Maths Year 1 Spring Measures

Day 1 Teaching
Show children a chair and a cube. How many cubes high do they think the chair will be? Estimate then measure the chair height in cubes (10s and 1s). Repeat, to measure the height of other objects in cubes.
Group Activities
-- Measure classroom objects with cubes.
-- Estimate and measure using a (30cm) ruler.

Day 2 Teaching
Use a 20-bead string to measure a child’s hand span in beads. Measure other hand spans, estimating the length first. Then work in pairs to estimate and measure each other’s foot lengths in beads.
Group Activities
-- Make a play dough worm family within a certain length.
-- Find objects longer/shorter than 20 beads.

Day 3 Teaching
Take children to the hall. Pass metre sticks around. Ask children to feel their length. These are one metre long. Explain that these are a standard unit. Measure the length of the hall in metres by laying sticks along one side. Repeat to measure its width.
Group Activities
Use the ‘Make a stick’ in-depth problem-solving investigation below as today’s group activity.
Or, use this activity:
-- Find objects longer/shorter than a metre stick.

• Chair and cubes
• Objects around the classroom to measure
• Large sheets of paper
• 30cm ruler
• 20-bead strings, sticky notes and flipchart
• Play dough and 100-bead strings
• Hall space and metre sticks
• Two hoops, labels and camera

Day 1
Estimation (pre-requisite skills)

Suggested for Day 2
Comparing numbers to 20 (simmering skills)

Suggested for Day 3
Comparing numbers (simmering skills)

Day 1
Estimate and then measure snakes with cubes.

Day 2
Estimate and then measure objects with beads.

Day 3
Find and list objects that are less than one metre or more than one metre long.

• Find a book that is…
  -- 9 cubes long
  -- more than 16 cubes long
  -- between 10 and 12 cubes long
• Draw the number of cubes that will fit along your shoe length.
• Draw or write the name of a creature in each place on the table.

In-depth Investigation: Make a Stick
Children find a collection of items which - in total - measure exactly one metre in length.

Tall Towers
Comparing two numbers up to 10; comparing heights

Day 1 Teaching
In advance, make a spring scale (see instructions below plan). Pass round a handful of cotton wool, a potato and a large pebble. Children say which they think will weigh more. Which is heavier? Use the scale to compare their weights. Which pulls the elastic band the furthest?
Group Activities
-- Weigh fruit by holding, then order.
-- Use a spring balance to weigh fruit, and then order.

Day 2 Teaching
Use a bucket balance or balance scales. Use a large potato and a large pebble. Put the potato in one side and the pebble in the other side. Explain that the heavier object makes the balance go down on that side. It is like a see-saw. Let children ‘be a balance’, like a see-saw, with arms outstretched.
Group Activities
-- Compare objects to the weight of a book and find objects that are heavier and lighter.

Day 3 Teaching
Use a balance scale. Put an apple on one side then put marbles on the other until the scale balances. Count the marbles. Repeat to weigh a book/ other objects in marbles/ blocks.
Group Activities
Use the in-depth problem-solving investigation ‘Presents’ from NRICH as today’s group activity.
Or, use this activity:
-- Use bricks to estimate and weigh different pieces of fruit/ vegetables.

• Spring scale, cotton wool and potato
• Large pebble/stone
• Two spring balance
• Range of fruit and vegetables and sticky notes
• ‘Comparing weights’ sheet (see resources)
• Tins of similar weight
• Balance scales, books and marbles
• ‘Heavier and lighter’ sheet (see resources)
• Other items to weigh
• Wooden bricks or compare bears

Day 1
Estimating and comparing (pre-requisite skills)

Suggested for Day 2
Counting in 10s (simmering skills)

Suggested for Day 3
Ordering teen numbers (simmering skills)

Day 1
Recognise which of two items would weigh the most,

Day 2
Compare weights using own experience, or by visual comparison on a seesaw.

Day 3
Determine weight of objects on scales, balanced with bricks.
Answer questions relating to weights.

• Which is heavier:
  (i) A potato or a pebble?
  (ii) A book or a shoe?
  (iii) A soft toy or a paint pot?
  Use a bucket balance to find out.
• Sometimes, always, never true...
  -- A book is the same weight as 12 marbles
  -- A shoe is heavier than a sock?
  -- A big handful of cotton wool is lighter than three 50p coins?
• Weigh two of your favourite books using wooden bricks. Write their weight. Which weighs more?

