[rosieteaches]

We went full digital 10 days ago. Up until then I had 12 fourth graders in my school classroom and 12 others working digitally at home.

So my creativity during this Christmas week, means making adjustments to my regular Christmas routines. Can you help me here with an activity I had loved?

The day before break I gave every student, as a gift, a tape measure. I gave them liberty to open the gift bag in the largest space in the school (cafeteria,) and measure whatever they liked. This kept them occupied for a long time, they loved it, and it was an easy way to introduce measurement.

The likelihood that each of you is more creative than I am is great! I am going to package the Christmas gift bag for Tuesday parent pick up. The students can share how they used the measurement tape in a Google Meet on Wednesday. Do you have any ideas that I can use to tie together my five foot measuring tape and measuring something in their homes? Any ideas about fourth graders enjoying a measurement activity are welcome.

[tctrojan]

Give them a list of things to measure, for example, shortest person in the family, a table, or
a doorway. I would stay away from Christmas things in case students don't celebrate or cannot afford those items. You know your student population. You could also give them a list of measurements and have them find items that are equal or close to those measurements.

[Risa]

Being that you've done this before you may already have a basic plan for how to introduce measurement, I apologize if the following has been considered:

I'm guessing it's just an initial 'have fun with a measuring tape experience' so absolute accuracy of numbers aren't as important, but you also don't want them to develop bad habits thinking they are measuring correctly.

If this is the first time they experience measurement and/or using the measuring tape, they may not know how to measure correctly. I would want to be sure they know the following basics:
--Start at 0 each time and measure from the end of an edge/side
--If it's fabric or flexible ribbon type of measuring tape, I would also remind them to hold it taught as they measure,
--Add on the extra measured inches when measuring things longer than the measuring tool
--Add on the extra measured fractions of an inch. (1/4", 1/2", 3/4")

-----
You could send a list with names things they can possibly measure just to get them started, then allow space for them to add an additional set of items, maybe 5-10, of their choice.

tctrojan suggested a few items such as people, tables and doorways
-Windows-width, length
-TV/computer screens, tablet screens, cell phone screens
-table/chair heights
-widest/narrowest doors
-Width/length of various boxes such as food containers
-Width/length of biggest/smallest books
-Lengths of pencils, pens, crayons, marking pens, etc
-Find two windows, (or doors, pencils, tables, boxes) that have the same length/height

I just realized I included measuring length and width of various items. Again, if this is their first experience with measuring, you may want to just have them measure lengths or heights of things.

[forkids2]

No new suggestions, but I love this idea! What a great (and fun) way to introduce measurement.

A follow-up after the holidays might be to measure certain things in their homes, record the measurements and do some sort of comparisons.

[Loveslabs]

Could you include a scavenger hunt?
For example, find a two syllable item that is less than 3 feet?

Or could they measure and compare the height of each person in the home?

Could they make a Flipgrid video showing some things they measured?

[rosieteaches]

Thank you all, I combined all of your ideas. I modeled how to measure a Star Wars Storm Trooper, tall enough to stand on my computer chair, so they could easily see me measure. From there the students went looking for long/tall toys they could measure and brought them to their computer screens to show what they found. By the time the Meet was over they could take to measuring. All I needed was to build the enthusiasm. It worked. Thank you all.