What Is A Foot - Author(s): Linda Puleo - Learning Standard: MST Standard 3 - The teacher will read the book Geraldine’s Big Snow by Holly Keller to the students. After the reading , the teacher will ask the students to estimate how high a foot of snow might be. The students will work with a partner using linking cubes to build a tower that they think might be one foot high

LEARNING EXPERIENCE

What Is A Foot?

Please provide the following information about each learning experience. Feel free to submit more than one learning experience. For each one submitted, use a separate Learning Experience Information Form and a separate description. Please number according to the outline below and be sure to write a response to all eight sections.

Title of Learning Experience: What Is a Foot?

Author: Linda Puleo

Learning Context

Describe the purpose of the learning experience, including:

: The learning standard(s) and the specific performance indicators from the standards documents on which the learning experience is based;

: A description of the connection to instruction in other curricular areas or where this experience fits in the school or course curriculum;

: What students need to know and/or be able to do to succeed with this learning experience.

Type your response here:

This learning experience is based on The MST Standard 3 of the New York State Mathematics, Science, and Technology Learning Standards.(#5 Measurement) Students will use measurement to provide a major link between the abstractions of mathematics and the real world in order to describe and compare objects and data. The students will also use computers to process information related to the experience.(MST Standard 2)

The students will write for information and understanding (ELA 1) and for literary response (ELA 2).

This learning experience will be taught as part of a thematic unit on the four seasons of the year. An activity center will be set up in the classroom to provide practice with the skill taught and communication about the use of the measurement tool. This learning experience was taught during the winter season.

The students should have some prior knowledge and experience in measuring in inches. The students need to be able to work with a partner, listen and follow directions, and recognize and name the number 12. The students should also have had some experience with snow, snow storms and a winter season . The students will have had some experience with word processing on the computers, and they will have had previous writing experiences.

Tell us about the procedure, including:

: What the students do; and

: What the teacher does.

Type your response here:

The teacher will read the book Geraldine’s Big Snow by Holly Keller to the students. After the reading , the teacher will ask the students to estimate how high a foot of snow might be. The students will work with a partner using linking cubes to build a tower that they think might be one foot high. The students will share their estimates with the whole group. The teacher will then model measuring one of the towers with a ruler. The teacher will be sure to stress the fact that the edge of the ruler and the bottom or edge of the tower must line up when you measure. He/she will show the students the ruler and explain that a ruler can be used to measure 12 inches or a foot. Give each pair of students a ruler to check the height of their tower of linking cubes. Have each student draw a picture of what they did and learned and write a sentence about it.

During center time, the students will make and measure other items that are a foot high. They will draw a foot high snowman, make a snow mountain that is a foot high in the water table, and make foot high towers using other types of blocks. They will also be challenged to estimate and build towers for different heights. (For example-Build a tower that is 9 inches tall. Check with your ruler for accuracy. How close were you? Write a sentence and draw a picture to summarize what you did.) At the computers during centers , students will change the title of the story to ______’s Big Snow , using their own names in the title. They will be asked to write one or two sentences about a snow storm that they remember. We will brainstorm and list possible words that may be needed to write the story as a whole group first.

During story time, the teacher will read the book How Big Is A Foot? by Rolf Myller to the students. The students and the teacher will act out the story. The students will draw and/or make a bed that is a foot long.

For an extension activity, the students will pair up with an older classroom . The children will be broken up into small groups. Each group will choose a staff member to build a snow bed for. (Parent volunteers may also be used.) The group will use a ruler to measure how many feet long and how many feet wide the bed needs to be. The group will measure out a section in the snow and work together to build a bed. The adult volunteer will try the bed out for size as an evaluation of the group project! The students will work together in pairs to write a summary of their project and type it on the computer in the computer lab. The teacher will have taken pictures of each bed to attach to the project summaries.

Instructional/Environmental Modifications

Describe the procedures used to accommodate the range of abilities in the classroom, such as:

: Instructional modifications made; and

: Physical modifications of the classroom setting.

Type your response here:

A chart will be hung in the classroom displaying a picture of a ruler. A picture of a student lining up the edges of the ruler and the edge of the object being measured will also be included. A variety of materials to measure and a variety of rulers (plastic, wooden, paper, different colored) will be available in the math activity center.

Materials & Supplies

Identify the materials, supplies and equipment needed to successfully complete this experience:

: For the student, and

: For the teacher.

Type your response here:

Student materials and supplies: linking cubes, blocks, snow, rulers, pencils, paper, crayons

Teacher materials and supplies: The books: Geraldine’s Big Snow by Holly Keller (1988, published by Scholastic,Inc. 730 Broadway, New York 10003) and How Big Is A Foot? by Rolf Myller(1962, Atheneum Publishers, 162 East 38^th Street, New York 10016) , prepare the chart of a ruler with a picture of how to use the tool, a water table, and a variety of rulers and a variety of object that are a foot long, snow

Assessment Tools and Techniques

Describe the:

: techniques used to collect evidence of student progress toward meeting the learning standards (e.g., observation, group discussions, higher analytical questioning); and

: tools used to document student progress (e.g., scoring guides, rating scales, checklists, projects, taped performances).

Type your response here:

Teacher Observations

Peer Check

Completed work

Objects to measure and sort into two categories: This is a foot long. This is not a foot long.

Time Required

For each aspect of the learning experience, state the amount of time for:

: planning

: implementation; and

: Assessment.

Type your response here:

Planning: 15 minutes for written plans and collecting materials/30 minutes to make the chart

Implementation: The lessons will be done in one or two days . The center activities will be out for the week.

The extension activity will be a special whole day project.

Assessment: Routine progress checks and teacher observations during the lessons/ 1 ½ hours of center activity time in which I will individually check students for sorting items that are about a foot long from those that are not.

Student Work

Send samples of student work that reflect the diversity of students participating in the learning experience

Type your response here:

Student work will be brought to the peer review. Pictures will be taken and share at the peer review.

Reflection

Comment on the learning experience, including:

: how it might better meet the needs of ALL learner;

: how it might better support student progress toward attainment of the learning standards;

: ow to expand the connections to other learning standards; and

: how it reflects current scholarship in your field and "best" classroom practice.

Type your response here:

To better meet the needs of all learners and to better support progress toward attainment of the learning standards, I would enlist the help of older students in the building to trace the bodies of the students on a large sheet of paper and measure how many feet long they are using a ruler. To incorporate the English Language Arts Standard 1 , I would have them write directions for making a bed to fit their size using the term "foot" in the directions.

This learning experience reflects current scholarship and "best" classroom practice in that students are given visual, tactile, individual, and small group experiences.