Clarity of Concept.

Clarity of Concept.

The lesson plan is to build, design, prototype and create and obstacle course. Mrs. Mahoney wanted to use standard measurements, but from the first day of class observation I could tell that rulers and tape measures would be very difficult to introduce the concepts of measurement and scale. I came up with the idea for simplified tools based upon the Montessori principles to simplify the concept of measurement and scale. I built blocks 1"x1" by 1" that can be doweled together and built blocks 1'x1"x1". I planned to use these blocks to introduce the terms inch and foot. Our first project will be to relate measurement units to parts of the body, and we will use inch and foot blocks as our tools and vocabulary.
The blocks are colored based by selecting species, cherry and maple, that are native wood to Minnesota. The wooden dowels are made from compressed birch that can be dipped in water to swell in case any of the blocks become loose. These blocks I hope will also introduce students to native woods and the basic ideas of how wood might be joined together and how wood relates to water.