Summer SAVY 2017, Session 4/Day 2- Measuring Matters (Rising 2nd/3rd)

Posted by morganr1 on Tuesday, July 11, 2017 in SAVY.

Today, the kids got the opportunity to take their measuring to another level. With the theme of the week being the Yeti, we started making our Yetis today. We reviewed the myth of the Yeti and talked about how he could possibly survive at an altitude with little oxygen, no food, and very cold temperatures. The kids were very excited to discuss the possibility of the Yeti being real! As we talked more about the project of actually making their own Yetis, I gave them the only two pieces of information they would receive to help them: A) a footprint was found, believed to be the Yeti’s. It was measured at 2 unsharpened pencil lengths. B) The length of one unsharpened pencil is 19 cm.

The challenge was to take those two pieces of information and extrapolate how to accurately measure the rest of the Yeti’s body. We had a great discussion about how to do this. The first idea thrown out by one of the kids was to “take the foot measurement of 38 cm, and make the other body parts ‘bigger'”. We talked about how that was on the right track but not very precise. Some other ideas were thrown out, and eventually, one child said “we could measure our own foot and see how it compares to the Yeti’s”. Smart thinking! Most of the kids found that their foot size was exactly half the Yeti’s. Others found that the Yeti’s was approximately 1.8 times larger.

Next, it was time to measure! Depending on their particular foot ratio to the Yeti, the kids starting measuring out their body parts: feet, legs, torso, arms, hands, heads, eyes, noses, mouths, and ears. They then took their own measurements and converted them into the Yeti’s measurements. Once they had filled in their charts with all of these calculations, they were free to start drawing out their body parts on the butcher paper. This is where we left off for the morning. Most groups got at least 4-6 body parts drawn. We have some really skinny Yetis and we have some more rotund Yetis! It will be interesting to see how they all look when they are put together.

Tomorrow, we will hit the ground running – continuing to draw our body parts. We will then cut them out and glue them together. I hope to be able to move on to perimeter afterwards. We will be discussing the perimeter of the pen that holds the Yeti’s pet, and we will be taking a certain perimeter value and brainstorming a list of dimensions that would equal that perimeter. We’re going to really work those adding and subtracting skills!

Ms. Catherine Shull