Co-Teaching Lesson: Measuring Length (Queeny/Jayne)

Here is a summary of the Grade 1 Measurement lesson we observed during our co-teaching session at Bendale JPS.  Thank you, Queeny and Jayne, for being our co-teachers!

Three-Part Lesson Plan and Assessment for Learning Tool

This lesson is a modified version of the Grade 1 Measurement lesson in the Guide to Effective Instruction in Mathematics: Measurement K-3 (page 75).

Prior Learning:
Students in Jayne's class had many experiences measuring objects using non-standard using a variety of tools.

However, this was the first problem solving lesson in Jayne's measurement unit.

Both Jayne and Queeny's class had just completed a unit on snakes as well.

Part 1: Getting Started
Queeny started a discussion with students with the following question: What do you remember about snakes?


After some discussion, Queeny placed these snakes on the carpet and asked students: Which snake do you think is longer?

She then asked: How can we find out which one is longer?  She recorded student ideas on chart paper.

Part 2: Working on It
Jayne introduced the problem to the whole class:

She read over the problem with the whole class.  Then she asked: What does JUSTIFY mean?  The class discussed this word and came up with "justify means prove what you did"


A variety of tools were available for students to choose from.

There were several strategies and misconceptions we observed while student worked through the problem:

Inappropriate choice of unit.

Inappropriate choice or unit, spaces between unit etc.

Part 3: Reflecting and Connecting (Consolidation)

Gallery Walk

Jayne and Queeny used a gallery walk to get students to see the different ways other pairs solved the problem.  Every one's work was laid out on the desks and pairs went around the room looking at other people's thinking.  This strategy allows every one's work to be seen.

Math Congress

This consolidation strategy is more than a group share.  During the Part 2 of the lesson, Jayne and Queeny noticed every pair chose the same tool to measure all three snakes.  However, many did not select an appropriate tool. So, they strategically selected a few students to bring their work to the carpet and share with the whole class to address this key concept.

This group was asked to share because they cut up the pipe cleaners to fit the snakes.  Questions Jayne and Queeny asked were:  Are the pipe cleaners the same size?  When counting how many, is it still 1 or just part of it?

This pair was asked to share because many other pairs used the cubes.  Jayne and Queeny's questions dealt with the cubes spilling out.

This pair was selected to share because they chose the most appropriate unit to measure the snakes.  Jayne and Queeny's question to them was: Why were the little cubes perfect?

Part 3: Explicit Teaching
After the sharing, Queeny brought out the big ideas of the lesson asking:
Why did all the groups use the same math tool to measure the three snakes?
Why was this important?


She then held up a straw, link it, and a centicube and asked:
Which one was the best tool to measure the snakes?