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Mass Units of Work from the New Zealand Ministry of Education

The New Zealand Ministry of Education website outlines the different stages of the concept of mass; 1) Identifying the Attribute, 2) Comparing and Ordering, 3) Non-Standard units, 4) Standard Units, and 5) Applying and Interpreting (New Zealand Ministry of Education, n.d.).  It breaks down the mass concept into different parts for the teacher to implement with the students. Each stage provides multiple learning centers in relation to the concept of mass that can set up in the classroom. For example, one learning center consists of a seesaw to measure two or three different objects to see whether they balanced or not (New Zealand Ministry of Education, n.d.).  Various materials were used in the different learning centers to demonstrate the concept of mass in multiple ways.  This supports the students' learning because different manipulatives provide different sensory experience. The hands-on learning allows for investigation and examines the physical properties of the objects to further understand what mass is. There are questions laid out for the teacher to ask the student to prompt discussions.  It is interesting to view the expectations of mathematics in different countries. Overall, the website acts as a guide on how to prepare for the mass lessons and what to emphasis during each stage. It is a wonderful website for teaching and understanding the concept of mass in mathematics.

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Supporting Teachers and Students

From pre-kindergarten to grade five, abcya.com is filled with many educational games from literacy to mathematics to provide young children with an enjoyable and interactive learning experience. This website can be used within the classroom or at home to promote literacy and mathematical competencies. The games have lively animations and designs to strengthen their literacy and mathematical skills. Teachers can incorporate these games from the website as a review or to end a unit. Not all classrooms or homes may have internet access or have an electronic device, but this can be an option to those who do have access. Public libraries do have computer access, so families can keep in mind of this resource. 

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Who Sank the Boat? by Pamela Allen

The premise of the book is figuring out who sank the boat as a cow, a donkey, a sheep, a pig, and a mouse who are good friends went out to the lake for a row (Allen, 2007). All the animals differ in size, which means they may differ in mass too. This book promotes an investigation of mass between the animals to solve the mystery. The students may be familiar with these animals, so they may have an idea of the mass and use that knowledge to figure out who sank the boat! The book used terms like balance and lightest, which is used to describe mass. Moreover, the text in the book is simple and easy to follow, so students who have English as a second language would not be lost or confused. The illustrations reflect the text, therefore the visuals can help the ESL students follow along.  The concept of mass was creatively presented, and it allows teachers to probe more discussion with the students during reading. The read out loud book lesson can be interactive.

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Understand Mass and How Mass is Measured

This website, Learnzillion provides a full lesson plan and video to teach children in kindergartners and older about mass and measurement. The video starts off with a question about mass to probe students’ current knowledge of the concept (Nix, 2017). It proceeds to explain how to measure an object on a scale and displays the different type of scales that can be used; balance scale, bathroom scale, and kitchen scale (Nix, 2017). Measurement unit such as tonne, kilograms, and grams are shown, and it provides examples of when to use these measurement units appropriately. Tonnes are used for large, heavy objects, grams for lighter objects, and more. There are materials listed for teachers to prepare, but an account needs to be made on the website for further access. Teachers can pick a specific unit of measure to explore for one day and change it up the next day to change the focus. The different unit of measures can be explored in detail. The video and lesson plan allows the student to review what they know about mass and understand how mass can be measured in multiple ways. The video is not long, so the students would not lose focus.

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The Elephant Mass Song was created in 2013 by the YouTube user, Rocking Dan Teaching Man about the mass of an elephant. It compares the elephant to other objects using descriptive words about mass such as lighter than, heavier than, greater mass, smaller mass, about the same as, kilogram, tonne. Mathematical terms and unit of measure are presented in the video, which promotes the students to use those words when discussing the concept of mass. The video allows the teacher or educator to set up the tone of the environment when facilitating a math lesson. It can be used as an introduction to a lesson and the song can possibly trigger the mathematical thoughts of the students. It is fun for children to listen to and sing a song about mathematics to create a positive and comfortable environment. This song would benefit students who are more musically inclined to learn about mass.

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This video is a clip from the show Sesame Street, where Ernie and Bert play a heavy and light game by carrying different objects and describing the mass of it with funny reactions (Gibbon & Stone, 1969). Many different objects with different mass are presented and their exaggerated reactions to holding the items clearly indicate whether an object was heavy or light to provide a clear understanding of the difference between the two terms. When items were heavy, Bert would huff and puff to show that the object was heavy while Ernie always had the light objects and easily picked it up (Gibbon & Stone, 1969). Mass can be a difficult concept to approach, so a video representation allows the teacher to have a lead way to the concept.

The show is from popular culture and it plays a role in a student’s learning. It is a popular show that many children have seen at home, so it is interesting to see it in the classroom as well. It is beneficial to bring shows from the students’ leisure activities to gravitate towards their interest. It is a comical video that makes children laugh and presents the mathematical concept in an engaging way. Sometimes, it is more fun and memorable when you are learning from a popular fictional character.

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This website, Math is Fun focuses on mathematics in all areas including the concept of mass and the difference between weight and mass. The weight of an object is determined by the gravitational force that is pulling it down, while mass is the amount of matter it is made of (Pierce, 2017). The target age group for this website is towards grade one and beyond. The page outlines the common measurements in measuring mass, such as gram, kilograms and tonnes, and the difference between each unit by using examples (which is advanced for kindergartners). Students will gain a better insight into the mass of objects by learning about the units that are used to measure it.  On the site, there are questions for the audience to answer as a quiz on what they have learned to reinforce the information. This website also includes a math dictionary that defines mathematical terms and language for students to understand. It clears up any confusion the student may have. The site has a simple layout and is easy to navigate, so the student will not be frustrated while exploring it. It is a great tool for educators to share with the students and families to learn about mass outside the classroom. An educator can use this as an activity in the classroom as well.

