Measure Up! Fun Tools for Teaching Measurement

[00:00:00] Shanna Martin: Thanks for listening to the Tech Tools for Teachers podcast, where each week we talk about a free piece or two of technology that you can use in your classroom. I'm your host, Shannon Martin. I'm a middle school teacher, technology and instructional coach for my district,

[00:00:32] Fuzz Martin: and I'm our producer and husband, Fuzz Martin.

[00:00:34] Fuzz Martin: And I roll the tape each and every week.

[00:00:37] Shanna Martin: How cute.

[00:00:38] Fuzz Martin: Yeah. Thanks. Thank you.

[00:00:43] Shanna Martin: Yeah. Episode two 19.

[00:00:46] Fuzz Martin: Yes.

[00:00:47] Shanna Martin: 2 1 9.

[00:00:51] Fuzz Martin: Uh, I was MCing a. An event for the Humane Society yesterday, and I had to pull some raffle tickets, and the last two numbers were six, seven, and nine. I made it a thing. 7 4, 8, 7. I dunno if everybody else experiencing

[00:01:09] Shanna Martin: this all the time in school.

[00:01:11] Fuzz Martin: Yeah. And if you're listening to this in the future, it's way burnt out.

[00:01:15] Fuzz Martin: Uh, in fact, if you're listening to this in the today, the present,

[00:01:19] Shanna Martin: we're all over it. Yeah. But we're talking about measurement today so it figure, you know, it works with our numbers that we're talking about. So, so if

[00:01:27] Fuzz Martin: you do a class on measurement, is it a unit of measurement? Oh.

[00:01:31] Shanna Martin: Funny. Look at this, all the puns.

[00:01:36] Shanna Martin: Season eight, episode 2, 1, 9. So measurement, we've got all the things for measurement. So what I've discovered, I have been, I am, as some of you know, I not only teach, but I'm also an instructional coach in, in my district, I'm able to support staff kindergarten through high school. And what I have found talking to many teachers.

[00:02:01] Shanna Martin: K through 12

[00:02:03] Aleena: uhhuh,

[00:02:03] Shanna Martin: And our shop teacher and science teachers is that our students still struggle with measurement. And so I thought, you know what, we should maybe pull some tools on measurement. Yes, that can be used supplemental in the classroom, that can be shared at home for extra activities, to kinda reinforce things because measurement.

[00:02:27] Shanna Martin: Like that's a life skill. Like if you are learning different types of measurement, you are gonna need this your whole life.

[00:02:33] Aleena: Mm-hmm.

[00:02:34] Shanna Martin: And I think you experience that now with all of your new hobby and measuring.

[00:02:39] Fuzz Martin: My current A DHD hobby is woodworking. Yes. And I spend a lot of time measuring.

[00:02:45] Shanna Martin: Yeah. And it's important, like it's a skill that kids need to have.

[00:02:49] Shanna Martin: And so I was trying to think of ways that we could support our students besides just taking out more rulers and more tape measures. And thinking about like our top five reasons. Obviously measurement is practical, so like these tools will help kids with just general measurement practice. Mm-hmm. It's a life skill.

[00:03:06] Shanna Martin: There's lots of fun ways to practice and I know, I don't know, in a middle school classroom, rulers sometimes. Are not used for measurement. They're used for poking classmates or like breaking or bendy, like the fun bendy rulers are like really fun to play with. And then we're like, oh, we have to measure something with them.

[00:03:25] Shanna Martin: And you also don't always have like a class set of 25 tape measures. So there's just, you know, having some online measuring tools for extra practice would be. Helpful. Mm-hmm. There is lots of types of measurement out there, so pointing that out to students too, like you aren't just using a ruler tape measure all the time to measure.

[00:03:42] Shanna Martin: There's different ways to measure and it's just practical skills to have. So I figured, you know what, these tools would be really helpful for not only teachers, but also families at home or, you know, additional projects or thinking brain using your brain in different ways. So I've collected a few measuring tools.

[00:04:01] Fuzz Martin: Okay.

