Weight

Last week we were learning all about weight. In the infant classes we don't learn about grams and kilos we discuss weight in non-standard units so when the children asked me how much do I weigh I told them 20,000 teddy bears!!!

Initially we discussed two items and which ones were heavier like a car and a pillow or an elephant and a pencil. When the children understood this the weighing scales was introduced. 

                   

Day 1:

v  What objects weigh less than a water bottle?

v  What objects weigh more than a water bottle?

We did this by comparing different weights in the children's hands. The children held water bottles in their hands and compared things that weighed less and things that weighed more. 
The children also cut and pasted items into their copy, things that were heavy and things that were light. 

                               

Day 2:

v How does an objects size impact on its weight?

v Does bigger always mean heavier?

  

The children looked at two items and decided which was bigger (a beach ball and a marble). We discussed this and the children all decided that the beach ball looked heavier but the marble was really the heaviest. 

Day 3:

v Which objects in your basket weigh the most?

v What item is the heaviest overall?

The children all got to use a balance scales to measure which items were the heaviest. I did not explain how to use the scales I just let the children explore the scales themselves. The children are given a worksheet and they circled the item that was the heaviest. 
This method of problem solving was fantastic and to give the children an extra bit of a challenge I asked the children to work out which item was the heaviest overall. 

 

Day 4:

v What items weigh the same as a rubber?

    Day 4 is more practise with the weighing scales. each group was given a rubber and they have to see what combinations of items they can get to balance the rubber. They then had to make a note of the items that caused it to balance.

 

Day 5:

v How many bears will it take to balance the item?

This really challenged the children as it worked a lot on their problem solving skills. Instead of comparing which one was heavier or lighter they had to make the two sides balance. They were using non-standard units so it had to be as close as possible because sometimes it was too much and some times it just wasn't enough. 

Overall we did a lot of work with weighing and weight :)