Estimate Length

		Daily Practice and Problems	Lesson	Homework	Assessment
Student Book	Student Activity Book		Estimate and Measure: Animal Lengths Pages 195–198		Estimate and Measure: Animal Lengths Check-In: Questions 6–8 Page 198
Teacher Resources	Teacher Guide - digital	DPP Item I DPP Item J		Estimate at Home

Supplies for Students

12-inch ruler
centimeter ruler
2 self-adhesive notes

Supplies for Student Pairs

yardstick
meterstick

Materials for the Teacher

Display of the first page of Estimate and Measure: Animal Lengths (Student Activity Book) Page 195
Unit 4 Assessment Record
Actual Size by Steve Jenkins
adding machine tape
masking tape
chart paper
12-inch ruler
centimeter ruler
12 metersticks
12 yardsticks
self-adhesive notes
sidewalk chalk or string, optional
images of animals: baby dolphin, hammerhead shark, eel, sea snail, clownfish, seahorse, sea urchin, starfish, optional
various units and tools to measure length (e.g., rulers, metersticks, palms, footprints), optional

Materials Preparation

Gather Rulers. Students will need a ruler calibrated in centimeters and a ruler calibrated in inches. These rulers often come together, where one side is a 12-inch ruler and the other side is a 30-centimeter ruler. Student pairs will also need a yardstick and a meterstick. A meterstick often has inches on the reverse side. If you do not have yardsticks, place a piece of tape after 36 inches on the meterstick to show students a yardstick. Write "yard" on the tape.

Create Tape Lines on the Floor. Identify locations to place three masking tape lines of different lengths on the floor. Each line should be straight and there should be space around each line for students to work. Depending on the size of your class, you may want to make two of each length so there are 6 stations for these long lengths.

Figure 1: Lengths of long animals

Prepare Adding Machine Tape Lengths. Measure adding machine tape in four lengths, one to represent the length of each animal. Label each piece with the name of the animal. See Figure 2. Fold up the tapes representing the saltwater crocodile, mouse lemur, and goliath beetle and place on the corresponding page in the book Actual Size. Cover the actual measurements shown in the book with a self-adhesive note.

Figure 2: Animal lengths to use with the Actual Size book

Organize Tools. Place metersticks, yardsticks, 12-inch rulers, and centimeter rulers in a central location or near the long tape lines you have prepared. Students will need access to all these tools while they measure the various short and long animal lengths.

Prepare Optional Targeted Practice. Gather examples of all the tools and units students have used to measure length and few they may not have used recently (e.g., paper clips, links, marshmallows). Ask students to choose a distance and represent it with a drawing or by finding a picture of it. Then ask students to choose a unit to measure that distance and explain why they would choose it.