This week we focused on size in the ocean, from the biggest life to the smallest living things. We learned about ocean mammals such as whales and dolphins. Our big challenge was measuring a blue whale. I asked the class to bring in a whale for us to measure but no one did so we had to use our imaginations! We researched and learned that a blue whale is about 90 feet long. But how long is that really? I wanted the kids to really get a visual representation. We used a yardstick to measure 3 feet and then found that the arm span of a PreK student is also 3 feet- what luck! With a little multiplication we realized that if we used our 7 bodies 4 times we could come close to the length of the blue whale. Next we headed out to the playground for more space to measure. We took a blue paper tail and head with use to mark the space. We carefully lined up arm to arm seven times and then looked back to admire how much of the playground a blue whale would take up. That’s pretty big! Even more impressive when you consider that a blue whale only eats tiny sea plants and animals which were our next focus of study.