Estimating and Measuring Height

This morning Archie, Tom and Addisyn began exploring the ideas of doctors, asking me for resources such as the blue bed they know is out in the back store room so they could use it for their patients. Their medical based play with Tash, the patient ( Maddie's Mum) as the doctor play continued Tom and Archie were excited to then see how tall Tash was and see if she was growing after her accident. Kātahi te whakaaro pai, thats a good idea.

This idea was sparked by the discovery of some one metre rulers that they found on the shelf, and this then provided a great avenue to get a large roll of paper and draw a line above each others head so we could see who was taller. Tash started by lying down on the paper and Archie and Tom took responsibility for drawing the line above her head. Other children naturally became involved, like Violet, Kayne and Macy also began exploring how measuring each other and the concept of different heights. We each took turns lying on the paper to see how high the line would be, what height we were and what numbers and measurements resembled the height of each child and teacher.

The children become very excited to guess what adult was going to be the tallest, after measuring Tash, Archie approached Heather "Heather can we measure you?". So quickly they went to were the large piece of paper was so that they could guide Heather as to what she needed to do next. 

Tash asked the children if they could estimate if Heather was taller than her or not. The children all took a responsible risk by estimating and communicating with clarity as they shared their idea. 

Archie and Tom then clearly articulated "You need to lie down on your back, with your feet against that stool" ensuring that they were striving for accuracy. So Heather quickly followed instructions and put her feet against the stool. 

"Oh no, your feet have moved" Tom shared as Heather lay down. 

"You need to shimmy down the paper" added Archie. 

The children then put the one metre ruler above Heather's head and drew a line, celebrating quickly that their guess was right Heather was taller than Tash. That’s good thinking - He pai koe ki te whakaaro pena. As the children began measuring Heather's height and comparing it to the line they had drawn for Tash's height, Tracey walked in the door and the children were very excited to compare if Tracey was going to be taller or shorter than Heather was. This was when the estimating began again and children started guessing and articulating their thoughts and ideas. Estimations, comparisons and measurements were talked about for a lot of the morning, amongst the group themselves and calling others to join in to add to the complexity of their play.