Second graders put on their bucket hats and animal ears last Friday as they geared up to take a measurement safari.
The students measured pictures of safari animals, their teeth, and their paw prints in centimeters using rulers. Then, on tape in the hallways, they measured the actual height of a giraffe, elephant, lion and rhinoceros in meters using meter sticks. Finally, they explored selecting appropriate tools to measure different lengths. When the student explorers finished measuring an animal, they hopped up and used their binoculars to find the next animal to measure.
“The biggest animal was the giraffe,” said Coleman McCann, a second grader in Mrs. Hammontree’s class. “Those are like two buildings stacked on top of each other. But Elephants are bigger than I thought they were. They are almost taller than the building!”
The excitement of the day was evident. Coleman continued, “I loved everything about it. I wish we could do it every day.”
They learned when to use rulers and when to use meter sticks, all while having a lot of fun. “I loved the measuring because I think it's fun,” said second grader Molly Mullis. “We got to work in the hallways and measure lines and guess what animals they were.”
The math did not end with measurements. They had to record their findings, just like a good observer on a safari, and they also had to add measurements together.
“I loved how excited they got about measurement,” said second grade teacher Dana Anderson. Measurement is a very detail oriented difficult task and they had so much fun. We were all shocked by how big the lion and hippo teeth were. We could not imagine having a tooth 12-13 cm in our mouth.”
And like any good safari, it takes a lot of energy, so students finished the safari with a few clips from The Lion King and some yummy zebra cakes.