Koala Measurement Exploration Lesson Plan

Name: Tamara DeYoung

Date: 9/22/15

Grade Level: First Grade

Unit Topic: Measurement Lesson Focus: The importance of units

Standard/Benchmark:
CCSS 1 NBTC Measure lengths indirectly and by iterating length units.
Motivation/Accessing Prior Knowledge (The Hook):
Last week we read Measuring Penny as one of our hooks. We will begin by discussing how Lisa
uses several different things to measure length.
What does Lisa use to measure with?
Is it okay to use different sized items to measure things?
Materials:

Three sheets of bulletin board paper.

Three different sized paper animals; each a different color. (Koalas)
Strips of paper and pen for the teacher to record data.

Learning Activities/Assessments*
The students will be put into groups according to ability. Half of the students will be working on
their technology; the other half will be working in small groups with Mrs. Verbrugge and me.
Each group has 6 or 7 students in it.
1. (Whole Group) Remind students of Measuring Penny and ask them, Is it okay to use
different sized items to measure things?
2. (Small Group) Pair the students off and have each group use a different size koala to
measure each other.
3. One student will lay down on a piece of bulletin board paper and the other will measure
by drawing lines at the end of the koala and moving it to the next spot. This will be
difficult for some students and they will need support from the teacher.
4. Have the students record on a strip of paper the name of the student and the number of
koalas.
5. Help the students organize the strips from smallest to larget.
6. After reorganizing the sheet help the students stand in a line according to their findings to
check their work.

7. They should notice something is wrong. Have a discussion about why the measurement
wasnt correct. If they need some help, lead them to the conclusion that the koala bears
all need to be the same size.
8. If there is time, measure all the students again with only the big koala bears.

Closure Reflections: (Whole group)

1. Bring the students back to the carpet.
2. Discuss what went wrong while they were measuring with different sized koalas. Go
back to the question asked at the beginning of the day. Is it okay to use different sized
items to measure things?
3. Emphasis the fact that you have to use only one unit when comparing different lengths.
Also remind the students that they should communicate the units they are using while
recording their answers.
4. The next day we will be reminded of the importance of units by reading Super
Sandcastle Saturday.