Swift Shoes: A Measurement and Data ProjectNick Pettit, 2nd Grade Teacher Scuola Vita Nuova Charter School, KCMO

INTRODUCTION

Before introducing the topic to the children, I made a topic web to analyze the possibilities that studying shoes could offer to the curriculum. I also took into consideration the interests children had shown from past classes as well as the important points I wanted the children to learn. The academic skills that I predicted would be used the most were measurement and data collection.

PHASE ONE: PLANNING

In February the children voted on shoes to

be their next class project. We began the project by sharing personal stories about shoes as well as using graphic organizers to collect the children’s thoughts, ideas, questions, predictions, and eventually answers. During our pre-planning the children also used drawing representations to convey their knowledge about shoes.

The stories, charts and drawing representations gave me an idea of their background knowledge as well as their interests. During phase one I observed a strong interest in the purchasing of shoes, different types of shoes, and how shoes are made.

PHASE THREE: SWIFT SHOE STORE

After months of investigations and planning the children opened and ran The Swift Shoe Store. The shoe store sold over twenty pairs of shoes to their parents, teachers, and younger sibling in two hours of being open. Each child had a different job such as stocker, salesperson, cashier, and manager.The store included donated shoes from parents and teachers that were for sale. Each adult who entered the store was given a bag with different amounts of money inside. A salesperson greeted the customers and showed them the different selection of shoes. Next the salesperson would measure the customers foot and then communicate with the stockers if the shoe size was in stock.

If the shoe size was in stock the salesperson would direct the customer to a cashier. If they did not have the shoe the salespeople would offer a catalog to the customer. The catalog was made by the children using pictures of the shoes and their own descriptions.

Teaching Math Concepts Through the Project Approach

PHASE TWO: INVESTIGATIONSThe children began the next part of their investigation by going on a field visit to different shoe stores at the local mall. The children brought their clipboards so that they could ask and record questions as well as draw any ideas or thoughts they observed. The children got the opportunity to observe the different shoes as well as talk to the employees who worked at the stores. The children gained new knowledge of how shoes are sold.

PHASE TWO: INVESTIGATIONSThe children also investigated shoes from different cultures, parts of the shoe, and how shoes are made. But the children still kept going back to the idea of creating our own shoe store. They decided to open their own shoe store.As the children began to think about what kinds of shoes to sell they also began to make connections to our measurement and data unit. The following skills were used in phase 2:

• Surveyed parents and teachers to see what type of shoe is worn the most

• Created different data charts such as pie, line, and bar graphs

• Created their own Braddock foot measuring tool based on concepts of measurement

• Graphed and organized donated shoes by size and gender

• Created a detail stock list that let the children know what shoes were in stock based on size

• Used standard forms of measurement to measure a variety of different size feet

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CONCLUSIONS

The shoe investigation gave the children a meaningful and logical way to work with measurement and data. Formal assessments given since the project has shown a significant increase in concepts related to measurement and data analysis. The investigation also provided many opportunities to convey knowledge in many different ways.

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