|
During her adventures, Alice changes size at least five different times, receiving numerous lessons in size, scale, and proportions. This activity encourages children to think about size, measurement, and scale by measuring and comparing the length of different parts of their body.
Did You Know?
- If you were twenty times taller than you are now, you could step over a two-story building?
- The foot (equal to 12 inches) we measure with today was based on the length of Kind James' actual foot?
- Scale is another word for "measurements and sizes?"
Materials: What You'll Need
- adding machine tape
- markers or pencils
- tape measures
- chart paper (optional)
- paperclips
- glue or tape
- paper
To Get Ready:
- Divide the class into partners.
To Start, Ask:
Do you think you are a rectangle or a square?
Activity: Now, Try It!
- Did you know that the distance from your left fingertip to your right fingertip (when your arms are stretched out) is almost the same as the distance from the top of your head to the ground? In partners, take a piece of adding machine tape and stretch it from fingertip to fingertip of your partner and tear the tape off. Hold the end of the tape at the top of the measured student's head. Does the tape reach all the way to the ground or is it too short? If the tape just barely touches the ground, you're a square. If the tape doesn't reach your toes or the end lay on the ground, you're a rectangle. If you're a rectangle, are you a tall rectangle or a short rectangle?
- Now, switch partners and repeat.
- Use your adding machine tape to compare the sizes of other parts of your body. Make a fist and have your partner wrap the tape around its center. Tear off the tape and compare its length to the length of your foot. Are they the same or different?
- Next, use your adding machine tape to measure the distance between your shoulder and your elbow. How does that distance compare to the length between your elbow and your wrist?
- Extension: Make a graph of students in the class that are squares and rectangles. You can also chart girls vs. boys, ages, or any other comparison.
Questions to Think about and Ask:
- Measure other parts of your body with the length of tape that is the circumference of your fist. How many other body parts are the same length? How many of your own fists tall are you?
- How many of your own feet tall are you?
Career Connection:
Archeologists use the length of bones that they find to figure out the sizes and shapes of pre-historic animals. If you are interested in finding out more about animals from the past and like solving scale puzzles, you might enjoy being an archaeologist.
Assess What Happened (students reflect):
Ask children to make a smaller version of themselves, by using a paperclip to replace each fist measurement. Students can glue or tape their paperclip representation onto a piece of paper. Encourage children to answer the question, "If you were to shrink or grow like Alice, would the number of fists tall you are change?"
Connect It to the Story!
In the Hall of Doors, Alice finds a small door that leads to the most beautiful garden she ever saw. Wishing she were smaller so that she could fit through the door, she finds a special drink that makes her shrink to a size of ten inches tall! When Alice realizes that she left the door's key on the table, she eats a special cake that makes her grow to nine feet tall. Alice never seems to be the right size, are you?
Connect It to Standards:
"Fundamental abilities and concepts that underlie [the Science as Inquiry] Standard include employ[ing] simple equipment and tools to gather data and extend the senses." (NSES Standards)
|