In-depth Investigation: Presents
Children explore an assortment of wrapped presents: some small but heavy and others light but large. Presents from nrich.maths.org.

Ups and downs
Comparing weights by direct comparison

Day 1 Teaching
Demonstrate, using cubes, how to measure the length and width of a picture book. Discuss which length is greater. Use cubes to measure some other objects, e.g. a pencil, a paintbrush, two soft toys.
Group Activities
-- Measure the length of five objects with cubes and record in a table.

Day 2 Teaching
Allow children to help you cut three pieces of string. Ask them to measure each one, in cubes. Reinforce accurate measuring starting from the end of the string. Point out that the string has to be straight and flat.
Group Activities
-- Work out the length of a wiggly line using string and cubes.
-- Investigate a longest wiggly line by using string and cubes.

Day 3 Teaching
Hold up two pieces of ribbon, one blue and one red. Which piece is longer? Place the two pieces on the carpet and choose two children to measure the length of each, using a tower of cubes. Compare the two towers of cubes and agree the difference, in cubes, between the two pieces of ribbon. Show on a number line.
Group Activities
Use the ‘Four towers’ in-depth problem-solving investigation below as today’s group activity.
Or, use these activities:
-- Measure hand spans with cubes and find the difference.
-- Find the difference between towers of cubes.

• Cubes (any interlocking cubes)
• Soft toys
• Book
• Flipchart
• ‘Measuring cubes’ sheet (see resources)
• Objects to measure
• String (better to use damp string)
• Card
• Whiteboards and pens
• Ribbon

Day 1
Compare numbers (pre-requisite skills)

Suggested for Day 2
Count in 2s (simmering skills)

Suggested for Day 3
Find 2 more than a number (simmering skills)

Day 1
Measure pencils by counting the cubes. Answer questions about the measurements.

Day 2
Estimate, then measure images of string or spaghetti.

Day 3
Find the difference in the length of the snakes shaded in blocks.
Find differences in length between images of pencils.

• Tom has used cubes to measure different animals. Some of his measurements are clearly wrong!
  Put a cross beside these.
  -- A mouse: 4 cubes
  -- A cat: 6 cubes
  -- A hamster: 20 cubes
  -- A dog: 30 cubes
  -- A pigeon: 2 cubes
• Which is the tallest? Which is the shortest?
  (a) a car
  (b) a child’s bike
  (c) a lamppost
  (d) a child
• Take off your jumper or cardigan. Use pens laid end to end to measure its length with the sleeves spread out.

In-depth Investigation: Four towers
Children arrange four towers of cubes such that the difference between neighbouring towers is at least two.

Snake Families
Using a uniform non-standard measure to measure lengths; comparing three numbers.

Day 1 Teaching
Make towers of 12 and 16 cubes. What is the same about these towers and what is different? Draw out that one is taller. Point to the four extra cubes in the taller tower. This is the difference. Write: The difference between 12 and 16 is 4. Break off the remaining cubes to show this and represent it on the number line too.
Group Activities
-- Find the difference in height between two towers of cubes.

Day 2 Teaching
Keep this part short to allow children plenty of time for the investigation. Show children how we can make two towers that are different heights. Ask each child to do this. Discuss the towers made by one child. Which is taller? Shorter? What is the difference? Repeat with several pairs of towers.
Group activities
-- Investigation: Find pairs of towers that have a difference of 3, using up to 21 cubes.

• Interlocking cubes (in at least two different colours)
• Flipchart
• 0 to 9 dice

Day 1
Number bonds to 10 (pre-requisite skills)

Day 2
Number bonds to 20 (pre-requisite skills)

Day 1
Work out differences in numbers of cubes between two towers.

Day 2
Work out more differences between towers; then investigate differences and answer questions.

• Write the difference between the taller and shorter tower in each pair.

• Make a pair of towers with a difference of 3 cubes.
• Challenge
  Make three towers.
  The shorter is 6 cubes less than the taller.
  The taller is 4 cubes bigger than the middle tower.

In depth Investigation: Finding the difference
Find many different pairs of towers that have a difference of 3 (see Group Activities Day 2 for full instructions).

Can you do it too?
How far can you throw a beanbag? Have a go; then measure using ‘paces’. Can you do it too? from nrich.maths.org.