Length and height - Order length - Presentation

In a practical maths lesson focused on length and height, students are tasked with learning how to order lengths in various contexts. The lesson begins by drawing parallels between ordering numbers on a number line and ordering lengths, encouraging students to consider how the concepts are similar. They are prompted to think about how understanding number lines can assist in arranging lengths sequentially. The lesson features a variety of activities, starting with an engaging scenario where three characters, Esin, Zach, and Rosie, each have a piece of ribbon. Students are asked to determine who has the longest and shortest ribbons, and to compare the lengths of the ribbons between the characters, fostering their understanding of comparative language related to length.

Building on this, the next activity involves selecting five objects within the classroom, measuring them with a ruler, and then ordering them from longest to shortest. Students are encouraged to write descriptive sentences using terms such as 'longer', 'longest', 'shorter', and 'shortest'. Further reasoning exercises challenge the students to sequence the heights of their classmates and to explore the hypothesis that taller individuals have longer shoes, prompting a class investigation. Independent work reinforces the lesson's concepts, where students complete sentences based on images and conduct investigations to confirm or refute their peers' assertions about length and height. The lesson concludes with a discussion on the use of estimation and number lines as tools to aid in the ordering of lengths.