Description
What our Understanding Length lesson plan includes
Lesson Objectives and Overview: Understanding Length explores how to measure the length of an object. At the end of the lesson, students will be able to order three objects by length. Students will also be able to understand that measuring the length of an object is done by placing a smaller object end to end with no gaps or overlaps. This lesson is for students in 1st grade.
Classroom Procedure
Every lesson plan provides you with a classroom procedure page that outlines a step-by-step guide to follow. You do not have to follow the guide exactly. The guide helps you organize the lesson and details when to hand out worksheets. It also lists information in the blue box that you might find useful. You will find the lesson objectives, state standards, and number of class sessions the lesson should take to complete in this area. In addition, it describes the supplies you will need as well as what and how you need to prepare beforehand.
Options for Lesson
Included with this lesson is an “Options for Lesson” section that lists a number of suggestions for activities to add to the lesson or substitutions for the ones already in the lesson. One optional addition to this lesson is to have your students measure photos of objects from magazines. You could also have your students choose a smaller object and measure themselves and a friend. For an outdoor activity, you could bring your students outside, put them into pairs, and have them trace each other’s shadows using a piece of chalk and measure their shadows using a third object. Finally, for the lesson activity, you can have your students measure with paperclips instead of blocks.
Teacher Notes
The teacher notes page includes lines that you can use to add your own notes as you’re preparing for this lesson.
UNDERSTANDING LENGTH LESSON PLAN CONTENT PAGES
Understanding Length
The Understanding Length lesson plan includes one content page. Length is the measurement of something from one end to the other. Measuring the length of something might seem simple, but there are a few things to learn in order to take accurate measurements.
First, there are a few important vocabulary terms to learn that will help us take measurements and describe them accurately.
- Compare: Similarity or dissimilarity between objects
- Length: Measurement from end to end
- Height: Measurement from top to bottom
- Start Line: Where each measurement is begun
- Unit: The object we are using to measure with
An important part of measuring is being able to compare multiple measurements. Some common comparisons related to length are tall, taller, tallest; short, shorter, shortest; and long, longer, longest.
Taking a measurement is essentially counting the total number of times we can lay a specific object, like a cube, end to end without gaps or overlaps. Learning to measure accurately with cubes allows for greater precision over time. With more precise measurements, we can start to describe objects using specific numbers and units instead of saying something is shorter or longer than something else. For example, a marker is 8 centimeters long, rather than longer than a paperclip or shorter than a desk.
Using a start line is an essential part of taking accurate measurements. Without a clear start line, we could end up with many different measurements for the same object. This is also why it’s important to make sure there are no gaps or overlaps!
UNDERSTANDING LENGTH LESSON PLAN WORKSHEETS
The Understanding Length lesson plan includes four worksheets: an activity worksheet, a practice worksheet, a homework assignment, and a quiz. You can refer to the guide on the classroom procedure page to determine when to hand out each worksheet.
MEASURING OBJECTS ACTIVITY WORKSHEET
For the activity worksheet, students will pick four objects from a bin and measure them using cubes. They will then draw a picture of each object and write down their lengths. They will also write the names of the objects from shortest to longest.
SHORTEST TO LONGEST PRACTICE WORKSHEET
The practice worksheet asks students to look at sets of three items and number each set from 1 to 3, with 1 being the shortest and 3 being the longest.
TRACING HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT
For the homework assignment, students will measure three items from their house by tracing the object onto the worksheet. They will then write down how many units long each object is.
QUIZ
This lesson also includes a quiz that you can use to test students’ understanding of the lesson material. For the quiz, students will measure the turtle shown on the worksheet using the units provided. They will also number a set of three items from 1 to 3, with 1 being the shortest and 3 being the longest.
Worksheet Answer Keys
This lesson plan includes answer keys for the practice worksheet and the quiz. If you choose to administer the lesson pages to your students via PDF, you will need to save a new file that omits these pages. Otherwise, you can simply print out the applicable pages and keep these as reference for yourself when grading assignments.
