Last week, Mr. Wilson’s 4th class had great fun exploring the concept of length in a hands-on and engaging way! We started off by learning about non-standard units of measurement, using some rather unexpected objects—including ourselves! We used two main non standard units: Lollipop sticks, and match sticks!
The classroom was full of excitement as students worked in pairs and groups to measure desks, books, and even the length of the classroom using hand spans, feet, and arm lengths. It was a brilliant way to understand measurement before moving on to standardised units. The poor group using match sticks had a very tough job because they needed hundreds!!
Once we had explored non-standard measurements, we took things a step further! By measuring our chosen non-standard units using rulers and metre sticks, we could convert them into millimetres (mm), centimetres (cm), metres (m), and even kilometres (km)! This helped us understand how different units relate to one another and how we can use multiplication to convert between them.
The class loved seeing how measurement connects to real-world situations, and everyone left with a much clearer understanding of length—along with some very funny memories of measuring each other!