[00:04:02] Shanna Martin: The first website, are you Ariana? I'm, I'm winning ruler game.net. Mm-hmm. So it's R-U-L-E-R-G-A-M e.net. You can choose to log in or join a class, but you can access the stuff without having to do that. And. I will point out there are ads, so just be aware. There will be ads that pop up, but there is the Inches Ruler game.

[00:04:31] Shanna Martin: The Metric Ruler game. The original ruler game. 'cause there's like a new one. There's a different metric Ruler game, there's a thermometer reading and temperature reading and clocks and military time and. Graduated cylinder and dial caliper and I mean triple beam balance game, like there are so many blood pressure, different ways to measure, like there's a whole giant list of them, which is great 'cause it's not just saying, oh, we're gonna use a ruler to measure like this piece of paper.

[00:05:02] Shanna Martin: Mm-hmm. It actually. Give students the opportunity to see what other types of measurements are out there. Sure. And would definitely be practical for like math class, science class, but you can also use them for designing and engineering. You can use them for, architecture. You can use them for LA and have a machinist ruler game.

[00:05:20] Shanna Martin: So there's just all kinds of cool ways to expose students to measurement without it always being your traditional ruler on a piece of paper kind of deal. Or measuring things in the classroom. So, like I said before, there are are ads that pop up. You can just close them. Once you get into the game, gives you the directions.

[00:05:37] Shanna Martin: They're, it's pretty simple. Ruler game. You learn how to read the metric ruler, it lays it out where you have the ruler in front of you and you click play. And then it will time you as to if you know what like 15 millimeters is and then you better click on that, right? And if you don't, it'll be fail. Try again.

[00:05:57] Shanna Martin: And so it goes through and just lets you test out your different, and you get your score to see if you know how to actually. Measure, use a metric ruler and actually measure. I'm distracted 'cause I'm measuring as I'm talking. Yeah. 'cause I activated the game.

[00:06:16] Fuzz Martin: Well you need to measure twice and click once.

[00:06:18] Shanna Martin: Also. True.

[00:06:20] Fuzz Martin: Good job. How are you doing? Also, by the way? I have to say, one amazing, but two a couple times where I clicked and. Like I clicked on, three and seven eighths just now. Mm-hmm. And it told me I clicked zero and that it was wrong. So I, sometimes it might hiccup, but other than that,

[00:06:37] Shanna Martin: but all in all, it's good practice and you can, yes.

[00:06:40] Shanna Martin: Good job. Thank you. Self high five. So besides that mm-hmm. You could do a temperature conversion, which I think is really helpful. Like Yeah. Certain things that you're like, I never use this, but you know what, when you're trying to read the temperature and you can't just show it. Alexa, what is the champ?

[00:06:59] Shanna Martin: Didn't say quietly so she doesn't answer. That's why I'll set it off. So, you know, and it just shows kids, like measurement comes in a lot of different ways. It's, it's not just your like

[00:07:09] Aleena: ruler. Yeah.

[00:07:10] Shanna Martin: Like, there's so many cool things like do kids even know what to dial? Cper is, unless you've done some designing.

[00:07:16] Shanna Martin: And some architecture pieces and some measurement, some engineering. You probably don't know what that is. I have these in my classroom. I show them to kids and like, what is that for? So trying to explain different types of measurement and how it works mm-hmm. I think is also kind of cool just for exposure.

[00:07:31] Shanna Martin: And it's not, there's not a ton of setup. Like you just find the one, you could drop it into like a choice board for students. You could do it as a whole class on your, board in front. You could. All kinds of things. There's also money counting in there too, which I think. I know we're all using cards for everything, but

[00:07:50] Fuzz Martin: there was actually a kids need

[00:07:51] Shanna Martin: to know

[00:07:52] Fuzz Martin: recently, I forgot where we were, but there was a sign that said, please be patient.

[00:07:56] Fuzz Martin: These kids are using change and they're not used to it, so,

[00:08:00] Shanna Martin: it's still Yeah. Things that they need to know.

[00:08:02] Fuzz Martin: Yep.

