Length and height - Measure length cm - Planning

In the Year 2 curriculum, during the summer term's first week, students embark on a journey to understand and measure length and height using centimetres. This lesson is a hands-on experience where children will utilise rulers, various objects, pencils, and paper to grasp the concept of measurement. The key terms for this lesson include centimetre, ruler, length, height, and comparative terms like tall/taller and long/longer. To ensure a strong foundation, the lesson starts with a review of prior learning and a discussion to assess students' understanding of what length is and how a centimetre is defined. The instructor leads the class through slides that introduce the practical use of objects and rulers, while also clarifying any misconceptions about the size of a centimetre and how to use it as a unit of measure.

Students engage in a series of activities designed to build their measuring skills. The first activity focuses on reading a ruler and understanding the scale, ensuring that measurements start from the zero mark. The next activity introduces the concept of height as a form of length, teaching children to measure objects from the base upwards. Further practical tasks involve measuring classroom objects to the nearest centimetre and drawing lines with precise lengths using a ruler, emphasizing the importance of accuracy and starting from zero. Throughout the lesson, key questions prompt students to reflect on their measuring technique and the rationale behind it. The lesson concludes with a self-assessment, where students consider what they've learned about measuring in centimetres and the skills they've used, highlighting any challenges they faced and the support that helped them overcome these. Differentiated reasoning questions and tasks are provided for varying levels of proficiency, from working towards the expected level to achieving greater depth.