Inch by Inch!!!

Inch worm, inch worm,
measuring the marigold, 
you and your arithmetic you'll probably go far
Inch worm, inch worm,
 measuring the marigold,
seems to me you'd stop and see
 how beautiful they are!
Two and two are four,
Four and four are eight,
Eight and eight are sixteen
Sixteen and sixteen are thirty two.... 
(-written by Frank Loesssen)

Kindergartners have been studying units of measurement particularly inches.  This was partly sparked by the unexpected downpour of rain and our daily check of our classroom rain gauge (located outside of our classroom back door in our SK backyard.)
K's have  observed the measure of rainfall for several days now and have been spontaneously reporting out to the class.  We are also charting our results.





The Inch Worm song was introduced at circle time and is now  being heard sung spontaneously throughout the classroom.  We also received a recording by Dan Zane for our listening pleasure (Thank's Ava!)   I must say, however, that nothing beats the original recording by Danny Kaye's Hans Christian Anderson. ) 
The class discussed what a marigold was, predicted a marigold's color, and reasons why the inch worm does not seem to notice the flower.  Afterwards, using rulers and tape measures, we scouted out the room attempting to find items that measured 1".  We had an eclectic group of items (including  people that obviously measured more than an inch- several feet to be exact.)  Kindergartners were impressive at handling the measuring tools as well.  (Some tools doubled as masks:))

An Inch Worms game was introduced for table choice.  The premise is to pull out random "worms" (tape measures with varying lengths) out of a  container until empty then  attach  "worms" together lengthwise.  Afterward,  the players compare total lengths of their worms with their opponent's.  This game allowed for layers of skill building- taking turns, making comparisons, fine motor, skill building, and sportsmanship.