Sneak Peak: Math in 133

Unit 3: Measurement

VOCABULARY FOR UNIT 3

Dear Room 133 Families,

My name is Ms. Miller, and although I have met many of
you already, I wanted to take this opportunity to further
introduce myself. I am working on my student teaching
internship with Michigan State this year, and graduated
this May with a Bachelor of Arts in Education, with a focus
on Language Arts, Teaching English to Speakers of other
Languages, and Spanish. As an intern, I am very excited to
introduce the unit that I have been developing with Mrs.
Schaefer! This newsletter gives you a sneak peek at the
next math unit your children will be working on. Please use
this newsletter as a resource to deepen your childs
learning at home. I will be including the main concepts that
we will be working on in class, sample homework
problems, describing various strategies students will be
learning, and even games that help the concepts stick with
your child! Please take time to make sure you understand
the concepts and discuss them with your students.
Remember, we are partners. We have the same end goal:
deep learning for students! Any extra support you provide
at home makes a HUGE difference!

Main Ideas for Unit 3:

In Unit 3, children will develop their measurement
sense by measuring lengths with standard units.
They will use personal references from familiar
objects to estimate other lengths around them.
Children will investigate the concept of perimeter
by building and measuring the distance around
various polygons. Children will also explore the
concept of area by tiling and counting blocks
over the surface of certain polygons. Through
experience, students will generalize the
processes for calculating area and perimeter.
Children will then apply learned concepts to
circles to identify circumferences and diameters.

Unit: an agreed-upon quantity of measure, for example

foot, pound, gallon, meter.
Length: the distance between two points.
U.S. customary system: the measurement system used
in the United States (inches, feet, yards, and miles are
used to measure length).
Metric system of measurement: A measurement system
used in most countries around the world (millimeters,
centimeters, meters, and kilometers are used to
measure length).
Benchmark: A well-known count or measure that can be
used to check whether other counts, measures, or
estimates make sense. Also called personal-measurement
references.
Perimeter: The distance around the boundary of a 2dimensional shape. The perimeter of a circle is called its
circumference.
Diameter: A line segment that passes through the center
of a circle or sphere.
Polygon: A 2-dimensional figure formed by 3 or more line
segments (sides) that meet only at their endpoints
(vertices) to make a closed path.
Tiling: the covering of a surface with shapes so that
there are no gaps or overlaps.
Area: the amount of surface inside a 2-dimensional
figure.
Square unit: A unit used to measure area; a square that
measures 1 inch, 1 centimeter, 1 yard or 1 other standard
measure of length on each side.
Estimate: A guess that is close to an exact answer.

SAMPLE HOMEWORK PROBLEMS

Which polygon has the larger perimeter,
Polygon A or Polygon B?
A

Measure a friend or family member to the

nearest inch.
Find an item with a measurement on it.

STAR STRATEGIES FOR UNIT 3

Compare standard (e.g. inches) and
nonstandard (e.g. straws) units of length and
create relationships between them. This will
help your child make meaningful connections
with measurement and estimation.
Check measurement answers using personal
reference marks. This will help your child
avoid making errors.
Explain how you got an answer. This helps
your child communicate their thinking and
demonstrate understanding of problems.
IF YOUR CHILD IS STRUGGLING, TRY THIS

Have your child find and record objects

that are about one inch in length. They can
draw pictures of objects to help them
develop a sense of how long an inch is.

Repeat the above activity for any new

units that your child is unfamiliar with.
Getting a lot of practice with different
objects that are the same length helps
make the value of a unit meaningful, and
helps them check for errors in the future!

Practice drawing and labeling shapes.

ACTIVITIES FOR DEEPER LEARNING

Work with your child to find some personal

references that are meaningful to them
and allow them to estimate measurements
at home. Practice measuring objects first
with their personal reference, and then
with a rule. Practice finding perimeters of
objects with both the personal reference
and the ruler. (Please let me know if you
do not have a ruler at home!)

Practice measuring objects with a ruler.

Explore using a ruler by starting at points
on the ruler other than zero (e.g. measure
an egg starting at the 3-inch mark on the
ruler). This can extend your childs thinking
about measurement.

Try an estimation scavenger hunt. Make a

list of lengths for things that are about a
certain length (e.g. about 15 feet long,
about 4 feet wide, etc.). Students then find
an object within the home that fits this
description.

Skill-Building Games

Practice measurement with rulers.

Ruler Race: Players take turns rolling
two dice (or more, for a challenge!).
Players add up the total number rolled
and must race to find an object in the
room that is as long (using the inches
or centimeters side of a ruler) as the
number rolled. The first person to find
a correct measurement gets a point.
Continue to practice basic addition and
subtraction skills with Addition Top-It and
Subtraction Top-It. These games can be played
with a regular deck of cards with the face
cards removed.
Addition Top-It: Each player turns over
two number cards and calls out their
sum. The player with the higher sum
then takes all the cards from that
round.
Subtraction Top-It: Each player turns
over two number cards and calls out
their difference. The player with the
larger difference then takes all the
cards from that round.
Measurement Games Online
http://pbskids.org/games/measurement/
http://www.funbrain.com/measure/
http://www.turtlediary.com/grade-3games.html
Mrs. Schaefer
Ms. Miller