Winnie Koo - Ravenswood School
Learning with Links
Winnie Koo Ravenswood School
4332 North Paulina
CHICAGO IL 60613
(773) 534-5525
Objective(s):
Discuss and demonstrate the meaning of counting, measuring, and estimating of
objects.
Materials Needed:
Four boxes of plastic links of different colors.
Strategy:
Using handson activities to help students understand the concept of counting,
measuring, and estimating.
Activity of Counting
(1) Explain and demonstrate the meaning of "counting" (write the word
"counting" on the board) using example such as money, fingers, or furniture
inside the classroom, etc.
(2) Show students what a link is (write down the word "link" on the board) and
ask a few students to come up counting certain amount of links on the tables
to see if the students know how to count. For example, ask the students to
count 5 links, 10 links, 15 links, and so forth.
(3) Ask students if they still have any question on how to count. If they still
have question, repeat step 1 and 2 with different examples until they all
understand the concept of counting.
Activity of Measurement
(1) Separate students into groups and distribute a box of links for each group.
(2) Demonstrate to students how to put the links together to form a longer
link.
(3) Ask each group to form links of different number such as links of 5, 7, 10,
and so forth, to see if they have any trouble in doing it.
(4) Tell students we can use these links for "measurement" (Write the work
"measurement" on the board) and tell them the word "measurement" means how
long or how wide something is. Show students some examples until they
understand the meaning of measurement.
(5) Distribute the handout to each group.
(6) Ask each group to turn to page 1 of the handout and ask who can tell what
is going on in the first picture (listen to the response, give praises to
those whose answers are correct).
(7) Tell students the name of the boy in the picture is Julio and Julio's arm
is 12 links long. Have students construct a length of 12 links to see how
long is Julio's arm.
(8) Repeat step 7 with the rest of the picture on page 1 and 2.
(9) Now ask students of each group to measure two of their body parts and to put
down the data on the sheet, including a picture of the body part they measure.
(10) Pick some students to report the result.
Activity of Estimation
(1) Write down the word "estimation" on the board and tell students the next
activity is about estimation. Tell students that we can also measure things
in a different way called estimation. But estimation is different in a way
that it does not tell the exact measurement of a thing. What it means is
that estimation is a way to guess how long or how much is a thing.
(2) Ask for a volunteer.
(3) Take out a pen or a pencil. Ask the student how many links does it take to
find out the length of the pen or pencil.
(4) After the student gave the answer, ask him or her use the links to find out
the exact length of it. Then ask the student how many link(s) of his/her
answer is/are off from the actual answer. The student's answer should be
closed to the exact answer. This example tells what it means by estimation.
(5) Do the estimation activity on the handout.
Performance Assessment:
Through the activities and by working on the work papers, students will be
assessed how much they have learned from the lesson.
Conclusions:
Students should have a solid understand of the concept of counting, measuring,
and estimating.
Return to Mathematics Index