Eaton Centre Math!

Walking around the Eaton Centre there is so much math to discover! Look at what we found on a pole during our math trail!

Photographed is a pole in the middle of the Eaton Centre that has square tiles going half way up it. As an activity, you could ask the students to estimate and then count how many square tiles tall the pole is. In addition, the students could measure the height of one square and estimate if each square will have the same measurement. To introduce standard measurement, you could have the students measure how tall half the pole is (the part with the tiles) and have them estimate if the top half of the pole would be the same length. If there are other poles with square tiles around the Eaton Centre the students could estimate if the results would be the same to the pole before. To bring it back to the classroom the students could trace a square tile from the pole and bring it back to measure the tile using non-standard objects.

Supporting Children's Learning of Measurement

This supports the things they are experiencing outside the classroom in their daily lives and incorporating it into lessons on measurement and explore further on how you can measure things in the classroom with these square tiles. This image supports an inquiry-based approach to learning about measurement as the students are taking their experience of encountering this pole in the mall and making mathematical investigations. Their investigations can include how tall it is, which can be done by measuring the tiles with non-standard units, which will support their learning of non-standard measurement. It addition, they can relate this pole to something similar they have in the school and compare which pole is bigger using the square tile outlines to measure the pole. This will allow them to make connections that objects that may look the same can differ in size, which is why measurement is important.