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Classroom Activities: Ready-Set-Math: Measuring (2 short lessons)
  


Ready-Set-Math

Make a Mountain

Ages: 3-4 years

Items needed:
Moist sand or a large quantity of clay/play dough
String or heavy yarn

The material is divided into two piles. The child uses one pile to make as high a mountain as possible. The challenge is to create another mountain of equal height. The child measures one mountain with a piece of yarn. Then the yarn is cut and used to measure the second mountain until they are "both the same."

Variation: Play the record and sing the song, "She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain.' Talk about how people travel around mountains. How is this different from a flat road?

Measure My Jump

Ages: 4-5 years

Items needed:
Long rectangular building blocks or cardboard
Kindergarten blocks or a piece of smooth wood (no splinters)
Optional: Plastic whiffle balls used by golfers, wads of newspaper
Yardsticks

Children work in pairs. One child takes a "giant step' and the other child places blocks end to end to measure the distance. The children reverse roles and try it again. They may experiment to see if they can take a longer step. This activity works well on a sunny day, using a grassy area (to avoid injury if someone tries too hard and falls). They report their findings to the group.

Variation: One child throws a whiffle ball and stands by it as the other child (or team) measures the distance in yardsticks. The teacher may want to color code the white balls with a marker, so the teams can find their own on the field. The class makes a graph of the results.

From Susan Sperry Smith Early Childhood Mathematics, Second Edition, ©2001, page 192.

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