Measurement Olympics

Today I combined with my teaching buddy and our classes competed in the “The Measurement Olympics.”  I work with some INCREDIBLE ladies and it is jsut so fun to collaborate.  

We went outside and students had to take part in different activities- discus throw with paper plates, shot put with a cotton ball, long jump, high jump, javelin with a straw.  Students measured their distances, we compared them within our class and then with the other 2^nd grade class.  We held a ceremony and gave really fancy printed medals as their awards

We set up 5 rotations outside and divided the class into groups.
At each station we had a cone and then a starting line made out of masking tape.
The tools for each--- really only a cotton ball, a few straws, and yard/sticks or measuring tape.
 For the long jump students held a straw in their hand and used that as a marker for their measurement.

For the high jump we ended up putting up a strip of tape as measurement and had students jump with a piece of tape in their hand and hit the column.

Students kept clipboards with their sheets and a pencil.  We rotated clockwise through all 5 stations.  Each station took approximately 10-15 minutes for 7-8 students to get through.

We then came back to class, shared out about their experience, and compared our numbers between girls, then boys, then together.  After I got together with the other teacher and combined our two scores (I think her kids cheated a bit though:) )

  Here are the files we used for our 
class rankings and their
 Olympic measurement data.

Google docs doesn't allow me to use my cutesy fonts.... so change those at your leisure!  

We had a medal ceremony in which we set up a stool and 2 different sized chairs to students to stand on as they received their awards.  We had the Olympic theme song playing in the background and a picture of the rings on the board.  Student were awarded a paper medal and a free homework pass.

The kids loved getting outside and I loved them working/having a great time and allowing them to be independent.  Plus it's just nice to be with another teacher for part of the day to share in the ridiculous things our precious angels say.

Enjoy your weekend!  I am training for a half marathon-- note... I HATE running--- and doing 7 miles tomorrow after having Mexican food no less than 3 times this week.  Prayers!  :)