Entry 7: Inches to Feet... Feet to Miles... Conversion Mania!!!

Personal Objective:
My topic this week is introducing conversions to fourth-grade students. Conversions are closely related to proportions and can be a troubling topic for students. For students to comprehend the S.I or metric system students need to understand the powers of ten.

Common Core Standard:
Fourth Grade: 4.MD
Solve problems involving measurement and conversion of measurements from a larger unit to a smaller unit.
1. Know relative sizes of measurement units within one system of units including km, m, cm, kg, g; lb, oz.; l, m; hr, min, sec. Within a single system of measurements, express measurements in a larger unit in terms of a smaller unit. Record measurement equivalents in a two-column table.

Activity:
Education.com:
K5 Learning:





Other Resources:

Reflection:
The Education.com is an excellent introductory worksheet. It will expose students to the vocabulary and help them connect the unit with its related measurement. I chose the two K5 worksheets to give students more practice. One sheet focuses on the metric system, and the other one focuses on customary units. The Khan Academy website contains videos and interactive exercises problems that can help the students. If the student is having difficulties, they have an option of receiving a hint or watching a video. Class K12 is another good website that contains interactive practice problems. Both the BrainSTEM and Math Antics videos are good visual aides.
Understanding measurements is an important concept. If students do not have a strong knowledge of measurements, they will have difficulties in later courses. I have noticed a few of my college chemistry struggle with conversions and setting up a proportion, which makes it harder to understand chemistry concepts without the algebra background.

Comments

  1. Susan ScottMarch 8, 2019 at 9:26 AM

    Hi Chavonna, I like your post. I agree it is important for kids to know measurements and comprehend them. The questions on the worksheet are a very valid way of showing the importance of knowing different kinds of measurement. I picture it being fun to explain the answers too. For example, showing a tablespoon, a cup, and a gallon and explaining that it would take a long, long, time to fill up a pool with tablespoons of water. The question about measurements of a ceiling is also important. It led me to think about a recent trip into Home Depot. There's a vinyl flooring that comes in strips. The samples are small perfect squares too. When I was looking at the flooring, I was thinking about someday using this as a way to show measurement and fractions. The kids could choose a measurement for a room that needed flooring. They could draw out how many boards were needed and also answer questions like, "How does this serve as a fraction model if all flooring strips in the room are the same size?" Another idea I thought of was giving kids three different sized square tiles as a reference, and let them design a floor pattern with the tiles, decide what size floor and how many tiles of each size the student would want to use. I think it would be neat to see what they all design and draw out, and make each student a list of fraction related questions related to the tile pattern they designed. Math...I love it and love how it is practical and yet can be creative also.

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  2. Winifred BancroftMarch 31, 2019 at 11:41 AM

    Chavonna, I really liked this post! To this day, I still do not know how to convert measures from larger to smaller or smaller to larger, and I always just look up a conversion calculator on my phone. I had no idea that conversion of certain measures were a mathematical standard. The videos you posted are great resources and the worksheets look like awesome practice. I also like how you organized your post with your personal objective and a reflection.

    Great Job!!
    -Freddie

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