Measure Man

Measurement has to be one of my favorite topics to teach in math.  This week we've been working on measuring to the nearest 1/4 inch, which can be challenging for students.  We've already had a scavenger hunt and have practiced with standard and non standard measurements, so students got to show what they know with their Measurement Men.

Preparation
To prepare for this task I precut a large variety of rectangles in different sizes and colors.  (I've learned to make all rectangles of a particular color the same size-this makes grading so much easier!) I like to use about 8 or 9 different colors and try to have a good variety of sizes of rectangles.  Since it is important for my students to be able to measure to the nearest 1/4 inch, I cut several rectangles with 1/4, 1/2, and 3/4 in their lengths, but to modify this activity all of the rectangles could be a whole number in length. 

Directions
In this task I have students create a person (sometimes animal) using various rectangles.  Students must design their person and then find the measurement of each rectangle they used for their Measurement Man.  Another modification to the task is to have students measure the length in two different units of measure to see the comparison.

My students had so much fun with this lesson, and I wanted to share some of their creations.

Measurement Cheerleader

What a pretty face!

Close-up