What is capacity?

Objective: Compare volume using more than, less than, and the same as by pouring.

 Our little helper

 Pouring the rice into container #1

Pouring the rice into container #2

Making a prediction with a partner

Students were asked to circle the container that had the biggest capacity in each box. 

Our class was shown a tray of different empty containers. Students watched as I filled each container with rice. They were in charge of telling when to stop and had to make sure each container didn't spill over. We learned that a math word to describe how much something holds is capacity. After the containers were full of rice, our class shared which containers had more or less capacity than my cup. 

During our discussion, students answered the following questions:

1. How were we comparing today? 

2. What does the word capacity mean to you?

3. Which of the containers had the biggest capacity?

4. Which had the smallest capacity?

5. Did the shape of the container make a difference in how much it could hold? 

6. Were you surprised by anything you learned today? 

Module 3: Comparison of Length, Weight, Capacity, and Numbers to 10

 Students are discussing why one side of the balance went down and one side went up when different objects were placed on each side. We discovered that some objects were heavier than others.

 When I took out an item from one side, we discovered that the balance was not level. Our goal was to now figure out how many pennies we needed to put in the other side to make the balance level again.

 This student is demonstrating how to use a balance. We learned that before we use the balance, it is very important to make sure it is level. We discussed how this would make our data inaccurate if we did not check the balance first.

 Our little mathematicians are finding out how many pennies it will take to equal the same weight as a pair of scissors.

Objective: Compare the weight of an object to a set of unit weights on a balance scale.

Students were asked to put an object from their table into one side of the scale. Then, they discussed how many pennies they thought it was going to take to make the balance scale level again. Slowly, they added pennies into the other side. Students used a recording sheet to keep track of how many pennies they added to the balance scale each time. 

Questions our mathematicians were able to answer during our debrief:
1. What did you notice as you weighed the objects?
2. When you guessed how many pennies each object would weight, how close were you?
3.  How did you know when to stop adding pennies to the balance scale?
4. What new vocabulary did you learn today?

We had so much fun exploring balance scales today. Tomorrow, we are going to pretend to become live balance scales. You can practice this at home with your little one. Give them two objects and ask them to make the hand with the heavier object go down and the hand with the lighter object go up. Have fun with your mathematician!