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"RULES OF FOOT"
MASTER TEACHER Lori Morrison
GRADES 2-4
OVERVIEW
This lesson provides students with the opportunity to explore
generalized rules in measurement, estimate using measurement, and data
collection. After practicing with estimation and measurement, students
will actually develop the process of measuring and the concepts related to units
of measurement. Students will create their own measurement rules using the
foot (12 inches) as a guide. Students will also tell time by using their
own feet. Finally, students will present the various data gathered on bar
graphs.
ITV SERIES
Math Talk: #115 Close Enough: Estimating
Math Talk: #111 Measured Steps: Measuring Length
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Students will be able to:
*explore the concept of measurement
*measure length in arbitrary units
*find and explain rules of thumb
*define foot
*estimate using feet
*measure items using a standard ruler
*create rules of foot
*determine the approximate time of day using their own feet
*graph various forms of data
MATERIALS
paper/pencil(scientific data log/math journal) per student
poster paper marked off for bar lengths(shadow lengths)
commercially assembled gift wrap bows(one for each child)
staple removers(at least 5 for the class)
foot mobile worksheet
VOCABULARY
average - The number that would be in each group if the
items were rearranged so that each group had the same number of items.
bar graph - A specific graph that uses bars to show the
data.
estimate - To make a close guess about (size, number,
cost, etc.)
foot - In U.S. customary a unit of measure, length, that
is equivalent to 12 inches.(ft)
inch - twelfth part of a linear foot.(in.)
PREVIEWING ACTIVITIES
(Prior to lesson, have students arranged in groups of four)
Tell students that you really want to make the classroom look
more like home. So, you are going to buy some tablecloths for their
desktops. Tell students that you don't have anything to measure their
desktops with, and they will have to come up with some way to measure their
desktops. Give students a few minutes to brainstorm in their cooperative
groups how they could measure their desktops. Write down all responses on
the chalkboard.(Students might suggest using their thumb, hand, or a book)
Ask students if they have ever had the opportunity to measure something, by
themselves or with a parent, without a measuring tool. Discuss different
scenarios.
FOCUS FOR VIEWING
To give students a specific responsibility for viewing say,
"You are going to see a video with rappers Kid and Play. Kid and Play
are going to have a house party. Throughout this video, Kid and Play are
going to sing a song. The song is about rules of thumb.(measurement
without measuring tools) List the different rules of thumb on a piece of
notebook paper.(math journals) When the song is over, visit in your groups
and discuss the different rules of thumb that Kid and Play mentioned. Each
group has the task of coming up with at least five different rules of
thumb.(There are six rules mentioned in the music video.)
VIEWING ACTIVITIES
Math Talk: #115 Close Enough: Estimating, Math Talk: #111
Measured Steps: Measuring Length
BEGIN tape (Math Talk #115) as Maria Lopez is saying,
"You might have to estimate?" ; visual is Maria talking to Buster.
Stop video with visual of people dancing and words Kid and Play;
"Rule of Thumb" in the bottom left hand corner of the screen; audio is
chorus, "It's the rule of thumb."(If needed, replay the song.)
Give each group a few minutes to discuss the different rules of thumb that were
addressed on the music video. Ask each cooperative group to state at least
one rule of thumb that they found in the music video. List the rules of
thumb on the chalkboard or poster board. (Rules of thumb:1.) A quarter is
about an inch wide. 2.) An average man's foot is about 12 inches
long. 3.) If you measure from fingertip to fingertip it should be
close to your height. 4.) A baseball bat is about a meter long.
5.) One average slice of bread is about an ounce. 6.) A dollar
bill is about six inches long. Talk about how Kid and Play used the
different rules of thumb.(illogical use of quarters; logical use of outstretched
arms on walls)
Tell students that many times we have to use rules of thumb when
we don't have a proper measuring device. Ask students if they have ever
been in a situation where they had to measure something without something to
measure it with. (Share and discuss.) Read How Big Is A Foot by Rolf
Myller. (Literature connection in the Macmillan/McGraw - Hill, Mathematics
in Action 2nd grade series) Or, tell students that you once had a
wonderful math student that had a very serious measurement problem.
Once upon a time I had a wonderful math student that decided to
have a new desk made for me, because I was the best math teacher ever. The
fourth grade student collected money from all the fourth grade students and
decided to pay the star football player, who was also in wood shop, to build me
a new desk, because I was the best math teacher ever. So, the star
football player, who was also in wood shop, asked the wonderful math student to
measure the area where the beautiful new desk would go. While I was out of
the room, (Which is rare, because I never leave my room, because I am the best
math teacher ever.), the tiny wonderful math student quickly ran over to the
area where the desk was going to go and walked off five feet wide and eight feet
long. The wonderful math student announced to the class that the new desk
would be five feet wide by eight feet long. All the students agreed that
the five foot by eight foot desk would go perfectly in the corner of the
classroom. The wonderful math student smiled. The best math
teacher ever is going to be so happy, she thought. So, the wonderful math
student called the star football player, who was in wood shop, and told him that
the new desk had to be five feet by eight feet.
