Circus Math

We took advantage of the nice weather to do some math outside!  Earlier today Mrs. Parnell shared the Big Apple website with us.  We learned about the various performers we will see when we go to the show on Friday.  We also learned about the circus tent.  The masts, or main poles, are 50 feet tall and can weigh nearly 2000 pounds.  The length of the tent is 140 feet long!  Wow.

After recess we took advantage of the wonderful weather and measured the distances to get a visual idea of how big those measurements actually are. 

First we had to measure our shoes and realized that when measuring in feet it is best to use a ruler............the feet on our bodies are all different lengths.  Mrs. Hoyt and Mrs. Parnell have feet that are nearly 12 inches long, so we counted out 50 steps and then measured the length in kindergartners lying down!  It was 11.

The length of the tent, 140 feet, was nearly 33 kindergartners lying down.  With a little discussion we realized the tent is much longer than it is tall. 

We also practiced direction following when we ran the length of 140 feet up and back. 

Our afternoon was capped with a sorting activity.  Mrs. Parnell presented a collection of stories about the circus.  We sorted them into like categorties before she shared one from the collection. 

Math Words Today -

Measure                          Height                      Inches
Diameter                          Feet                         Direction
Length                             Around                     Down
Same                              Different                    Sorting