E2.2 Compare several everyday objects and order them according to length, area, mass, and capacity.
Activity 1: Length - The Length Train
- Have students compare the length of various objects (direct or indirect comparison).
- Ask students to place the objects in ascending or descending order.
- Place a variety of objects on a mat and ask students to sit in a circle around them.
Source: translated from L'@telier - Ressources pédagogiques en ligne (atelier.on.ca), p. 1.
Activity 2: Mass - Which One Is Heavier?
- Have students compare the mass of two objects using direct or indirect comparison.
- If students have difficulty deciding, it is because the two objects have masses that are fairly close to each other.
- Encourage students to use vocabulary related to mass (for example, is heavier than, is less heavy than, has almost the same mass as, has the same mass as).
Source: translated from L'@telier - Ressources pédagogiques en ligne (atelier.on.ca), p. 2.
Activity 3: Small, Medium, Large
Summary
In this activity, children measure their stuffed toy by comparing it to different benchmark objects and then placing them into categories (small, medium, and large sizes or short, medium, and long) to create a concrete graph.
Material
- soft toys
- interlocking cubes
- gridded space (for example, floor tiles)
Instructions
Prior to the activity, prepare a grid area on the floor to create a concrete graph. Form three towers of different heights (short, medium and long) using interlocking cubes and place them at the base of the diagram to designate the categories. Have each child measure their stuffed animal by comparing its length to the length of the different towers (benchmark objects) and place it in the appropriate category on the grid area.
image A space on the floor is divided into squares. There are 3 columns in 5 rows. In front of each column is a tower of interlocking blocks (the number of blocks is different for each tower). Stuffed animals are placed in the squares of the grid according to their size in relation to the towers
To designate the category to which a stuffed toy belongs, the size of the stuffed toy must be equal to or smaller than the size of the tower chosen.
Facilitate a discussion by reading and interpreting the information in the graph by asking questions such as:
- Why is your stuffed toy in this category?
- Is your stuffed toy the largest in its class? How do you know?
- Can plushies in the medium size category be larger than those in another category? How do you know?
Repeat the activity, replacing the towers of interlocking cubes with three children (one small, one medium and one large). Invite each child to compare their size with that of the three children and to place themselves in the correct category. To do this, the child must be the same size or smaller than the selected child object.
Source: translated from Guide d’enseignement efficace des mathématiques, de la maternelle à la 3e année, Mesure, p. 119.
Activity 4: At Mrs. Ranger's Grocery Store
Summary
In this activity, students deepen their understanding of capacity by comparing and sorting containers according to their capacity.
Material
- several containers of different capacities (10 containers per group of four students)
- a few containers of the same capacity, but of different shapes
- identical, labeled containers (one per group of four students)
- Appendix 3.3 (one copy per group of four students)
- plastic bins (one per group of four students)
- rice in sufficient quantity to fill the bins
- funnels, spoons, cups, buckets in sufficient quantity for each group
- Appendix 3.4 (four copies per centre)
Instructions
Prior to this activity, ask students to bring in plastic containers from home.
Make sure you have several containers of different capacities and a few of the same capacity but different shapes for each group.
In preparation for the activity, set up enough centres for groups of four students. In each centre, there should be:
- 10 containers labeled with the letters A to J;
- the same type of container at each centre, identified by the label found in Appendix 3.3;
- rice in a plastic tub, spoons, cups, funnel;
- four copies of Appendix 3.4.
When ready to do the activity, present students with the following situation.
Mrs. Ranger owns a small grocery store. She sells her long grain rice in this container. (Teachers show containers with the label from Appendix 3.3).
However, some customers want more rice in larger containers and others want less rice in smaller containers. Your job is to find new containers for Mrs. Ranger.
Form groups of four students and assign them to an activity centre.
Allow students to compare the capacity of the containers in their own way and encourage them to record their findings on Appendix 3.4. When all groups have completed the activity, ask each group to explain how they ranked the containers and then present their results.
During the math discussion, ask questions such as:
- Why does this container hold more rice than Mrs. Ranger's? How do you know?
- Why does this container contain less rice than Mrs. Ranger's? How do you know?
- What do you notice about the tallest containers? (Two containers of different heights can have the same capacity; taller containers do not always have the largest capacity; two containers of the same height can have different capacities.)
Once the presentations are complete, ask students to sort all the containers into three sets:
- those that have the same capacity as the labeled container;
- those with a capacity greater than the labeled container;
- those with a smaller capacity than the labeled container.
Leave these sets, rice pans, funnels, spoons, cups, and buckets available for students to use for a few days. Encourage students to visit these activity centres to order the containers in ascending or descending order by any of the following attributes: capacity, height, base width, mass, etc.
Source: translated from Guide d’enseignement efficace des mathématiques, de la maternelle à la 3e année, Mesure, p. 169-170.