How many links tall are we?

How tall are you?

This week we have been learning how to measure objects using non-standardized units (Example: How many unifix cubes long is a carpet square?  How many square Magnatiles long is the bench?)

On Monday we embarked on a week long project to measure how many links tall each student is.  

First, we traced our bodies.

Then we painted them and cut them out.

During circle we made link chains that were 10 links long.  There was a lot of counting and recounting going on, and each student unknowingly worked on their fine motor skills when connecting and 

un-connecting the links.

Once we had several chains that were 10 links long, partners helped each other measure how tall each of their cutouts were as well as how long an arm and a foot were.  We counted the links and talked about what was longest and shortest (height of the person, length of an arm or length of a foot).  We didn't get through everyone today, so we'll keep working on it next week.  After that we'll measure the cutout people with something else bigger and compare (example:  why does it take fewer blocks to measure your height than it does links?)

The students will also learn to measure using standard measurements (inches and centimeters).