Integrated Curricula : Grade 4

Last updated:
March 08, 2004

'MEASUREMENT IN MOTION'

This fall, the grade 4 teacher and the phys. ed. teacher collaborated and came up with a change of pace for the grade 4 students.  We combined a math class with a phys. ed. class to put the ACTIVE back in class activity.

BACKGROUND INFO: The grade 4 class had been working on the measurement units - meters, centimeters, millimeters, etc.  They had measured lines in their textbook and scribblers using rulers.  They had discussed the difference between length, width, and perimeter.

                         IN THE GYM:

STEP ONE: using meter sticks, the students selected one card from the basket.  Each card had an object or distance to measure in the gym. When the paired students finished measuring, they selected another card.  

CARDS: 

1. measure the length of three mats

2. measure the perimeter of the gym doors

3. the perimeter of the badminton court

4. the length of the basketball court

5. how far apart are the locker room doors from each other?

STEP TWO:  students were then grouped into four or five and given a long piece of yarn, with the ends tied together.  Using this yarn and their bodies, the students had to show what each of the following shapes looked like:

-parallelogram, rectangle, square, triangle, rhombus, trapezoid

STEP THREE: following this session, the students sat down at the gym chalkboard to discuss what they had done.  We compared answers, and then converted some answers from centimeters to meters, meters to millimeters, etc.

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