Six pages of measuring with Christmas lights. Each page has houses, a porch rail, a fence, a garage or a toy shop with lettered hooks under their edges, a box of lights with strings of different lengths, and a ruler to cut out along the dashed line. Measure each gap from the middle of one hook to the middle of the next, write its length, find the string in the box that fits it exactly and write its color, then draw the string from hook to hook with one bulb in the middle of every centimeter (or inch, or half inch) in that color. Page 1 has one string for each gap. On page 2 a long gap needs two strings plugged together, and each string is used once. Page 3 has slanted roof edges and a stair rail. Page 4 is in inches. Page 5 measures to the half inch, then adds up the inches of lights hung and the inches left in the box. Page 6 has six planning stories in feet. The first problem on each page is worked as an example, and every page has exactly one way to hang the strings.
Cut the rulers out together before the first page, and show how to put 0 (not the end of the paper) on the middle of the first hook. A real string of lights, or a strip of paper with dots for bulbs, makes the bulb rule concrete: a 5 centimeter string has 5 bulbs, one in each centimeter. Pages 1 to 4 suit 2nd grade; page 5 and the two-step and times stories on page 6 stretch into 3rd grade.
Measure a window sill, a shelf or a picture frame with a ruler and work out how long a string of lights would need to be to go across it. When the real lights come out, read the length on the box and check whether one string reaches or two need to be plugged together.
This pack supports the following Common Core State Standards for Mathematics:
© Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved.
Measuring with Christmas lights to hang on houses, porch rails, fences and a toy shop. Students cut out a ruler, measure the gap between each pair of hooks, pick the string of lights that fits it exactly and draw it in with its colored bulbs.
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