Gallon Robot: Fun with Measurement and Fractions!

Who can remember how many cups are in a gallon and how many pints are in a quart? I have to admit that I used to look this information up every time I needed it. The amounts are so arbitrary and random that I couldn't seem to memorize them. That all changed when I met Mr. Gallon, whom I affectionately renamed with the gender-free term Gallon Robot.

Variations of Mr. Gallon are all over the Internet, and I'm not sure if anyone knows exactly who dreamed up the concept. I first heard about it when my older daughter Wendy was in 3rd grade. Her teacher, Sue Simon, introduced her students to this visual aid so they could easily remember the conversions between gallons, quarts, cups, and pints. The large rectangle in the middle represents one gallon, the four pink rectangles represent four quarts, the green rectangles represent pints, and the small orange rectangles represent cups. When you look at the model, it's easy to see that there are 8 pints in a gallon, 2 pints in a quart, and so on. As soon as I met Mr. Gallon, I never had to look up those amounts again! I immediately taught the model to my 5th graders and began sharing the technique with teachers.

Relating Customary Capacity Units to Fractions 
One thing that I love about Gallon Robot is how you can use this model to reinforce fraction concepts at the same time that you are reviewing customary units of capacity. I created a comprehensive packet of teaching materials to go along with the basic patterns shown above to make it easy to teach these concepts. Gallon Robot to the Rescue is available from my TpT store .

When I created the patterns for Gallon Robot, I was very careful to make each part fractionally correct so that students can explore how the units are related. After students cut out all the pieces, they can use them in a fraction lesson before assembling them into Gallon Robot. For example, when students place the four quart patterns on top of the gallon pattern, they will see that four quarts equal one gallon. The patterns are black and white outlines, and I suggest printing each part on a different color paper to help students distinguish between them.

Gallon Robot to the Rescue includes cooperative learning activities, math center games, word problems, printables, teacher demonstration pages, and more! Here are a few sample pages from this resource, including a fun game called Fill 'Er Up in which students answer questions, spin a spinner, and add cups, pints, or quarts to their gallon buckets. The first to fill his or her bucket is the winner!

Gallon Robot to the Rescue is not a new product, but I did give it a brand new cover today. As I was working on updating it, I decided to feature it on my blog because it's a terrific, easy-to-use resource for teaching a difficult topic. If you teach customary units of capacity, you owe it to yourself to take a look at this time-saving resource. I also updated the cover of Customary Measurement Conversions, and if you don't have that ebook, you might want to check it out, too. With the activities in these two resources, your students will have fun as they learn to master customary measurement conversions!

Pumpkin Predictions Measurement Fun!

I was looking through some classroom photos the other day, and I happened to see several snapshots of my former students measuring pumpkins. Wow! The memories came flooding back and I remembered how much fun we used to have in October. I also realized how much I miss those kids!

Pumpkin Predictions is a perfect fall-themed activity for upper elementary students because it's not a Halloween activity, but it seems like one. The lesson is actually a great math review since it involves estimation and hands-on measurement. The activity is designed as cooperative learning lesson that requires students to work together to complete the team task. 

What You'll Need

To do this activity, you'll need a variety of pumpkins in different sizes, preferably one pumpkin per team of four or five students. If you have fewer pumpkins, you can set the activity up in a math center, demonstrate what to do, and rotate groups through that center. You'll also need a measuring tape and a ruler for each group. Decide whether to use the metric system or the customary system when taking measurements.

Before you begin, you'll need to have each team create a chart like the one shown below for recording data. You'll need one chart for each pumpkin that the team will measure, so if you plan to repeat the activity, you'll need additional copies. To save time, you can purchase the October Activities Mini Pack and print out the chart from there. (The one in the packet is just the black and white chart below. I just jazzed it up with a bit of clip art for the blog!)

Pumpkin Predictions Procedure: 

1. Have students number off around the team, and Person #1 becomes the first recorder. 
2. Each team member estimates the height of the pumpkin and Person #1 records each estimate.
3. Person #1 measures the height of the pumpkin to the top of the stem and records it in the column for the actual measurement. All team members assist as needed and check the measurement.
4. Repeat the same steps with the remaining dimensions, allowing each person on the team to take a turn being the recorder and measurer for one dimension. 
5. If you have time and enough pumpkins, allow teams to trade pumpkins and repeat the activity.
6. If teams trade pumpkins, have them compare their measurements when they finish.

