Weekend At-Home Challenges
Recently the RiverRun students have been learning about measurement. Their exploration of length and volume provide many opportunities for home-based activities which reinforce their in-class work. We’ve also been learning about simple machines and how helpful they are.
In order to facilitate the opportunity for your child to continue learning more about measurement and/or simple machines with you at home and to share with you what they’ve been working on in school, I am providing you with suggestions for At-Home Challenges you and your child may like to work on this weekend.
Feel free to choose one or more of the following, if you like:
- Let your child use a tape measure or ruler to check out the length of things around home (their bed, the table, the television, etc.); ask them if they’d like to record their findings or make comparisons.
- Explore volume by filling a short, wide-mouthed glass with liquid (juice, water, milk, etc.) and then pouring the liquid into a taller, narrower-mouthed glass to see how much fits. Which glass did they think held more originally? Which actually does? Discuss how the same volume of liquid can look different depending on the container it is placed in.
- Bring an icicle inside and place it in a bowl or pan to melt. Family members can make guesses about how long it might take to fully melt and how much water they will end up with. Either periodically or once at the end, the water can be poured into a measuring cup to determine the volume of water from the icicle. Whose guess was closest?
- Look around your home for examples of simple machines at work. (For example: Your can opener is a lever. The cap to the peanut butter is a screw. The zipper on your jacket is a wedge. The stairs are an incline plane. The rolling pin is an axle and a wheel. Your window blinds use pulleys.) See how many you can find overall or see which room of the house has the most of one kind or another.
I hope you enjoy exploration of measurement and simple machines with your child this weekend.
Nancy Adis
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