No Bending or Stretching
5 min
Teacher Prep
Setup
Narrative
The purpose of this Warm-up is for students to consider different aspects of making and recording accurate measurements. It is important to highlight the fractional markings and fraction and decimal equivalents used as students explain how they determined the length of the segment.
Monitor for students who use what they know about eighths and tenths to partition the last ruler and estimate their answer.
Launch
Give students 2 minutes of quiet work time followed by whole-class discussion.
Student Task
For each question, the unit is represented by the large tick marks with whole numbers.
- Find the length of this segment to the nearest 81 of a unit.
A line segment measured by a ruler above it. The ruler has units represented by large tick marks with whole numbers from 1 to 6. Each unit is evenly divided into 8 parts. The segment measures 4 and the fraction 5 over 8 units.
- Find the length of this segment to the nearest 0.1 of a unit.
A line segment measured by a ruler above it. The ruler has units represented by large tick marks with whole numbers from 1 to 5. Each unit is evenly divided into 10 parts. The segment measures 4 and the fraction 7 over 10 units.
- Estimate the length of this segment to the nearest 81 of a unit.
A line segment measured by a ruler above it. The ruler has units represented by large tick marks with whole numbers from 1 to 5. The segment measures near 3 and the fraction 3 over 4 units.
-
Estimate the length of the segment in the prior question to the nearest 0.1 of a unit.
Sample Response
- 485 units
- 4.7 units
- 343 (or 386 units)
- 3.7 units (or 3.8 units)
Activity Synthesis (Teacher Notes)
Invite students to share their responses and record them for all to see. Ask the class if they agree or disagree with each response. When there is a disagreement, have students discuss possible reasons for the different measurements.
Students are likely to have different answers for their measure of the third segment. The ruler shown is not as accurate as the question requires as it has not been pre-partitioned into fractional units. Ask 2–3 students with different answers to share their strategies for measuring the third segment. There will be opportunities for students to use measuring strategies later in this lesson.
Anticipated Misconceptions
Students may struggle with the ruler that is not pre-partitioned into fractional units. Encourage these students to use what they know about eighths and tenths to partition the ruler and estimate their answer.
Standards
- 4.MD.A·Solve problems involving measurement and conversion of measurements from a larger unit to a smaller unit.
- 4.MD.A·Solve problems involving measurement and conversion of measurements from a larger unit to a smaller unit.
15 min
10 min
Knowledge Components
All skills for this lesson
No KCs tagged for this lesson
No Bending or Stretching
5 min
Teacher Prep
Setup
Narrative
The purpose of this Warm-up is for students to consider different aspects of making and recording accurate measurements. It is important to highlight the fractional markings and fraction and decimal equivalents used as students explain how they determined the length of the segment.
Monitor for students who use what they know about eighths and tenths to partition the last ruler and estimate their answer.
Launch
Give students 2 minutes of quiet work time followed by whole-class discussion.
Student Task
For each question, the unit is represented by the large tick marks with whole numbers.
- Find the length of this segment to the nearest 81 of a unit.
A line segment measured by a ruler above it. The ruler has units represented by large tick marks with whole numbers from 1 to 6. Each unit is evenly divided into 8 parts. The segment measures 4 and the fraction 5 over 8 units.
- Find the length of this segment to the nearest 0.1 of a unit.
A line segment measured by a ruler above it. The ruler has units represented by large tick marks with whole numbers from 1 to 5. Each unit is evenly divided into 10 parts. The segment measures 4 and the fraction 7 over 10 units.
- Estimate the length of this segment to the nearest 81 of a unit.
A line segment measured by a ruler above it. The ruler has units represented by large tick marks with whole numbers from 1 to 5. The segment measures near 3 and the fraction 3 over 4 units.
-
Estimate the length of the segment in the prior question to the nearest 0.1 of a unit.
Sample Response
- 485 units
- 4.7 units
- 343 (or 386 units)
- 3.7 units (or 3.8 units)
Activity Synthesis (Teacher Notes)
Invite students to share their responses and record them for all to see. Ask the class if they agree or disagree with each response. When there is a disagreement, have students discuss possible reasons for the different measurements.
Students are likely to have different answers for their measure of the third segment. The ruler shown is not as accurate as the question requires as it has not been pre-partitioned into fractional units. Ask 2–3 students with different answers to share their strategies for measuring the third segment. There will be opportunities for students to use measuring strategies later in this lesson.
Anticipated Misconceptions
Students may struggle with the ruler that is not pre-partitioned into fractional units. Encourage these students to use what they know about eighths and tenths to partition the ruler and estimate their answer.
Standards
- 4.MD.A·Solve problems involving measurement and conversion of measurements from a larger unit to a smaller unit.
- 4.MD.A·Solve problems involving measurement and conversion of measurements from a larger unit to a smaller unit.