School Time 9/24 - Measuring

School time was a go. I told Becca I wanted to practice measuring things today. I asked her if she knew what measuring meant and she said no. I said we wanted to take a bunch of things and see how tall they are. We wanted to see how many blocks tall they were. I asked if she wanted to do that with me and she said yes.

First we took six blocks and stacked them, counting as we went. Then we took some household items like a box of crackers, a tomato, and a puzzle and measured how many blocks tall they were. We would take the object and then stack blocks next to it until it reached the height of the object. We had things that were one, three and five blocks tall. After the first few I started asking Becca to guess in her head how tall she thought each object was. I asked her to let me know when she'd picked a number. She would look at me and I'd ask if she had a number. When she said yes again then we would measure just like before.

The first time it was five blocks high I asked if five was the number she picked in her head. She wouldn't say yes. Then I asked if she picked a different number than five in her head. She wouldn't say yes again. I said, "you forgot to pick a number!" The second time it was three blocks high and I asked if three was the number she picked, she said yes. The third time was similar.

Then I took an object that was three blocks tall, a can of formula, and put it in front of Becca. I held up her plastic board with a 1, 3, and 5 on it. I asked her if the formula can was one block tall, three blocks tall or five blocks tall. She looked at all the numbers and then up at three and back at me with a big smile on her face. I asked if three was her choice and she said yes. We measured and it was three blocks tall! We cheered and did a celebration dance and she laughed a lot.

Next I grabbed a tower of Duplo blocks. I asked her how tall the tower was, 1 or 3 or 5 blocks tall (it was 5 blocks tall). She looked at all the numbers and wouldn't pick. It looked like she picked three and when I asked she wouldn't say yes. Then she looked at five and back at me, and when I asked if that was her choice she wouldn't say yes. She looked around at all the numbers a couple more times and then wouldn't pick. I realized I didn't explain that these objects were definitely 1, 3 or 5. Not sure if that was the problem, she was thinking of a different number. I then asked if it was one block tall like the tomato, three blocks tall like the bubble toy, or five blocks tall like the crackers (I used this comparison on all following questions when she struggled, too). She still took a while, but eventually she picked three again and said yes when I confirmed. We measured and when we got to three I pointed out that it wasn't enough blocks, so we kept going. We got to five blocks. We celebrated getting to the right number.

Next we measured a stuffed animal (5 blocks tall, trying to avoid process of elimination). I asked how tall it was and Becca wouldn't pick again. I assured her we were just guessing and it didn't matter if we got it right or wrong. It was really hard to tell if she was picking, and it looked like she picked 3, then 5, then 1, but each time she wouldn't confirm. Eventually she picked 5 and might have confirmed, or it might have been me putting words in her mouth, not sure on that one. I said I thought it was only three blocks tall. We measured and when we got to three it wasn't tall enough. It was 5 blocks tall. Hooray!

After that we grabbed and Eeyore toy (1 block tall). Becca got a big smile on her face. When I held up the numbers and asked she quickly picked one block tall and confirmed when I asked her again. We measured and sure enough, it was 1 block tall. Hooray!

Next we measured a bar of deodorant (3 blocks tall). Becca wouldn't pick again, and it felt like she wasn't liking the quizzing version of the game so I made a mental note to just go back to just measuring after this one. She picked 3 but wouldn't confirm, 1 but wouldn't confirm. Once I compared the numbers to things we'd already measured again then she picked 3 and definitely confirmed. Becca's sister said she thought it was one block tall. We measured and when we got to three I pointed out that it one black wasn't enough. We kept going and sure enough, it was 3 blocks tall. Celebration time!

After that we went back to holding up an item, guessing in our head how tall it was, and then measuring. We had a wood plaque that was 2 blocks tall. I asked Becca if 2 was the number she picked and she said yes with a smile. Then we measured a toothbrush. Becca's sister thought it was four blocks tall. I asked Becca if she though it was four blocks tall but she wouldn't say yes. I asked if she thought it was three blocks tall and she said yes. I said I thought it was three blocks tall too. We measured and when we got to three it wasn't enough, so we kept going and it was four blocks tall! We cheered for Becca's sister.

We measured a few more things without the plastic communication board. Becca confirmed 3 blocks for the 3-block-tall toy and 1 block for her shoe. She picked 4 for the 4-block-tall toothbrush before her sister also picked 4, 4 for the 3-block-tall deodorant after her sister also picked 4, 3 for the 3-block-tall shower scrubber before her sister also picked 3, and 3 for the 2-block-tall popsicle holder after her sister picked 3.

Afterwards I asked if she had fun and she said yes. I asked if she wanted to be done and she said yes.