5_7_07

Begin with a whole-class talk about measuring with color tiles or cubes. Can I go to the hardware store and say I need a shelf that is 26 cubes long? No, instead we use something called inches so that everyone is measuring the same way. Color tiles are one inch long, so you can use color tiles to find out how many inches long something is.

Demonstrate, and let kids see that the color tiles are wiggling around and stuff.

This is why we are making our own rulers, so that we know how many inches/color tiles long something is but we don't have to use these wiggly color tiles!

Review how many inches are in one foot. Demonstrate or work together on measuring a few things.

Kids go to finish their rules or to practice measuring with their rulers.

Sharing at the end: What did you notice when you measured with your rulers? What was hard/easy? What did you discover? Talk about could you start measuring in the middle of your ruler? How would you have to count if you did that?

Adults split up the tables we are working with: Heidi -- red and purple, Maria -- green and blue, Samara -- yellow and orange