Hands-On Activities for Teaching Measurement to the Nearest 1/4 Inch & Line Plots

 Teaching measurement is such a fun topic to teach because it naturally lends itself to hands-on learning.  In 3rd grade, we learn how to measure to the nearest quarter inch.  I like to teach this concept after we learn about fractions.  This gives students some background knowledge about fractions of a whole.

Rulers can be a bit overwhelming to students when they are trying to make sense of all the "little lines" found between each inch.  A little trick I have learned to help them make sense of this, is to use 4 different colored highlighters to highlight the first inch.  Before passing out the rulers, I highlight each quarter inch in a different color.   

We practice measuring a few examples together, and then its time for them to explore this concept on their own.  We did an "outdoor scoot" using this activity.  To complete the outdoor scoot, I taped the bugs in various places outside.  Students went around in partner groups measuring the bugs and recording their lengths on the recording sheet. The bugs were taped in a central location to give the students enough room to move around, but not too far apart that I could not keep my "teacher eye" on everyone.  If the weather is not cooperating with you, this scoot can also be completed indoors. 

Once everyone gathered their measurement data, we created a line plot. After creating the line plot, its a great time for students to create questions that can be answered by their line plot such as, "What length was most frequently measured?" or "How many bugs measured at least 5 inches?".

Pretty fun right?  If you are in need of additional resources to teach measurement to the nearest quarter inch and line plots, you can find more hand-on activities here:

You can also find printable vocabulary posters here ( color or black and white versions included):

Valentine's Day Freebies & a Giveaway

Well hello February! And hello fellow bloggers and blog readers. :) Thanks for stopping by.

Kelie and I have teamed up with some amazing teacher bloggers to bring you a fun February themed blog hop and giveaway to celebrate Kelie's TpT store reaching 1,000 followers! Woot, woot! Congrats, partner! <3

The giveaway will run until February 10th. Enter to win by hopping to all 6 blog posts and then enter via any one of the Rafflecopter links. One winner, chosen randomly, will be announced sometime February 11th and will win a custom t-shirt and a $30 Target gift card. SCORE! :)  Hopefully you will find some great ideas on how to celebrate Valentine's Day in you classroom as you "hop" to each blog.

Put A Ring On It
Kelie here- I love to integrate games that align to what I'm teaching because, well, it just makes learning fun. Grab this freebie from my store and put your worksheets to rest this holiday.  Your students will have fun solving subtraction equations and reviewing the skill of regrouping.

This game is perfect for early finishers, small group extra support, or  morning review. I'm sure you will think of other ways you can use it with your students as well.

If you are looking for tons of fun addition and subtraction games to play with your students, you can find the whole unit here:

Valentine Party Planning

Last year, I (Karen) had a Valentine's party planning letter featured in the TpT newsletter. It brought me lots of new followers and a lot of wonderful feedback. Most often I hear how much time my resource saved busy teachers have a successful and fun card exchange and classroom party.

Sweet Math Game
Like Kelie, I love when I can make learning fun and super engaging by playing games! The game below is full of task cards that review measurement, number bonds, and data interpretation (graphs). It was developed to align with Engage New York / Eureka Math for First Grade, however it is Common Core aligned and works well regardless of the curriculum you use. :)

Writing is Sweet

I love teaching writing! I created this pack to use in my own classroom. I may no longer be in the classroom, but this pack is still being used by my team. :) It includes fun Valentine's or love themed writing paper along with pocket chart or word wall cards. Can you keep a secret? Kelie and I have teamed up with several other teacher-authors for a hashtag sale called #ShareTheLove and this resource will be available for just ONE DOLLAR on February 9th and 10th. Interested? Wish List it now and get those kiddos writing this month! :)

Thanks for reading! Be sure to enter our Rafflecopter for a chance to win a custom T-shirt and a $30 Target gift card! Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Click the robot below to head over to Cindy's blog: Teacher's Brain

An InLinkz Link-up

Making Sense of Rounding

Has anyone else witnessed this look after they have taught their students a lesson on  how to round?

Rounding can be a confusing concept!  There are some cute chants we can teach our students to sing, but is that really teaching them the number sense necessary to master this skill?  I'm not sure...

Here are some simple techniques you can use in your classroom to help teach your students the number sense necessary for rounding.  These ideas are concrete methods that will not only help build number fluency while also teach them how to round.

Using a Number Line to Round

This strategy builds on the the idea that when rounding, if a number is 5 or greater, you round the number to the next ten, hundred, thousand, etc. and if the number is less than 5, the place value stays the same.

For example, lets say we are rounding the number 67 to the nearest 10. Students would create the number line as shown below.

Since 67 is past our halfway point, students know that we round to the next 10 which is 70.

Here is another example for you- Let's say we want to round 543 to the nearest hundred.  Students would create the number line as shown below:

Since 543 comes before our halfway number, we would leave the hundreds place the same, which is 500.

I know, I know, this is a different approach, BUT, try it a few times with your students and you will see they will actually "get" it. 

 Download this  number line template by clicking HERE.  

I also really like to break out our graduated cylinders (also known to my 3rd graders as measuring cylinders).  I set up a few stations by filling the cylinders with different amounts of water.  Students list the amount of water in each cylinder and then round the amount to the nearest 10.  What is the benefit of this? 

1. Students are getting practice in reading liquid measurement.

2.  The visuals on the cylinders are perfect for rounding.  The units on the cylinders count by 10- reinforcing the concept of finding the nearest 10.  Also students can see the halfway point- reinforcing the concept that if the liquid measurement is past the halfway point, we will round to the next 10 and if it is less, we keep the current 10.

And last but not least, how do we keep learning fun? By games of course!  We play Alien Abduction, where students have to find the halfway number (abducted by aliens).  When checking for understanding, students use the "Round to the Next 10 or 100" and "Keep the 10 or 100" the same signs.  I give students a number to round and they show me how they would round the number by showing me the correct side of the sign.  And, to get students up and moving we also do a "'Round the Room" activity where students match numbers placed around the room to rounding clues.

And there you have it!  I hope these strategies help make teaching rounding more understandable and fun for your students.  

Download these FREEBIE activities by clicking HERE.

 

Clip art from Rebecca B Designs