.  The second lesson builds on the first and introduces the students to the problems within non-standard units of measurement.  On the third day students actually use standard units of measurement to measure each of the four items in the classroom.  During the lessons, I followed three students, a high, medium and low, and collected their work.  I also conducted an interview with those three students asking them about what they have learned and what their favorite part of the three lesson were.  After teaching the lessons and interviewing the students I wrote a reflection on how the lessons went, what the students learned, and what I learned as a teacher.

Impact:

The students measured the length of a table, chair, desk, and piece of yarn using candy bars which are a non-standard units of measurement (M, 2.o2).  After the items were measured the students compared their measurements using the different candy bars and found that the candy bars were different sizes causing the students to have different measurements for the same group of items.  The students learned how inaccurate non-standard units can be and used inchworms, which are a  standard unit of measurement.  After measuring using candy bars and inchworms students compared the results and discussed how having the exact same tool across the board made a difference (M, 2.01).  By the end of the lessons students understood how to measure using non-standard units and built a strong foundation for a smooth transition to standard units such as inches.

Alignment:

Standard 2, indicator 2.  I met this indicator by modeling standard and non-standard measurements in measuring length of various objects.  By the end of the three math lesson I taught the students candy bars a non-standard units are not as accurate as inchworms which are a standard units of measurement.

Standard 2, indicator 4.  I met this indicator by collecting the measurements found by the groups and formulating the data into both a table and bar graph.  

Standard 7, indicator 2.  I met this indicator by including language arts through literature in two of the mathematics lessons.  Students were asked question based on the books and were also required to make journal entries about their observations of measurements.

Standard 7, indicator 3.  I met this indicator by including keeping the students previous knowledge about measurement in mind while creating the three lessons.  I also tried to keep the lessons hands-on since the students respond to those types of lessons.

Standard 7, indicator 5.  I met this indicator by including ways to gear each lesson up, gear each lesson down, and ways to adjust lessons for diverse learners.  

Standard 9, indicator 3.  I met this indicator by allowing the students to work in groups and communicate what they have learned about measurements among each other.  I also allowed the groups to share their data for each item measured.

Standard 9, indicator 4.  I met this indicator by creating three math lessons which interconnect and build on each other.  The first lesson is on non-stadard measurement, the second lesson looks at the flaws of non-standard measurement, and the third lesson introduces students to standard measurement.

Standard 15,indicator 1.  I met this indicator by making sure I questioned the female students just as much as the male students, since I know females tend to not be math oriented.  I also made sure I called on the females to contribute in the discussion on measurement.