[00:08:02] Shanna Martin: So ruler game.net, a really great place to start for some measuring or even just to introduce a unit to students or expose them to different types of measurement. I think it's a great way to practice.

[00:08:14] Shanna Martin: Mm-hmm. Maybe they take an assessment and they're not doing so hot that this would be a great way to build an extra practice.

[00:08:19] Aleena: Sure.

[00:08:20] Shanna Martin: So ruler game net

[00:08:23] Aleena: Cool.

[00:08:23] Shanna Martin: Is our first one. Our second tool is created by another educator. Mm-hmm. It's on Mr. Nusbaum. Mm-hmm. I think I'm saying it right. Dot com. It's M-R-N-U-S-S-B-A-U m.com.

[00:08:42] Shanna Martin: Then slash

[00:08:43] Fuzz Martin: measurement dash games.

[00:08:45] Shanna Martin: Measurement dash games. Thank you. I had one of the games up, so it was going specifically to a game, so Mr nussbaum.com/measurement-games. Now, I will say like there is a little note at the beginning of the school year, if you want the paid version of the site for $29 a year, you can have access to everything.

[00:09:02] Shanna Martin: There are plenty of resources that are. Free on this site if you choose to pay. 'cause you want more access to things, more power to you. So if you go to measurement games, there are some cool games to practice different types of measurements. So the first one, they have the hot chocolate shop. And what I love about this is it's measuring with hot chocolate.

[00:09:26] Shanna Martin: At chocolate. Yes, thank you. But it's using like cups. Okay. Versus like liters versus milliliters. Mm-hmm. So it's like liquid measurement. Which is fun and you get to like make hot chocolate and decide how many marshmallows they're gonna get. But actually there's real math involved. Like it's not, it's not overly simplified.

[00:09:45] Shanna Martin: I mean, you can practice it. There's also like sales sub shop where you get to do some math thing. And there's another. Moving day game where it's challenging, it helps you calculate surface area and figure out measurement that way. There's another game that allows you to calculate the slope to move your character up the mountain.

[00:10:04] Shanna Martin: So it's, again, it's math related and there's different measurement. Games within, like there's measurement specific games within the site that are really helpful and engaging. And again, there's no setup for you. This is again, something you could drop in a choice board or you could put in for extra practice and you could allow your students to have some supplemental activities that are free.

[00:10:27] Shanna Martin: There are a few, they're labeled if they're for premium users only, but there's plenty of activities that are. Free Sure. To help you get your hot chocolate marshmallows. Measure it out

[00:10:39] Fuzz Martin: properly. I like when I lost the, uh, hot chocolate game because it said, uh, your Yelp preview is below 3.5. You're out of business.

[00:10:47] Shanna Martin: It

[00:10:47] Fuzz Martin: said try again.

[00:10:50] Shanna Martin: So maybe you need to work on your

[00:10:51] Fuzz Martin: hot

[00:10:52] Shanna Martin: chocolate shot.

[00:10:53] Fuzz Martin: Very, uh, yeah,

[00:10:55] Shanna Martin: very topical. Yes. And these games too are. Labeled. So like the hot chocolate shop is for grades like 4, 5, 6, 7. Mm-hmm. Or reinforcing the, I think the horrendous soup one's kind of fun. It's for four, five, and six, but it's where you make the most disgusting soup possible.

[00:11:12] Shanna Martin: You adding grams and milligrams, which I think make the grossest soup you can. I mean, I feel like that's automatic buy-in for kids, moving day. So they have like, they're aligned also with. Grade levels, which I appreciate. So you can jump in and obviously you can give to your students if they need something more challenging or if they need something as a review, you're able to do that.

[00:11:32] Shanna Martin: And there's lots of other content area games on the site that it reinforce a variety of standards. Sure, but the measurement specific along with what we are talking about today. So check that one out. It's Mr. Nusbaum. I'm hope I'm pronouncing that right. M-R-S-N-U-S-S-B-A u.com/measurement-games. So check that one out for some extra measurement practice as well.

