Grade

Concept

Developmentally Appropriate Teaching Strategies

Conceptual Understanding

Kindergarten

Describe and compare

measurable attributes of
objects

- What about the objects need to be measured? (Height,

diameter, circumference, surface area, volume, weight)
- Which unit of measurement? (Length: centimeters,
inches, miles, pencils..etc., Weight: pounds, kilograms,
grams, bricks etc.)
- Make comparisons based on the attribute (longer/shorter,
heavier/lighter)

-There is a mathematical sense

in every object that we see
around us and we can measure
anything with the right tools
and knowledge

First Grade

- Develop familiarity with

standard units
- Measure lengths indirectly

- Use something students can find to measure something

using made-up units (sneakers, pencils, notebooks, etc.)
- Use bodies to find approximate unit measurements for
things (tip of thumb to knuckle under thumb = about 1
inch, finger width = about 2 cm, etc.)
- Make different lines our of tape on the floor (straight,
curvy, crooked) and have students determine which is
longest, next longest, and shortest. Have them explain how
they solved the problem.

-Use everyday objects as units

of measure
-Not everything that needs to
be measured is a straight line

Second Grade

- Measure lengths by
selecting and using the
appropriate tools (ruler, yard
stick, measuring tape)
- Estimate lengths using feet,
inches, centimeters, and
meters

- Guessing units of measurement from ads based on what is

being advertised (flooring; square foot, propane; by the
gallon, etc.)
- Always estimate a length using different strategies before
calculating actual length (to better grasp measurement
units)
- develop benchmarks or referents: use a familiar
object with a known length to estimate (a child's
height..etc.)
- use chunking or subdivisions: estimate the overall
measurement by breaking it into pieces

-Using the appropriate tools is

important for measurement if
our goal is to be as accurate as
possible
-Estimation is a great strategy
to use when we don't have
accurate measurement tools
around us and if accuracy
isn't the goal

Third Grade

- Understand concepts of
area and relate area to
multiplication and to
addition.
- Recognize perimeter
- Solve problems involving

- Give students a pair of rectangles that are the same, or

close in area as well as a ruler that measures the unit that
was used to measure the areas. Students will use their
rulers to determine which rectangle is larger or if they are
the same.
- Have students decide on an object to find the perimeter

- Connecting math problems

to real-life situations will
show why the concept is
important.
- Important ideas of different
math concepts: volume,

measurement and estimation of, as well as the tools that they are going to use to find the perimeter, area..etc.
answer. Have them explain how they found their answer as
well as what they did if the object was larger than their
measuring material.
- On 1-cm grid paper, have students work to see how many
rectangular tables can be made with an area of 36. For each
table, they will need to record the dimensions as well as the
perimeter.
- Set up several stations with buckets, different sized
sponges, measuring cups, and beakers marked in milliliters.
Form students into teams that will work together to
estimate how much water they can squeeze out of each
sponge using their non-dominant hand. After doing the
experiment, they will answer: does a sponge that is two
times larger than another sponge provide two times the
water? - See what else they notice.
Fourth Grade

- Solve problems involving

measurement and conversion
of measurements
- Understand concepts of
angle and measure angles

- Have students measure objects in two different units (feet - There can be more than one
and inches, inches and centimeters, etc.) and ask them to
correct answer variation in
describe the relationship between the measurements.
measurement units
- After discovering the relationship, have them
measure using only one unit and have them convert to find
another unit.
- Give students and index card and have them draw a
narrow angle and cut it out to create a wedge. Students will
then use their wedge to measure how many can fit into the
angle that is made by the remainder of their index card.

Fifth Grade

- Understand concepts of
volume
- Convert like measurement
units within a given
measurement system

- Give pairs of students two sheets of equal sized paper.

With one they make a cylinder by taping the two long ends
together, and with the other, they tape the two long ends
together. Ask the students, 'if these were two silos, would
they hold the same amount or would one hold more than
the other?'
- To test, put the skinnier cylinder into the larger one
and fill it with beans and then lift it out to fill the wider

- Using previous knowledge to

solve new problems.
- Real life situations guide
students to understand why
the concept is important to
learn

cylinder.
- Provide students with a pair of small boxes made from
card stock and have them decide which has the greater
volume or if they have the same volume. They will get one
cube of unit measure and a ruler that applies to the unit
measure used for the boxes.
- Have students measure objects in two different units (feet
and inches, inches and centimeters, etc.) and ask them to
describe the relationship between the measurements.
- After discovering the relationship, have them
measure using only one unit and have them convert to find
another unit.
Sixth Grade

- Solve real-world and

mathematical problems
involving area, surface area,
and volume

- Give students a paper with 3 different parallelogramshaped sand boxes. Ask them to use what they have learned
about area of rectangles to determine the areas of the
parallelograms. The park wants to buy the one with the
largest area and they need to help figure out which one that
is.
- Provide students with 2 or more triangles drawn on a
piece of paper and ask them to use what they know about
the area of a parallelogram to find the area of each of the
triangles and to develop a method that will work for any
triangle.

- Solving real-world problems

allows them to see the
importance in learning the
concept
- Using previous knowledge to
solve a new problem

Seventh Grade

- Draw construct, and

describe geometrical figures
and describe the relationships
between them
- Solve real-life and
mathematical problems
involving angle measure,
area, surface area, and
volume

- Mary has an 80:1 scale-drawing of the floor plan of her

house. On the floor plan, the dimensions of her rectangular
living room are 178 inches by 212 inches. What is the
actual perimeter of the room? What is the actual area of the
room?
- Daniel has a round tablecloth. He measured the tablecloth
and calculated that it has a circumference of 76.5 inches.
What is the tablecloth's diameter?
-A bedroom has sides that are 13 feet long, what is the
room's area?

- Solving real-world problems

allows them to see the
importance in learning the
concept

Eighth Grade

- Understand and apply the

Pythagorean Theorem
- Solve real-world and
mathematical problems
involving volume of
cylinders, cones, and spheres

- A triangle has sides with lengths of 7 inches, 14 inches,

and 15 inches. Is it a right triangle? Why or why not?
- A bird was sitting 9 feet from the base of a telephone pole
and flew 17 feet to reach the top of the pole. How tall is the
telephone pole?
- Frank is comparing cone-shaped water cooler cups, to
cylinder-shaped cups. He has narrowed his comparisons
down to volume and will purchase the ones that hold the
most amount of liquid. The cone-shaped cup is 6 inches
from the center of the opening to bottom of the cup, and
has a diameter of 1.5 inches at the opening. The cylindershaped cup stands 5 inches tall and has a diameter of 2.5
inches. Which one should Frank buy? Why?

- Solving real-world problems

allows them to see the
importance in learning the
concept