Scaling up

The kids had math night at their school about a month or so ago now and it was great!  The school filled the gym with math focused games and the kids got to have dinner and then play games like hopscotch (both a shapes and a numbers version), counting how many times they could jump rope, dancing to songs about numbers, measuring out liquids, weighing things and much more.  The activities were set up carnival-style so that successful completion yielded little prizes. 

Each activity also was marked with the grade level that should be able to accomplish the task, for the parents.  My children took the grade level markings as a challenge.  Briana especially marched up to the tasks whether they said 3 year olds or 4^th graders can do them and gave them her best shot. 

One of the games labeled a second grade activity involved a scale.  The kids had to go up to the scale, sort 3 objects from heaviest to lightest, then devise their own way to discover if they were right and test their hypothesis.  The bag Briana selected contained a large, full container of playdoh, a small apple, and a small ball of yarn.  Briana looked at her items and announced that from the lightest they would go yarn, playdoh, apple.  I cringed.  The playdoh tub was a big one and we were told that it was completely full of playdoh, and the apple was sized more like a plum.  I hoped that they had a smaller consolation prize for trying at this table.  She was told that she had to write that out on her paper.  Another tough task for a 4-year old, but she sounded out the words and wrote them down.  Luckily spelling was accepted as long as it appeared to be phonetic even if it was incorrect.  Then she had to tell the game proctor how she could test it.  That part was a little bit self-explantory given the giant scales on the table and the fact that we stood in line and watched other kids weigh stuff.  The interesting thing was that she had to decided the order and describe the results.  The scale was a balance scale.  She said she wanted to see the heaviest first and put the apple on one side and the playdoh on the other.  She was right!  The apple side dropped.  Apparently I would have been getting the conciliatory fake tattoo if I were playing.  Briana correctly said that means the apple is heavier and she replaced the playdoh with the yarn before announcing that she had proven her first hypothesis that the apple was the heaviest (apparently many kids skip weighing what they think is the lightest so that was an important part).  Then she weighed the playdoh and the yarn and said that she had proven the yarn to be the lightest and therefore had proven the whole order of the objects by weight.  She got the big prize and chose a piece of candy that she popped into her mouth happily bragging that she was as smart at math as a second grader. 

I have never been more proud in my life.  Ok, maybe that’s an exaggeration but the teacher at the table said that what Briana had done was remarkable for a 4-year old and that most kids her age didn’t even understand how the balance scale worked.  We left school long after bedtime on math night with the proudest 4-year old, and the most exhausted 2-year old, and talked all the way home about how much fun math was.

I decided to reinforce the principle of how the scale worked at home and let Briana teach Abigail how to do math like a second grader.  Then midway through the kids decided to instruments instead so we started over after Spring Break.

INSTRUCTION

I tell the kids that we’re going to make a scale to measure 2 objects and see which is heavier.  Both kids know that heavier means “harder to pick up” and I think that’s as good a definition as any.  Sadly they also know that “Mommy is the heaviest girl in the family” but since the other two girls are 2 and 4, I’ll accept that without too much heartache. 

Then I ask them what kinds of scales they know of.  They tell me that there’s a scale in the bathroom and I tell them that it is called a digital scale.  Bree also says there is a scale in her classroom but it’s a different kind that holds two things instead of just one.  I tell her to explain it to Abby, figuring that Abby will listen to Bree’s explanation and it will solidify the principles in Bree’s mind. 

Briana tells Abby, “There’s gonna be two sides.  Whatever thing is the heaviest will go right to the ground and pull the lighter thing up.  So look at the bottom of the scale and whatever thing is the lowest is going to be the heaviest.”

Abby nods so I have Briana go get the scale that we made when we started to do this weeks ago.

HANGING SCALE

The scale consists of a hanger with string hanging down, attached to two paper plates that have been balanced on the string with a piece of tape.  We re-balanced our scale by adjusting the strings and the amount of tape holding them on until they were balanced.  If you wanted to actually measure things versus just look at the difference like we were, you could calibrate this simple scale by adding a dial and using weights to calibrate the dial.

Briana wanted to hang the scale on nails left in the side of the staircase from Christmas stockings instead of have me hold it up, so we did.  There was minimal obstruction due to friction with the wall (my concern) and the scale still well enough there so we left it there.

We weighed blocks and watched how with each block added the scale dropped lower.

And then we weighed matchbox cars, and Barbies.  Pretty much everything in the playroom light enough to fit on, and not break, our scale was weighed.  Each time we hypothesized what would be heaviest and then tested our hypotheses. 

As with math night, my ability to guess weight based on appearance could use some calibration.  Maybe that’s why I need Weight Watchers J

TIPPING SCALE

I wanted to show the kids another way to look at the same information.   So we made a floor scale that worked the same way.  The heavier side drops.  All we used was a foam v, which was a corner piece from something shipped to us (I always save stuff like that because it’s always good for some craft or another… and because I’m a packrat.)  We notched the v and I let the kids put whatever flat surface they wanted to try on top just to see if they understood how we were making a scale.

We used box tops, and pieces of wood, large fairy wings, puzzles and many other surfaces.  On many occasions, like the fairy wings and a piece of wood that was too heavy, the scale didn't work.  I used those opportunities to talk with the kids about why we couldn't get it to balance at all or why it immediately tipped when we put things on it.

Abby liked to turn the scales into ramps….

Even going so far as to tape one side of a piece of wood down so it would stay a ramp.  I like to watch the engineering work, so I let them explore.  

Abby also liked to use the scales as…

A VAULT!

Ah, two year olds J

And, no she didn’t trip and fall like it looks in the picture.  She cleared it every time.  Then Briana tried to jump on one side with Abby on the other and launch her sister into space and that's how the scale broke, though luckily the wood did not, as I didn’t see that coming to prevent it.  The disappointment over our lost scale was huge and so we went back to the first one with some Legos and went back to weighing things.

*** 

I think that math is a subject that has so many applications in life and is the cornerstone of many other fields, like science and engineering, but for some reason many kids think that basic arithmetic is the only necessary math skill.  It’s so important to make math come alive and be fun for kids at a young age so that it doesn’t “scare” them later.  I am so happy that my kids’ school embraces making math fun and we will continue to do more of it.  Sorry for the little rant, but the importance of making math fun was weighing on my mind.  If you look through the previous blogs on the left, you’ll see many more math focused ideas if you are looking for inspiration (e.g. It’s About Time, Measuring Up, Gripping Geometry, Math Measuring and Mayhem, Money Matters, etc.).  Wow!  We’ve done so much in about a year and a half.  Feel free to weigh in with your thoughts in the comments section below.

<3 Pedigreed Housewife