ALL ABOUT ME

Measuring Me

Children will explore their height.

What You'll Need
What To Do
Resources
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Lesson Objective

Children will compare heights.

Science

What You'll Need

  • Tape measure – 1 for teacher use
  • Long strip of paper (about 6 feet long) taped from the floor to the wall
  • Rulers – 1 per child

What To Do

Note: This is a great activity to do in the fall and again in the spring so children can see how much they grew.

  1. Discuss the height of different things in the classroom (see Guiding Student Inquiry).
  2. Measure the children’s heights with a tape measure. Mark their heights on the paper you taped to the wall.
  3. Distribute rulers to the children.
  4. Give the children some time to use the rulers to measure objects in the room.
  5. Discuss children’s heights compared to objects in the room, such as the bookshelf, tables, and chairs.
  6. Have the children make predictions about how tall they will be at the end of the school year and mark their predictions on the paper.

Guiding Student Inquiry

  • Explain what it means when we talk about the height of something.
  • Tell me some things that are taller than you.
  • Tell me some things that are shorter than you.
  • Tell me how tall you think you are compared to your friends.
  • What is the tallest thing in the room? Shortest?
  • Explain what our heights will be like at the end of the school year.
  • Describe how tall you will be when you grow up.

Explore, Extend & Integrate

  • Have the children measure parts of their own bodies, such as their hands, feet, and arms.
  • If you have a plant or class pet, assist the children with measuring and charting growth.
  • Keep rulers and tape measures available in the science area for children to continue measuring themselves and other objects in the room.
  • Keep the paper with the measurements taped to the wall in the classroom for the children to check. At the end of the year, repeat the measuring activity and discuss changes.
  • Have a discussion with the children about what they can do to make sure they grow up healthy and strong. Include the importance of healthy food, exercise, and hygiene.

Check for Children’s Understanding

  • Were children able to explain what height is?
  • Were children able to compare their heights to something or someone in the room?
  • Were children able to explain they will be taller at the end of the school year?

Resources

Did You Know

From the moment you are born, you begin to grow. You will get the tallest you will be by the time you are an adult. Your body changes as you get taller; your hair grows, your teeth come in and fall out and grow in again, and you gain weight. All living things need food, water, air, and a safe place to live in order to grow. We all get taller, but at different rates. Most children grow faster during the spring than any other time of the year.

How tall you will grow depends mostly on the heights of your parents and grandparents. If most of the people in your family are tall, chances are that you will be tall as well. However, this is not always true; you won’t know how tall you will be until you have reached adulthood.

Vocabulary: Child-Friendly Definitions

  • measure — to find out the exact size of something.
  • grow — to become larger.
  • height — how tall a person is.
  • tape measure — a tool for measuring length made from a long narrow piece of cloth or thin metal.
  • ruler — a straight piece of wood, metal, or plastic that is marked off in inches or other units and used for measuring length.
  • compare — to say or note how something is similar to or different from something else.

Lesson Tips

  • Tape measures have a tendency to snap back into their case when released. Take some time to show the children how to correctly handle the tape measures to prevent injury.

Books

  • Me and the Measure of Things by Joan Sweeney
  • Inch By Inch by Leo Lionni
  • Measuring at Home by Jennifer Rozines Roy and Gregory Roy
  • Measuring (I Can Do Math) by Marcia S. Gresco
  • When I Get Bigger by Mercer Mayer

Home School Resources

Home educators: use these printable lesson PDFs to teach this lesson to your home schoolers. They're available in English and Spanish.

Home/School Connections

Las Conexiones a la Casa

While we believe that the books and resources recommended may be of value to you, keep in mind that these are suggestions only and you must do your own due diligence to determine whether the materials are appropriate and suitable for your use. PNC has no sponsorship or endorsement agreement with the authors or publishers of the materials listed.

Content Provided By

Carnegie Science Center

Visit Carnegie Science Center website

Common Core State Standards Initiative – These lessons are aligned with the Common Core State Standards ("CCSS"). The CCSS provide a consistent, clear understanding of the concepts and skills children are expected to learn and guide teachers to provide their students with opportunities to gain these important skills and foundational knowledge [1]. Visit the CCSS