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Mass and Weight Teaching Ideas Website

This website, Teaching Ideas provides wonderful ideas for lesson plans across various subjects including mathematics and the concept of mass. This can be a helpful tool for teachers who are looking for inspirations or even for parents who want to strengthen their child’s understanding of the mathematical concept of mass or other. There are templates and word problems that help guide the lesson according to age groups. For example, one template of a worksheet about how to read a scale and the unit measurements (Teaching Ideas Ltd., n.d.). There are categories of the newest templates and most popular, which shows which ones have a positive result.

Although it provides structured lesson plans, it can be altered to adapt to the needs and interests of the student. The lesson plans can be changed to accommodate the developmental needs of the children or to ensure its age appropriate in terms of the curriculum. The structured worksheets allow the teacher to observe the students’ understanding of the concept of mass and to see what area needs to be revisited or reinforced. It also allows students to apply their knowledge.

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Three Little Pigs by Paul Galdone

Books do not only enhance children’s literacy skills, it can also enhance young children’s mathematical concept of mass. The Three Little Pigs by Paul Galdone presents the concept of mass in an exciting way, as three little pigs each built a house with different materials; straw, sticks, and bricks. The exploration of the materials in the book can be connected to the concept of mass, as the materials differ in mass. Two of the materials were not suitable to build a house, which leads to the destruction of the houses by the big bad wolf (Galdone, 2012). The concept of mass is represented in the book. The text is simple and repetitive, which makes the story easy to follow. An educator can read this book with the students to present mass in a different format and cater towards students who are linguistic learners as well. The book also has wonderful visuals for students to follow along if they do not understand English.

This book leads to many multi-modal activities that include the concept of mass. For instance, the students can make houses made of three different materials presented in the book or their own three choices and predict which house will be the strongest and why. The students can explore why the houses from the book got destroyed. They can figure out the mass of the materials and see if it connects to the strength of the houses. A written record can be made while the students are experimenting.  Hence, science, math, and literacy are incorporated in one activity.

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This video explores the concept of mass using words like heavy and light while comparing objects that children are familiar such as fruits and boats. An educator can use this video as an introduction to the mass concept or use it to reinforce the terms that were taught. In the beginning of the video, there is a character that says hello to the audience, which promotes a comfortable environment for young children, especially those who fear or do not enjoy math. The character is young, so the students will enjoy seeing and listening to a character close to their age, as they can relate to it. The video is easy to follow as there is a narrator guiding the video and the explanation is simple and easy to understand. Although the video is one minute long, it provides a clear indication of what it means when an object is heavy or light. There were many visuals for young children to look at and for those students who do not understand English or who cannot read the labels, the visuals show what is being compared. There is background music that does not overwhelm the video as the concept of mass is the focal point. It engages the students’ other sense while they learn about mass.

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References

ABCya! | Educational computer games and apps for kids. (n.d.). Retrieved November 26, 2017, from http://www.abcya.com/

Allen, P. (2007). Who sank the boat? Australia: Puffin Books.

D. (2013, October 04). Retrieved November 26, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cjPApFuGLM

Galdone, P. (2012). The three little pigs. Boston: HMH Books, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

Gibbon, S., & Stone, J. (Producers). (1969). Sesame street [Television Series]. United States:Public Broadcasting Service. Retrieved November 26, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bULgZSFOV98

K. (2012, July 09). Math: Measurement--weight. Retrieved November 26, 2017, from http://www.kindergartenkindergarten.com/2012/07/math-measurement-weight.html

New Zealand Ministry of Education. (n.d.). Mass units of work. Retrieved November 28, 2017, from https://nzmaths.co.nz/mass-units-work 

Nix, K. (2017, November 13). Understand mass and how mass is measured. Retrieved November 26, 2017, from https://learnzillion.com/lesson_plans/7180-understand-mass-and-how-mass-is-measured

Pierce, Rod. (10 Jun 2017). "Metric mass (weight)". Math is fun. Retrieved 26 Nov 2017 from http://www.mathsisfun.com/measure/metric-mass.html

R. (2016, August 27). Retrieved November 26, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQmI21BB8mA

Teaching Ideas Ltd. (Ed.). (n.d.). Mass and weight. Retrieved November 26, 2017, from http://www.teachingideas.co.uk/subjects/mass-and-weight

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Math Measurement Weight

This math blog was created by a kindergarten teacher that was exploring the concept of mass and weight in her classroom. It displays different activities and lesson plans that were implemented in her classroom and the materials she used. The students’ work was documented, which shows their understanding and thought process. This is a great resource for educators and teachers to use for reference or as a guide in teaching mass and weight. The blog includes real classroom work and uses materials that are easily accessible. By showing real classroom work, the viewer (teacher or educator) can analyze what went well for that class and make changes based on their own classroom needs. It provides a glimpse of the kindergartners’ knowledge about mass for teachers or educators to make their own expectations to align with the curriculum. The blog’s layout is simple and easy to browse and allows for the viewers to connect or make comments. It is a public site, so it does not require the viewers to pay.

One of the activities the students were given questions about how a balance works to write an entry in their journal and has a hands-on activity using a balance scale to compare the weights of different objects. The journal entry provides a record of the learning process for students to refer to when class discussions are made or for parents to see the student’s discovery and learning. Many questions about weight and mass were probed to get the students’ thinking about it and make meaningful connections. The teacher used other worksheets and hands on activities to explore the concept of mass. The blog is a fun way to view other classrooms’ activities and gain new ideas to teach the concept of mass.