That evening the star football player put together the new desk.
He did not have a ruler so, he decided to mark the wood by using the length of
his own foot. By the way, the star football player weighed 350 pounds and
was six foot five inches tall. The star football player finished the desk
that evening and called the wonderful math student.
The next day, the desk was to be delivered to the school for me,
the best math teacher ever. When the truck driver pulled up to the school
with the desk, all the fourth grade students jumped out of their seats and
yelled surprise to me, the best math teacher ever. Everyone went outside
to see the beautiful new desk. Immediately there was a problem. The
football players, who also took shop, could not get the huge desk in the
doorway. Then, when they finally forced the desk into the classroom, there
was no room in the corner for the desk. The new desk took up most of the
classroom. When I sat down to grade papers, I got trapped by the large
desk and the wonderful math student had to call 911 to get the firemen to pull
me out from behind the desk. Finally, I had to tell the wonderful math
student that even though the new desk was beautiful that I could not use it,
because I was unable to move around the room, and we all know that to be the
very best math teacher ever you must always be moving around the classroom.
The wonderful math student broke down in tears and said that she
couldn't understand why the desk was so large. I consoled the student and
she went home forlorn. All the way home fourth grade students laughed and
mocked her saying ugly things like; "You couldn't measure your own
ruler!" and "Wonderful math student, ha, ha, ha!"
When the wonderful math student got home she started to take off
her shoes and a little light went off in her head. "Ah, ha!" she
said. "I now know why the desk is too large!" She ran to
the football field to talk to the football player, who also took wood shop.
They both hugged each other and decided to fix the new desk that night.
They were going to surprise the very best math teacher ever, me, in the morning.
The next morning when I came to school, I turned on the
classroom lights and I saw the most beautiful sight I had ever seen in my life!
A brand new desk that fit perfectly in the corner of my room. The
wonderful math student was praised and recognized by the entire school at P.T.A.
The star football player, who also took wood shop, was recognized at the
homecoming football game for having so many talents. And, the very best
math teacher ever, me, has the prettiest desk ever!
Revisit the story and ask the students why rules of thumb or in
this case, rule of foot did not work.( Star football player's foot was
bigger than the wonderful math student's foot) Introduce the ruler,(Have
students measure their own foot with their rulers and compare and discuss the
different size feet in the classroom.) and tell students that we use a standard
ruler when measuring items in feet. Tell students that we can estimate in
measurement and make a logical guess but, it is always better to accurately
measure items with standard tools(discuss the cost, and time factor, and in the
case of the wonderful math student- humiliation).
Pass out a gift wrap bow to each student. Ask students to
estimate whether or not the ribbon in their bow when unwound will be longer or
shorter than their height. Once each student has determined whether or not
their bow will be longer or shorter than their own height, have them write their
guess in their math journals.(Teacher may want to record guess on the
chalkboard) Students can also make an estimate as to how long their bow
might be in feet. Have each student write their estimated guess in their
journals.(Again, the teacher may want to post the estimated guesses.)
Tell students that they are going to watch an episode of
"Oops." Tell students that you want them to be able to tell you
what is wrong with the way that the gentleman is using the ruler. Begin
tape (Math Talk #111) as Buster saying, "Maria, Maria, a dingleling on the
ringing thing."; visual is Maria Lopez and Buster talking to each other.
Pause tape with visual of ruler and piece of wood,
gentleman is writing 12cm on paper; audio is announcer saying, "Because of
that tiny mistake, just look what happened." Ask students what is
wrong with the placement of the ruler.(Wood piece being measured needs to be
placed in line with the zero on the ruler, explain that not all rulers are
marked the same way.) Resume tape, so students can see Nordrock
correct his mistake.
Pause video with visual of Buster; audio is Buster
saying, "That's the trick, make sure you line up the zero mark on the ruler
with the end of the thing you are measuring." Tell students that they
are going to practice their measurement techniques by correctly measuring the
length of the ribbon on their bow. Students remove the staple from their
gift wrap bow and determine if the bow is longer or shorter than their height.
After students record their guess, have them measure the length of their ribbon.
Students record the actual length in feet and inches. Have students
calculate the difference in the actual length and the estimated
length.(Calculators may be used.) Students share their data with the
teacher and the class.
Tell students that just like they couldn't accurately measure
the ribbon in the decorative bow until they took it apart, there are many
measurement situations that require logical reasoning in everyday
situations.(i.e. At the store and there is a special sell on mini blinds and you
know you need one or situations where you are moving furniture through a
doorway.) Tell students that there are many types of rules that a person
can use when measuring certain items. Tell students that they are going to
watch a video about a gentleman that has the task of measuring the carpet on a
staircase. Ask students to watch the video and try to come up with a
logical way to measure the carpet on the staircase without removing the carpet
from the stairs. Resume tape with visual of Maria; audio is Maria
saying, "And as long as we're talking about measuring length, here's
another situation from square one."
