What the lesson is about

The measure strand of maths encompasses a range of skills and concepts. Younger pupils focus on gaining suitable language and tying it to concepts of size, such as large, larger and largest.

How to use it

Before children move on to measuring the length, height and weight of objects, they need to master the first step of understanding the concept of size. This is practised by ordering items and using appropriate vocabulary to describe accurately what they see. This collection focuses on stimulating the language of size, including comparative language, as a preparation for estimating and measuring size, length, height and weight of objects.

A series of interactive resources from TESiboard have been developed to engage pupils in practising descriptive and comparative language, with opportunities to model and reinforce the appropriate vocabulary. Among these are activities involving the Three Bears - for example, asking pupils to use language of size to discuss which clothes go on which bear, or challenging them to think of words other than “small” or “big” to describe a scarf’s size.

Another TESiboard activity asks children to put farm animals in size order, testing their understanding of relative size, while comparative language is also involved in an activity asking pupils to re-size animals in proportion to their homes.

A resource uploaded by cariad2 asks children to arrange worms and caterpillars by length, while an activity contributed by Tennies challenges pupils to cut out and stick elephants in order of size. In an activity uploaded by Siobhan85, leaves can be printed and cut out, and then arranged into size order.

Where to find it

www.tes.co.ukmaths-size.