3rd Grade Scientists are Measuring Masters!

Over the past several weeks, the third graders have been exploring the need for standard units of measurement. We have been working with different metric units and tools used by scientists worldwide!

Students used centimeters on a meter tape to measure different things around the classroom. They used a scale and gram cubes to compare the mass of a sponge to the amount of water it can hold. The classes discovered that a sponge can hold around 10 times its own mass! It’s no wonder why these little ol’ things are so useful to us. This past week students used thermometers to measure the temperature (in Celsius) of water as we added ice cubes.

The goal is that our students are thinking like scientists when it comes to data collection and accurately measuring using the metric system (versus the English customary units: foot, pound, degree Fahrenheit, etc.). Stay tuned for pictures from next week’s lab activity! Students will be exploring our last unit of measurement, for volume.