Kindergarten students in Ms. Dunkum’s class at Davis Elementary have been learning how to measure and compare objects using nonstandard units (K.10) so today we practiced those skills using digital tools. I tried this lesson with another class previously where they found a picture of an object online and measured it using shapes in Keynote, however, it took too long to get the picture, and we didn’t have time to write the unit of measurement. So many students ended up saying “inches” or “feet” even though we weren’t using those units. You can see a couple of those student examples here: Belladona and JR. Since I wanted them to have time to include the correct unit of measurement in their presentation, I decided to give the students a quicker way to make a variable picture. I gave them some shapes and told them to build a snowman out of them. You can download the template by clicking here. Next the students selected a shape from the Shapes tool and measured their snowmen with the shapes. Last, they added a text box with the nonstandard unit of measurement such as “5 stars” or “4 triangles.” I showed them how to add animated builds to the shapes and text box, and then they recorded a voiceover narration. Here are some student examples: Mackenzie, Ryan, and Wyatt.
