Splendid Little Mathematicians

"We can say... that young children are splendid little mathematicians. They deal spontaneously and sometimes joyfully with mathematical ideas. This is what real mathematicians do.”

(Ginsburg, 2008, p. 55)- Building Capacity Series

We put out a variety of materials to encourage the students to measure around the classroom. They have been really enjoying exploring and trying out these new measuring tools.

They explored length:

M.W. measure B.G, using her hand to show where B.G's head goes on the measuring tape

Beginning to explore with measuring tapes

A.K measured the Smart Board and then wrote about it (see below).

"what do we do when someone is longer than the measuring tape?" Working with Ms. Tompkins to use two.

Using one-to-one correspondance to count the measuring tape

Working together makes measuring easier!

Measuring around the room!

The students measured Floppy too!
(Click here to learn who Floppy is!)

They explored weight:

Girls exploring what is heavier and lighter than a hexagon

A.K exploring what is heavier than a cylinder, he found a block, portfolio and this ruler are all heavier than the cylinder

They explored temperature:

Watching the thermometer to find out what happens when it is put into ice water

Ms. Tompkins- why do you think the red went down?

R.H- It’s going down! Because it’s at number zero

J.A- because the number go down

A.P- it’s colder, like snow and ice

I.S- because it’s colder

Together we worked on exploring and writing about our observations of the thermometer. 

What amazing, child-driven learning has been happening in our classroom this month! 

What measurement opportunities do you see around you?