Curriculum
Measurement
From the Ontario Ministry of Education Kindergarten Curriculum
- 1.4: sustain interactions in different contexts (DLMB)
- 3.2: demonstrate the ability to take turns during activity and discussions (SWB)
- 13.2: make predictions and observations before and during investigations (PSI)
- 13.4: communicate results and findings from individual and group investigations (PSI)
- 14.1: ask questions about and describe some natural occurrences, using their own observations and representations (DLMB)
- 15.3: make use of one to one correspondence in counting objects and matching groups of objects (DLMB)
- 16.1: select an attribute to measure, determine an appropriate non-standard unit of measure
- and measure and compare two or more objects (DLMB)
- 16.2: investigate strategies and materials used when measuring with non-standard units of measure (DLMB)
- 24.5: communicate and record results and findings either individually or in groups (PSI)
- 29.2: describe what would happen if something in the local environment changed (BC)
Context
In the classroom, students and the educator begin by sitting in a circle on the floor.
Materials
- Measuring stick
- Cubes
- Pen
- Paper
- Masking tape
- Snow
Lesson
Introduction
- Facilitate dialogue with the students to prompt them to think about how they can measure the snow
- Use the guided questions as follows:
- How can we measure snow?
- How might we find out how deep the snow is?
- How can we keep track of how deep the snow is?
- How might we find out how heavy the snow is?
- How might we find out how cold the snow is?
Lesson
- Talk about the winter season and the snow accumulation
- Assist students to find a place near the main sitting area where the group will not be walking, select an area to measure the snow all winter
- Explain to the students that we can measure how deep the snow is with a measuring stick, and how the students can expect the depth of the snow to change over the winter season
- Ask students to predict how deep the snow is, encourage the students to show their prediction with their hands
- Have a student take the measuring stick to determine the depth of the snow, by sticking the measuring stick into the snow
- The teacher will place their hand on where the snow comes up on the stick
- Have students place cubes along the length of the stick
- Count the cubes and record, then compare this result with their predictions
- Have students stand next to the stick and measure where the snow comes up to on their body
Closure
- Ask the students to think about how the depth of the snow will change over the duration of winter
- What will happen to the depth of the snow when it is warm outside?
- What will happen to the depth of the snow when it becomes colder and snows more?
- Once in the classroom, tape the cubes together and record the date and the number of cubes
- Display the cube towers in the classroom to watch the progression of the depth of snow
- Transfer this information into a graph and display it in the classroom
- Continue to measure the snow throughout the winter
- Measure in different areas (i.e., areas exposed to the sun vs. shaded areas) and compare
- Explore snow further, with different measures
- Volume
- Mass
- Temperature


