Kindergarten Content Preview
Unit 14
Energizers (5 min)
For the Elmo/Telly video, have students stand next to something light (or hold it) when Elmo sings and stand next to something heavier when Telly sings.
Opening:
How much shorter is Lil' Sister than Big Sister?
Click here for pictures and all three tasks: https://gfletchy.com/lil-sister/
Start on Day one by showing your students the picture and asking the questions that match Act 1's task (Day one is pictured below):
What questions come to your mind?
Carry on with a new act for each day until the act is complete and you have answered the question. You can then have students take pictures (during a station) of different objects to compare length, capacity, or weight and use the pictures as a three act task opener for the remainder of the unit.
Think, Notice, Wonder
Here is a sample of an image. Ask your students what do you think? What do you notice? What do you wonder? Then have students write:
- I notice _________
- I think _________
- I wonder
Optional Unit 14 Activities
Exploring Capacity
As seen on www.kindergartenkindergarten.com . Pictures of cups and anchor chart shown below
Day One:
Showing students the “Will an Elephant Fit in a Bathtub?” ppt (http://crisscrossapplesauce.typepad.com/files/will-an-elephant-fit-in-a-bathtub.ppsx) and pause throughout to have students answer and justify their thinking.
Show students several bottles, cups and other containers and have them put them in order from what would hold the least to most amount of water--smallest to largest capacity. It should be very obvious which containers have smaller and larger capacities. As an alternative, a bucket of containers could be placed at each table group and students could work together to order the containers.
Hint: If you are not comfortable with water in the classroom, you can use sand, rice, or beans as a substitute for measuring capacity.Have the kids draw and label something in their math journals that would hold more water than their water bottles (a milk jug, a pitcher, a vase, a lake, the swimming pool, the ocean).
Day Two:
Tell the kids that you are really thirsty and show them 2 cups (use actual cups, not just pictures). Ask them which cup you should use. The obvious answer is the green cup, it is much larger than the blue cup and therefore will hold more water.
Show students another cup that is similar in capacity to the green cup, but may look a little different. Now the answer is not so obvious! The students may guess that the green cup holds more, because it is "bigger" (taller). But tell them you want to know for sure--how are they going to prove it? Do not show them how to figure it out.
Give each table a green cup, a red cup, a tub of water, and a variety of other containers, including some small dixie cups. Tell students they can use whatever they want to try to solve the problem.
Let students work together and discuss their various ideas while you circulate and facilitate discussion. Tell me what you're doing? Why did you decide to do that? What does that tell you? What are you going to do next? (And only when they're completely stuck) What would happen if...?
Once students have explored and decided which cup holds the most, invite them to help you create an anchor chart to record their discovery…
Measureable Attributes song
- To start tell students you want them to find something in the room that they could measure its length, weight, or capacity.
Hint: Put out some drinking cups, buckets, measuring cups, or small bowls around the room so students have capacity objects to choose from.
As you sing the song below (written by Lindsay Williamson to the tune of Do you know the muffin man) students find an object quickly in the classroom and returning to the carpet with their object before the song is over.
Can you make comparisons,
Comparisons,
Comparisons?
Can you make comparisons?
With weight, length, capacity?
I can make comparisons,
Comparisons,
Comparisons.
I can make comparisons
with weight, length, capacity.
Students then partner up and state which object is longer/shorter, heavier/lighter, or holds more making a comparison with their partner.
EX: "My pencil is shorter than your marker." or "My book is heavier than your eraser"
Don't forget: If giving length, we can also include height and distance. To accomplish this, ask partner A to go stand next to an object in the classroom as you sing the measurement comparison song. Then ask partner B to find an object that is shorter/taller in the classroom than their partners object. Students still talk about the comparison with their partner (ex: the closet is taller than the paper). You can do the same with distance and have the other partner find a distance that is further/closer.
*You can direct all students to find an object with the attribute of length or you can have your class compare all three by grouping the students some find length, weight, or capacity at the same time.
Just How Long can a Long String Be?
As a whole group listen to or read aloud the story Just How Long Can a Long String Be? (Read aloud video in literature connection below)
As a group, compare the length of string attached to a variety of objects to the length of string attached to a balloon.
Students take turns comparing strings on objects to the balloon string and to determine if the string was shorter than, longer than, or the same as the balloon string.
This is a great time to practice measuring correctly by lining the string with the same baseline and also making sure that strings are straight. Continue to justify with students through questioning/conversation what length meant, what a baseline was, which was longer, which was shorter, how they knew, etc.
After the activity, give students two pieces of different length/colored string with one piece of black string.
Have students tape their string to a piece of paper.
Then students will measure and compare the other pieces of string with the black string and write comparison sentences.
Ex: The red string is longer than the black string. The blue string is shorter than the black string.
If time, have students take a ball of string and cut a piece that is the same as the black string and follow up with a sentence "The green string is the same length as the black string)
Literature Connection:
Just How Long can a Long String Be?
Balancing Act
Two mice make a teeter-totter. They're balancing just fine, but then along comes a frog. Can they make room for one more friend on their teeter-totter? What about two? What about more? But then a big bird comes along and wants to play too. Better watch out!
A fish out of water
Explore capacity with this book when a boy feeds his fish too much. Stop the book and talk about objects that could hold even more water as the fish grows.
1. Guided Math
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Knvl-JwvKQnBuVBCl40ru_-lcHHF8XxyOJM5Q7bIgtY
3. Review/Preview:
Fluency:
- This is a great opportunity to use any of the activities listed in the previous content previews that your students need additional practice with.
- I love math (Group of students, One student walks around and plays a round with each student, then sits down and next student goes)
- Salute (one more, one less than your number)
- Rolling dice (double, sum to 10, ten more, roll 2 and build a two digit number)
- Draw a card, build a number with manipulatives, draw, and write the number.
Closing:
- Class Share with predictable chart
- Class Journal
- Personal journal
- Partner talks
- Self assessment