Snowy (Measuring) Trees

I have to start out by giving credit where credit is due... so, thank you, Pinterest, for helping me find this idea. It was originally posted on Mrs. Lee's Kindergarten blog. And thanks to my colleague Jen for explaining how she did it to tie in with our current math focus on measuring!

I cut strips of green paper (roughly 12 inches long and 1 inch tall) to get us started. I then asked the kids to use their ruler to measure out different lengths (7 inches, 6 inches, 9 inches, 11 inches, 2 inches.) When they made the cuts, they'd actually have a 7 inch and 5 inch piece, a 9 inch piece and a 3 inch piece, and so on. They ended up with all different lengths so it could be stacked from longest to shortest.

I adore our snowy first grade forest!

Some of us added a trunk and a star on top. Then we used Q-tips to dot paint on our snow. So pretty! It was a great way to see who is grasping the measuring concept and who is still learning.

It's kind of sad to me that my first graders were so incredibly excited to do this today. "Miss Komos, you are the best teacher ever!" "We love you!!!" This is only the second artsy project we've done all year. We might have to work on that.

Now, if only we had some real snow...