October Activities Mini Pack

You'll find this activity along with more seasonal lessons for upper elementary students in my October Activities Mini Pack. The pack includes a letter to send home to parents requesting pumpkins, a writing activity, a Spooktacular Story Board, and more! You can preview all the directions and printables when you view this item in my TpT store.

I hope your students enjoy this activity as much as mine did! Be sure to take pictures during the activity and store them in a safe place. Time flies, and one day you'll be looking through your old photos remembering how much fun your students had with this activity, and how thinking about how much they learned without realizing they were learning!  

Hands-on Geometry - Part I

Guest Blog post by Stephanie Moorman of Teaching in Room 6

Measurement and geometry standards span all grade levels. Because of this repeated exposure, you would think that the students would grasp the concepts easily.  However, that just isn’t so. Identifying various polygons and solid shapes, breaking them down into their basic lines and angles, discovering the perimeter and area of a shape is sometimes tricky for the students.  Especially when most of the time the work the students are doing is from a text book.

In an effort to help my students more clearly grasp the Measurement and Geometry standards, I have tried hard to break away from the book and use hands-on strategies to introduce and reinforce concepts.  Here are a few of the activities and lessons I have done in the past to teach my students measurement and geometry. Next week in Part II of this blog post, I'll share a few more.

Polygons
Identifying various two-dimensional shapes can be rather boring when simply looking in a book.  One thing I have done to get my students more actively involved in their learning is to break out my trusty stack of magazines.

The students divide their paper into 5 columns, one for each of the basic polygons we are learning.  If you are learning more (ie: equilateral triangle, scalene, isosceles  or the various different types of quadrilaterals) just divide your paper into the appropriate amount of columns.  At the top of the page, I have the students draw the regular polygon and we list the attributes.  Then, they are off.  The students search the magazine for pictures of the polygons, cut them out, and glue them under the proper column heading.

Solid Figures
Once the students enter into the realm of three-dimensional solid figures, using the book definitely doesn’t cut it.  So there are several things I do to get the kids thinking, and learning, about solid figures.

I always introduce the figures with pictures.  We look at plain, generic solids, and I ask the students to tell me objects they have seen that would match those shapes.  Kids always mention things like ice cream cones for the cone shape, soda can for a cylinder, dice for a cube, a pyramid for a square pyramid, and a book for a rectangular prism.  I then have them go home that night and search for actual objects that would fit into the categories.  They write down all the objects they can, and bring one of their choice in.  The next day, we all categorize the found objects.You can download this chart by clicking on the image; the chart is page 2 of the freebie which includes a worksheet for next week's activity, too.

Food is always a hit with the students.  Actually creating solid figures out of marshmallows and toothpicks is a wonderful way to get the kids thinking.  We discuss the vertices, edges, and faces for each solid figure, and the students set about building them.

Nets of Solids
Using the marshmallow figures described above, I have the students deconstruct them and create the nets.  This is VERY difficult for them, mostly because once you take some of the toothpicks out of the marshmallows, there are edges missing!  The students need to figure out that they have to add the toothpicks and marshmallows to create the whole.  It is interesting to see who gets this concept.

Another thing I have done with nets is to give the students a piece of paper and let them create the nets.  Kids must figure out that the circles on a cylinder must be the same diameter as the length of the rectangle.  They need to use all of the same size squares for a cube.  Everything needs to be very precise or it just won’t work!

Angles and Lines
I am big on kinesthetic learning. Because of this, I have a lot of motions and gestures instilled in my teaching of concepts to help the kids better understand.  When it comes to angles, we get moving a lot!  Using their arms, I have the students show me each type of angle and line as best they can.  The kids really get into it!  When I say “parallel lines”, their arms always move up over their heads in two straight lines.  When I say “ray”, their arm extends out and they point off in one direction.  An “obtuse angle” has two arms, one extended out straight from their body and the other at a large angle.  The kids LOVE moving around, and it really helps them remember all of the different angles and lines.

So there you have it!  These are some simple ways to get your kids actively involved in learning the Measurement and Geometry standards.  There are SO many more ways to have a hands-on experience with these standards, and I'll be share a few more with you next week. I'll also be including a Hands-on Geometry freebie for you to customize!  If you have ideas to share, please leave a comment and let us all know!

Stephanie Moorman is a 5th grade teacher who has been teaching elementary school for 14 years. She has her Masters in Education and is Nationally Board Certified. She is the creator of the Teaching in Room 6 blog where she enjoys sharing her strategies with others.