Fun with Measurement

I can't believe how long it has been since I have last blogged.  I promise I have plenty of good reasons...grad school finals, soccer tournaments, oh and hubby had surgery.  (He is all good now..thank you all for the prayers and well wishes)

I had wanted to share with you all a couple weeks ago about some easy and FUN measurement activities I did with my class.

The first activity we did was comparing objects by height.  My students were paired up with a partner.  Each partner found ANY object in the classroom.  (any object except the ones on Mrs. Pauley's desk ;)  Then they went back to their "meeting spot" and compared their objects.

I would ask for the student with the shortest object to raise their hand, then same with the tallest object.  It was a great introductory activity for comparing.  My students LOVED it!  The best part about it....NO PREP!!

The other fun activity we did was with measuring our own height.  Once again, the students worked with a partner.  Partner A held a piece of string at the top of their head while Partner B pulled the string to the floor and then cut it.  Then they switched.

As you can see, they took their job very seriously.  I loved watching them get so excited about MATH!

Once we were finished, all the students lined in order from shortest to tallest.  If there was any confusion about where someone should stand we just held up their string.  The only prep for this one was to grab some yarn/string from the art closet.

Isn't it funny how students seem to love those easy or no prep activities just as much if not more than those lessons we pour and pour time and prep into?

How do you teach measurement in your classroom?  I would love to hear!  Please tell me in the comments below.  :)

Now I am off to get a good night's sleep.  Tomorrow is our school carnival which means a very long day, but I love it so I can't complain!