[00:11:59] Shanna Martin: Measurement. Such an important skill and I feel like we need to do this more often. 100%. And then the last one I threw in was back from episode 42. 'cause, you know, I try and bring back every once in a while, one of these fun sites I've talked about before. And it's marble run. Mm-hmm. And while this one is not like specific to measurement, it does help kids understand the practicality of like.

[00:12:25] Shanna Martin: Having things in the proper place with the proper amount of like size. So it's done in cubes and triangles. Mm-hmm. So still math related, but it's to build the marble, run to drop the little marble into the checkered square at the end. So it's the manipulation of squares and triangles and curves to see if you can get the ball where it needs to go.

[00:12:52] Shanna Martin: And so. That also helps with visuals when it comes to coming down to measurement, even though it's just using like graph paper to set it up. Yes. So Marble run the good old review activity, M-A-R-B-L-E-R-U-N dot@marblerun.at.

[00:13:12] Fuzz Martin: Well, I haven't seen that one in a while. Probably since episode 41. 42.

[00:13:16] Fuzz Martin: 42, excuse me.

[00:13:17] Shanna Martin: Episode

[00:13:17] Fuzz Martin: 40. I was researching during, episode 41. That's why I sound. I get nothing. By the way, if you're on Marble Run at and you go to touch your screen 'cause you think that you've got a smudge on it, it's just a background. It looks, it looks like your screen's dirty. Is

[00:13:34] Shanna Martin: it not? Oh yeah.

[00:13:36] Shanna Martin: I didn't even think about that. 'cause my screen is dirty. Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah. So I mean, it just looks like Flecked paper.

[00:13:40] Fuzz Martin: Yeah, there's like one right in the center of the thing, and I'm like, oh, what's that on there?

[00:13:46] Shanna Martin: I think it's supposed to be like flecked paper because it's being on graph paper. Oh yeah,

[00:13:49] Fuzz Martin: it is.

[00:13:49] Fuzz Martin: But I at first didn't realize it, so now I have a smudge on my computer from my finger trying to get this smudge off.

[00:13:56] Shanna Martin: It's fine. Yeah,

[00:13:56] Fuzz Martin: it's fine.

[00:13:57] Shanna Martin: That's

[00:13:57] Fuzz Martin: fine.

[00:13:57] Shanna Martin: We're good. Mm-hmm. So. Again, building in some practical measurement skills for our students. The ruler game measurement games and the Marble Run, check it out.

[00:14:07] Shanna Martin: You can build it into any grade level life skills. Mm-hmm. And then you can have 'em, measure it on the screen and then go run around the room and find another place to measure it. Yeah. Like you can use it in so many ways. And again, choice board to send it home, extra support, doing it in groups, see if they can challenge each other with some measurement.

[00:14:26] Shanna Martin: I think that that would be. A fun way to build in some extra life skills.

[00:14:31] Fuzz Martin: Agreed.

[00:14:32] Shanna Martin: So there you go. Funsies

[00:14:34] Fuzz Martin: Funsies.

[00:14:35] Shanna Martin: Well, thanks for tuning in. This has been the Tech Tools for Teachers Podcast. If you ever have any questions, you can find me on Blue Sky Reds, Facebook, Instagram at smartinwi. And if you'd like to get more information on the links to the technology to discuss in this episode, visit Smartinwi.com.

[00:14:51] Shanna Martin: If you'd like to support the show, please consider buying me a coffee. Visit buy me a coffee.com/smart wi or visit smartinwi.com and click on the cute little purple coffee cup. Your donations help keep the show going. New episodes, but not next week. Thanks for listening. Go educate and innovate.

[00:15:09] Fuzz Martin: The ideas and opinions expressed on this podcast and the SMART NWI website are those of the author Shanna Martin and not of her employer.

[00:15:16] Fuzz Martin: Prior to using any of the technologies discussed on this podcast, please consult with your employer regulations. This podcast offers no guarantee that these tools will work for you as described, but we hope they do. And we'll talk to you next time here on the Tech Tools for Teachers Podcasts.

[00:15:38] Aleena: Shh.