A kindergarten teacher at one of my elementary schools signed up to do a quick lesson focused on measurement using the iPads. I really had to think long and hard about which app we should use to make this lesson meaningful. Suddenly, it hit me that we should use one of my FAVORITE (and FREE!) math manipulative apps, SchoolKit Math!
SchoolKit Math is a powerhouse of virtual manipulatives. If I were still in the classroom then I would suggest that my students' parents download this app if they have a tablet at home. Look at all of the manipulatives that are included when you launch the app:
For our measurement lesson we had the students click on the "All Tools" image in the corner. This takes you to even more awesome math manipulatives! Since kindergarteners measure with nonstandard units, we did not click on the "Ruler". Instead we chose "Shapes".
Each child was given one of these recording sheets (click the image to take you to the free download):
Before students used the app to measure each item, they learned how to make an estimation. Their teacher asked them to GUESS how many hearts long they thought their pencil would be...how many circles long their thumb might be...etc.. They tapped out that many shapes on their screen.
Next, students lined the shapes up carefully and then placed their object near the screen. They had to add more shapes if their line up wasn't long enough and had to delete shapes if they over estimated.
When their object matched up with their shapes, students used their counting skills to find out the exact measurement.
This lesson was SUPER easy and the kids were fully engaged. They used their math skills from start to finish. It is a great alternative to use the manipluatives on the iPad if you don't have enough real manipulatives for each child or if you need to do a quick lesson that involves minimal clean-up :) I am confident that YOU could attempt to carry this lesson out on your own! Give it a try and let me know how it goes :)
