What is measurement?

Greetings!

I found this week's lesson to be a little difficult. Why? We were immediately asked the simplest question, "What is measurement?" We were stumped.

Could you define something that is so broad? How can we put together words to define something that has never been defined to us? It is a term that students are expected to just know. It took me awhile to define what measurement is. It is the "assignment of a number of an object or event, which can be compared with other objects or events."

Throughout the duration of the math course, we have been exploring Sesame Street videos to define terms for us in student-friendly language. During this week, we looked at the following video:

Despite our age, I find Sesame Street videos to be extremely helpful. It clarifies specific terms in a language that is easy to understand and comprehend.

I think it's best way to teach measurement in the classroom is to apply it to real-life. Ways that teachers can achieve this is by measuring things that surround us in the classroom. This can be posters on the board, tools used by both the students and teacher, accessories that we wear.

It's important to use objects that are tangible because students can have a hands-on experience on what measurement is and how to measure things.

In this photo, it shows images of real-life objects that can be seen in our everyday lives (except the crocodile, of course, unless you live in Florida!).  A way to use this worksheet with tangible objects is to remove the images altogether and keep the images of the rulers. We can replace the images with words of objects that surround us, such as chalk, eraser, pencil, etc.

I believe the measurement strand is the most flexible unit a teacher can teach. There are so many different methods to teach measurement in the classroom and make it as engaging as possible.