Weight and volume - Introduce weights and mass - Planning

In the first week of Spring term for Year 1, students are introduced to the concepts of weight and mass. The National Curriculum objectives for this week focus on enabling pupils to compare, describe, and solve practical problems related to mass and weight, using terms such as heavy, light, heavier, and lighter. The lesson's key vocabulary includes words like 'compare', 'mass', 'tilt', 'balance', and 'scale', which are integral to understanding the subject matter. The class begins with a starter activity to assess the children's existing knowledge about measuring mass, followed by a discussion on the weight of letters to illustrate the concepts of heavy and light. Practical activities are incorporated, such as using a basket or bucket to explore the effects of adding or removing items to make it heavier or lighter, and discussing how to measure mass with balance scales.

During the lesson, children engage in hands-on activities that help them understand how to compare the mass of different objects using a balance scale. They are encouraged to predict and reason whether the size of an object always correlates with its weight and to explore common misconceptions, such as confusing the balance scale's movement with the weight of the objects. The lesson concludes with a plenary session where students reflect on what they have learned and the skills they have used, such as operating a balance scale. The activities are designed to cater to different levels of understanding, from beginning to compare objects using balance scales to confidently completing STEM sentences that compare the mass of two or more objects, with the aim of achieving greater depth in their understanding of weight and mass.