Pause video with visual of Mr. Nobody measuring the
top step; audio is Mr. Nobody saying, "All right, let's see. The top
riser is 8 inches high and the step is 13 inches deep." Ask students
if they can think of a way they could use those two measurements to figure out
the length of the carpet on the stairway. (Students might say that they
could measure the one stair and multiply it by the number of stairs on the
stairway.) Tell students that we will watch the video to see if their idea
will work. Resume tape listening for the reason why measuring one
step will not work.(It is an old staircase and each step is a little bit
different)
Pause video with Mr. Nobody talking to the French
chef; audio is Mr. Nobody saying, "Each step is a little bit
different." Tell student that in order for multiplication to work
they must have equal groups. Resume tape, reminding students to try
to come up with a logical way to measure the carpet on the stairway.
Pause tape with visual of Mrs. Nobody talking to Mr.
Nobody at the desk; audio is Mrs. Nobody saying, "You don't have to measure
them that way dear, that takes much too long." Ask students to talk
within their groups and see if they can figure out a way that the carpet on the
stairs can be measured quickly and accurately.(Discuss the different answers.)
Tell students that we are going to listen to Mrs. Nobody tell us how to measure
the carpet on the stairway quickly and accurately. Resume tape.
Pause tape with visual of Mr. Nobody measuring the
base of the staircase; audio is Mr. Nobody saying, "Thank you
darling." Using an erasable marker, draw on the television screen
showing students why the measurement Mr. Nobody is taking works.(Use one color
marker for the tread and another color marker for the riser.) Erase the
television screen and Resume.
Stop tape with visual of Maria and Buster; audio is
Maria saying, "We hope you'll watch us again on..." and Buster says,
"Math Talk." Tell students that we now know that measurement is
very helpful, but we also know that there are tricks or rules to help us measure
items.
POSTVIEWING ACTIVITIES
Students can work individually or in pairs. Tell students
that we are going to create our own rules for measurement. Our rules are
going to be "rules of foot", based on the standard measure of a
foot(12 inches). Instead of using different size feet, tell students that
we are going to accurately measure items using a ruler.(12 inches= 1 foot)
We are going to share our "rules of foot" with the entire class by
placing our measurements on a foot mobile. Talk to students about some
rules of foot that would be interesting to place on their foot mobile.(The
average fourth grade student in this classroom is about _____ feet tall, the
average doorway is _____feet wide, the length of a piece of paper is about
____foot, the average chair width is about _____ feet.) Make an extended
list of items that can be measured with a ruler(Discuss what is the best tool
for measuring items, i.e., you would measure a car in yards, and a pencil in
inches) While making your rules of foot list, review the term average.
Allow students to measure items and record the rule on their foot mobile.
Have students share their foot mobiles with their classmates. Another way
to continue the rule of foot measurement theme would be to have a science lesson
with feet. Have students measure the time of day with their own feet.
Have students measure their shadow by pacing it off with their feet, toe to
heel. Students can make a bar graph for all of the different shadow
lengths of their class. This lesson by Susan Addington and special shadow
table created by Stuart Levy of the Geometry Center in Minneapolis can be
accessed through the World Wide Web at http://www.math.csusb.edu/faculty/susan/timefeet.html
ACTION PLAN
Arrange a field trip to the high school football field.
Have students use paper to measure the feet of various football players.
Students can compare the size of their foot with the size of the football
player's foot. Students can also figure out how many feet are in a yard by
measuring on the actual football field. Have a series of questions that
students can answer by measuring items on the field.(i.e. 3 yards is ____ feet)
EXTENSIONS
Language Arts
Make a foot shape book with items that are a foot long listed
inside.
Write famous athletes asking them to send a tracing of their
foot to be displayed in the classroom. Have students ask questions about
how the famous athlete buys shoes or if they are custom made. Have
students design and describe a new style shoe for their athlete.
Math
A known rule of thumb is that your individual height is directly
related to your own feet. Each person is approximately six of his/her own
feet tall. Have students work in pairs tracing their own bodies.
Once students have the tracing of their own body, have students place their
tracing on the floor and count off the number of feet it takes to equal their
height. Students can mark their tracing as they count off their feet.
Have students decorate their tracing and write a synopsis about their
measurement.
Use masking tape to tape off areas of the classroom
floor(Most floors in schools are made with square foot tiles). Have
students work in groups to measure of the perimeter and area of each section
that is marked with masking tape. Give students the actual perimeter and
area of the taped shapes to see if the measured correctly.(This activity can be
altered by giving the students broken rulers to use as measurement tools.)
Place items of various sizes in a box. Without a ruler,
have students guess which item matches the actual size(You may have a worksheet
or place this on the board.) After the students have made their guesses,
have them calculate the actual measurements of each item.
Science
Have a scientist or an engineer visit the classroom and talk
about the different measurement tools that they use in their job.
Health
Have a dietitian visit the class to talk about rules of thumb
for food preparation and proper diet planning. Have students design,
prepare, share, and write about their healthy meal experience.
Updated: April 01, 2008
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