At RIS’ first-ever Measurement Olympics, 4th graders worked in teams, rotating between four different stations—each designed to build up their understanding about measurements!
Students were required to record their data, answer math questions, and create their own story problems. This ties in perfectly with our Bridges Unit 1 which focuses on multiplication and division within 100 to solve story problems involving equal groups, arrays, and measurement quantities. In addition, it also served as a great way to review fractions. Setting up each station as if it were the Olympic Games made learning fun, and the students were as eager as ever to begin.
At the Basketball Toss Station, helmed by Ms. Katie Seneesirikul, the students were given 10 free throw shots and had to determine what fraction of the shots they made into the hoop. They had a blast shooting and scoring hoops with their friends, not to mention practicing their fraction skills.
Together with Mr. Steve Liu, Ms. Peung Kaewporn managed the Meter Madness station where students engaged in the long jump. Aside from testing their athletic abilities, the challenge was for the students to see how far they jumped in centimeters and convert it into meters. Of course, everyone was given the opportunity to redo their long jump to beat their previous high score.
Over in the third station with Ms. Mina Park was the Distance Dash. The students had to sprint across the short-end of the soccer field. Once they were given their sprint time, they had to calculate which group ran the fastest and by how many seconds. Despite the hot day, the kids enjoyed running across the open field and we may even have a new Usain Bolt at RIS!
In charge of the Measurement Mania station, Ms. Jenny Voight had teams compete in a rally race. The challenge was for groups to carry a quart of water as fast as possible from one side of another without spilling anything. This station required not only speed, but also a great deal of concentration.
Overall, the event was highly successful and students had a blast reviewing measurement outdoors. The fourth grade team looks forward to doing more hands-on, engaging activities such as this that can help connect math to the real world!
